Nation cannot afford to lose its arable land

Bangladesh is located in the lowest part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river systems with a long coastal belt along the Bay of Bengal. The country is endowed with diversified species of flora and fauna. Agriculture is the major economic activity here. There are three broad physiographic regions in the country: a) flood plains, consisting generally of level alluvium, occupying about 80 per cent of the country; b) terraces, comprising slightly uplifted blocks, accounting for 8.0 per cent; and c) hills, which occupy about 12 per cent of the land area.
The high population density and meagre and compressed resources have compounded the environmental problem, which is difficult to resolve. About 30 per cent of the population lives bellow poverty line. In addition, the income gap is high and the distribution is unequal. Thus, the social environment is seriously unsustainable.
The arable land covers an area of 9.762 million hectares, or 75 per cent of the total land area; out of this, about 97 per cent, or 9.7 million hectares, is regularly cultivated. According to government statistics, livestock and fisheries are marginally more important than forestry.
In agricultural production, Bangladesh has not been able to achieve the expected economic level due to the low level of technology, poor infrastructure and low labour productivity. Growth in the industrial sector has also been poor, with 80 per cent of the industries being of the 'cottage type'. In recent years, a ready-made garment industry has developed, mainly for export.
About 60 per cent of the rural population is classified as functionally landless, and 70 per cent of the land holdings are small. In addition, over 80 per cent of the poor population, estimated at over 50 million, is concentrated in the rural areas. Encroachment is increasing in forest and marginal lands and about 50 per cent of the forestlands are being cultivated or occupied.
Bangladesh's agricultural economy is so vast that about 75 per cent of the people of the country are directly involved with agricultural activities. Even then because of unplanned urbanisation, industrialisation and the implementation of habitation projects, the area of arable land is being speedily squeezed. An estimate suggests that about 68 thousand 760 hectares of arable land is being turned into a non-agricultural sector per year since 2000. The size of Bangladesh arable land in 1976 was 9.762 million hectares. In the 38 years since then, the size of such land has declined by a margin of 1.242 million hectares; whereas the population of the country has doubled by this time. It is generally accepted that the main factor behind the decline in arable land in the country is its trend of increased population. But a practical and realistic analysis shows that unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation is the crucial factor behind the turning of arable land into non-agricultural one. If the current pace of decline in arable land continues, the livelihood of 68 per cent of the country's people will be severely jeopardised.
Currently there are about 176,00,804 peasant families in Bangladesh, of which about 60 per cent are marginal farmers. These marginal peasants eagerly wait for their paddy crop, and they frame their family budget banking on the possible income from the paddy harvests. These marginal farmers are now in trouble in balancing their family income and expenditure as arable lands are being transferred into non-agricultural land expanses. Moreover, the gradual turning of arable land into non-agricultural pursuits is adversely and seriously influencing the employment opportunities of the rural labour force of the country. An account shows, out of the 25.1 million economically capable rural workforce, 24 million are employed and the rest 1.1 million are unemployed. The number of the unemployed is comparatively more in the rural areas than in the urban Bangladesh. The rate of labour engaged in agriculture out of the total labour force of age group 15+ in 1995-1996 was 63.2 per cent, in 1999-2000 it was 51.3 per cent, in 2002-2003 it was 51.7 per cent, in 2005-2006 it came down to 48.1 per cent. It means the rate of workforce employment in agriculture is decreasing. Though, in advanced industrialised countries workforce employed in highly mechanised agriculture is much below the Bangladesh level of 48.1 per cent, Bangladesh is basically an agrarian economy and industrialisation is at an infant stage. That is why the general people, economists and experts are concerned at the rapid decline in agrarian work opportunities due to agrarian land decline in the absence of sufficient industrialisation for absorbing the already surplus rural workers.  
Rapidly growing unplanned brickfields are increasingly eating up arable lands to keep pace with increased urbanisation. Such brick-fields are being established on agrarian lands within the periphery of small and big cities and towns all over the country. These cities, including the capital city of Dhaka and other divisional and district towns, are being environmentally adversely affected and polluted.  Outbreaks of diseases are being observed in the fruit trees, especially in the greater Dhaka, the southern parts of Mymensingh and Tangail districts. Moreover, the owners of chemical and oil industries in Bangladesh have come under severe criticism for spilling factory wastes into large and small rivers. It is believed that these activities have been causing serious problems to the soil in Dhaka and other areas preventing citizens from growing crops. Bricks are being made by slicing and flattening hills in the Chittagong region. Currently, the Barendra region of northern Bangladesh is one of the granaries of the country. Brickfields are being indiscriminately established here, also adjacent to the crop fields. The brick factories are being established in the crop fields of Godagari upazila under Rajshahi district like elsewhere in the country. Agrarian land productivity under the influence of the brickfields is gradually falling in the regions.                                                                                                                                   
Similarly, the resulting decline in arable land due to unplanned industrialisation and urbanisation throughout the country is causing rise in rural unemployment. Out of the 160 million total population of the country, 98.9 million are absolutely poor of which 57.5 million are ultra-poor. Out of the country's total poor, 82 per cent live in the rural areas, and the rest 18 per cent in urban localities. This huge rural population of the country primarily depends on agriculture for livelihood. In the last two years, Bangladesh did not have to significantly import food from abroad as sufficient food was produced within the country. As a result, foreign dependence on food declined and rural employment opportunities increased. Moreover, since food price inflation was in control during the last three to four years, the national inflationary pressure could be kept under reins.
Against this backdrop, it is necessary for the government to pay urgent attention to the preservation of agricultural land through the framing of necessary agrarian land use policies and enacting appropriate laws to bar or discourage people from indiscriminately using agrarian land for non-agricultural purposes including environment damaging brickfields.
The rapid increase in population in the country, the pressure on available land for building dwelling houses, and other requirements of the people like markets, are also devouring rural arable land resources. It is feared that the size of Bangladesh agricultural land would decrease by 15 per cent in the next 50 years, if the current trend of population boom continues. Bangladesh population is increasing, but its land is not. In fact, in some areas it is decreasing due to encroachment and erosion by rivers, and by the Bay of Bengal in the south. As such, cultivable land is decreasing, indicating an ominous sign for the country.
Bangladesh's existence, building a modern nation for its future generations and the country's overall development are dependent on proper management and utilisation of its alluvial arable land, which is sufficiently fertile and suitable for crop production. Moreover, it is to be borne in mind the necessity of conserving forest lands and water bodies, along with food production. Maintaining balance of the environment is also necessary. The objectives are to reduce food insecurity and ensure sustainable livelihoods of the poor urban and rural households. The Ministry of Land and the district administration have to prevent land-grabbers from occupying agricultural lands, and also check erosion of land by building embankments and through other technical means.
Technical and financial assistance should be availed from Bangladesh development partners to ensure continued availability and preservation of agricultural land, and projects for prevention of land erosion have to be taken up. In order to ensure food security for the poorer people, there must be financial and technical help for the peasants with agricultural, technical and marketing skill development for them so that they need not have to be forced to sell their small holdings in times of adversity. Improvement in access to agricultural services and access to inputs and gainful output markets should also be ensured.
The writer is a retired Professor               of Economics, BCS                           General Education Cadre.                        [email protected]