Ensuring optimum use of indigenous resources

Proposals, of late, have been coming galore from the official circles in Bangladesh to take lease of resources of other countries to meet food or energy deficits at home. The move does highlight some desperation. But, at the same time, it raises a few questions. First, a proposal was made to neighbouring Myanmar to lease out its land to Bangladesh private sector for agricultural production. The issue came under discussion at meetings between officials of the two countries. But Myanmar until now has not been that enthusiastic to let Bangladesh use its arable land. Then reports were published in the media quoting foreign ministry officials that efforts would be to taken to take lands in countries of the distant African continent on lease to produce agricultural crops. There is no denying that millions of hectares of fertile land have been kept fallow in neighbouring Myanmar and many African countries. In Sudan and some other African countries, there are millions of hectares of very fertile land that have never been used for production of any crop. But the question that would agitate the mind of many is: have we made enough efforts to exploit the full potentials of our own land as far as agricultural production is concerned? The answer would, obviously, be a loud 'no'. Notwithstanding the fact that the share of agriculture in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has declined over last four decades, the agriculture production has gone through a transformation. The food production has more than doubled during the period through partial mechanization of production process and use of high-yielding varieties, fertilizers and pesticides. But experts are unanimous that the country has potentials to produce more food through a balanced and scientific use of farm inputs and employment of intensive farm practices. The per acre rice yield in Bangladesh is far lower than any other country in the Southeast Asia. Will it not be wise to make greater endeavour to ensure optimum exploitation of the full potentials at home rather than taking land in other countries on lease? Similarly, the energy ministry has, reportedly, decided to make attempts to take coalmines on lease in other countries with a view to feeding a number of proposed coal-based power plants. The Barapukuria coalmine is now feeding the country's only coal-based power plant located at its mouth. Though the coalmine has enough deposit to feed some more power plants, the traditional method used for extraction of coal would not let it do so. The method allows extraction of small part of the deposit of any coalmine. The government has a plan to generate 4500 megawatt (mw) of electricity by 2015 and 10,000 mw by 2021. The plan would involve setting up of some more coal-fired power plants and substantial quantity of coal. The country will require 50,000 tonnes of coal daily for power generation from the planned coal-fed power plants by 2015 and the requirement would double by 2021. According to experts, the government can rely on foreign coal for a maximum generation of 5000 mw. But is it not surprising that the government is talking about large-scale import of coal or taking foreign coalmines on lease when it has an abundant deposit of coal, enough to meet the country's demand for, at least, 30 years? It is not the incumbent government alone. Its predecessors did face the same problem, indecision over the exploitation of coal reserves in the face of strong criticism by pressure groups. The BNP-led four-party alliance government and the military-backed caretaker government did try to formulate a national coal policy but failed to conclude it. And the reason for the failure was the intention to exploit the maximum possible coal reserves employing the open-pit mining method that involves displacement of a lot of people living along the coalmines and other environmental degradation. The incumbent government has also tried to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors but could not make much progress. So, it has, apparently, shelved its plan relating to coal policy, at least, for the time being. A government delegation, comprising lawmakers and officials, some months back visited coalmines using open-pit mining in Germany. But the outcome of the visit remains unclear. The move to take agricultural lands on lease in other countries for commercial production of food crops or coalmines to feed power plants at home does not appear to be prudent. It is clear enough that the potentials of arable land and coalmines at home have not been fully exploited due to shortcomings of different shorts. There is an urgent need to take decisions to resolve political, economic, social and environmental issues concerning exploitation of national resources, be it land or coal, at the optimum level.