Farmland increasing on emergence of char land

The country's cultivable land is increasing due to emergence of new char (reclaimed) land.
The gradual fall in areas covering rivers, beel and haor was giving rise to emergence of new char land, speakers said Wednesday at a press conference in the city.
They said the neither the government nor the private organisations had any comprehensive survey on char areas and their inhabitants. Most of them are 'extreme poor'.
They said in the absence of a survey, monitoring and regulation, the increased portion of land could not be utilised properly, rather those were being grabbed by big shots in society.
The press conference was orgnaised by the First National Char Convention 2015 committee. The First National Char Convention 2015 will take place on June 6 in the city.  
Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank and also chairman of the National Char Convention Committee, presided over the conference. He said no government and private orgnaisation had ever conducted a complete survey on char land and inhabitants.
He said depending on local NGOs and some government orgnaisations, the national committee on the upcoming convention estimated that char areas were now accounting for more than 10 per cent of the total land, home to nearly 6.0 to 10.0 million people.
Answering a question, he said: "I think the land in the country has been increasing annually due to emergence of new areas of char land caused by the fall in areas of river, beel and haor."
"But we need to conduct comprehensive study on it to get the actual picture," he said.
He said the char inhabitants were most marginalised population in the country as no one addresses their issues at the national level.
Khondkar Khaled, who was also the managing director of three state-run banks, said that the government allocated 11 to 13 per cent of its annual budget for poverty eradication programmes but the char areas always were deprived of such allocation.
Md Anowar Hossain, newly-appointed county director (Afghanistan) of Brac International and also member secretary of the convention committee, said most char lands were located in more than 100 uapzilas under 32 districts.
Geographically, most of char people are extreme poor who are deprived of fundamental needs like food, education, healthcare and housing, he said.
He said the next budget for the financial year 2015-16 should address the matter.
Concern World Wide country director Dr AKM Musha said that the convention would discuss the condition of the char people, necessary survey, necessary allocation and so on.
He said apart from the government and NGOs, the media should play a key role to draw attention of the government to help the char people.
Team leader of 'Char Livelihood Programme' of London-based Maxwell Stamp PLC Mat Pritchard said the char areas have also potential and opportunities, if they could be brought under mainstream economical activities.
Founder of Bijoy software Mustafa Jabbar and Oxfam country director Snehal V Sonejy, among others, also spoke on the occasion.
    tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com