The folly of allowing farmland loss

Bangladesh is one of the densely populated countries in the world, with an area of 147,610 square kilometres where in about 160 million people live. Per-capita land is estimated to be only about 13 decimals.
Every year about one per cent of the scarce farmland is being converted to non-agricultural purposes in the country.
Hasty growth rate and high density of population is liable for rapid expansion of infrastructures. Fast growth rate of infrastructures is one of the causes of loss of agricultural land.
Infrastructural development and agricultural land losses are interrelated in a land-hungry country like Bangladesh.
The total arable land of Bangladesh is not more than   19.3 million acres (1.93 core) and per-capita land is only 13 decimals.
One (1) per cent of the arable land or 82900 hectres is being lost every year, while it is 221 hectres per day.
Due to the absence of proper law, the country's agricultural land is shrinking swiftly on account of senseless and indiscriminate uses of arable land for non-arable purposes, creating fear of losing self-sufficiency in food production.
In 2011 the volume of arable land in the country was around 76,28,000 hectares.
The country is gradually losing its farmland by one per cent annually due to use of arable land for other purposes, such as - making houses, setting up brick kilns and industries etc.
The converted land is also used for establishing industries, construction of houses, followed by roads and establishment of business enterprises and educational institutions.  
Due to rapid increase in population in the country, the pressure on arable land for housing and other non-agriculture purposes is eating away our precious agriculture land.
Annual conversion of farmland is estimated to be 0.56 per cent and the country's loss of rice production is also estimated to be between 0.86 and 1.16 per cent, according to Krishi Gobeshana Foundation.
The ministry of land (MoL) carried out a survey through the Directorate of Land Records and Surveys (DLRS) in Palas Upazilla of Narsingdi and Sonargaon upazila in Narayanganj district. It observed a substantial decline in the share of agricultural land, to the extent of 27 per cent in Palas and 16 per cent in Sonargaon, during the period of 20 and 25 years respectively (1983-2003; 1978-2003). It accounts for more than one per cent per year.
It is apprehended that amount of our agricultural land would decrease by 15 per cent in next 50 years if the current trend of population boom goes unchecked.
The population of the country is increasing but the land is not. In some areas it is decreasing due to encroachment of rivers and their (rivers) erosion.
"Our agricultural land is shrinking, posing a threat to our food security. There must be guidelines for best utilisation of agricultural land. We must have a land utilisation policy," senior member of General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission Dr Shamsul Alam told the FE.
He pointed out that the agriculture sector's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) is 16 per cent.
He said that for rural areas there was no specific guideline on housing or other constructions. As such, cultivable land is decreasing, indicating an ominous sign for the country.
The MoL and the district administrations have taken some initiatives which do not seem sufficient for preventing land-grabbers from occupying agricultural land, and also preventing erosion of land by embankments and other technical means.
Nevertheless, the technical and financial assistance should be ensured to ensure availability of agricultural land and prevention-of-land-erosion projects have to be taken up, according to experts.
Besides, the MoL has also taken an initiative to enact a law for protecting the country's agriculture land and ensuring balanced urbanisation in rural areas to check rapid shrinking of arable land.
The MoL started preparing a draft law, titled "Agricultural Land Protection and Proper Utilisation of Land Act," aiming to ensure optimum use of arable land.
In 2001 a guideline was also formulated for this purpose. Under the guideline agriculture, forest, housing and railway land along with coastal areas was supposed to come under land zoning, according to the MoL.
Agricultural land is increasingly being used for urbanisation and construction of infrastructure. It is urgently needed to have an effective law for protecting arable land. And we must have a farmland utilistion and their protection law for the sake of the country and the people, the experts added.
In 1976, the total area of arable land in the country was 9.762 million hectares. Over the last 38 years 1.242 million hectares of agricultural land were used for non-agricultural purposes.    
The government has planned to save the country's agricultural land from being used for non-agricultural purposes. To push the initiative forward the ministry of land (MoL) formed a committee that would draft a law by incorporating new issues in it to avert the misuse of farmland.
The country has been losing one per cent of arable land annually due to indiscriminate use of farmland by a section of people for non-agricultural purposes.
Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sherif said the government is serious about saving agricultural land, and planning to review the existing land policy to this effect.
He said that apart from preparing the draft of the law for protecting agriculture land, MoL has also taken initiatives for land-zoning map with specifications for utilisation of land in rural and urban areas for agriculture, commercial and residential purposes.  
He said that the National Land Utilisation Committee (NLUC) in its meeting in February 2015 suggested enacting a law for protecting arable land. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is the head of NLUC.
Asked when the drafting of the law will be completed, Mr Sherif said, "We are working on it. We hope we will be able to complete it soon". .
Once the law comes into effect, he hopes, it will ensure planned use of rural resources, especially planned housing in rural areas through preserving/ protecting the valuable croplands.
When asked about constructions of infrastructure on agricultural land, the minister said: "We should discourage people from doing it on farmland".
Mr Sherif said that the MoL is working on the matter. It has formed a committee. The committee already held several meetings. They (MoL) are going to hold another meeting shortly. "In the meeting we hope to finalise the draft that will incorporate some new provisions that are time-befitting for protecting agriculture land."
"We should bear in mind that it is necessary to conserve forest land, water bodies and agriculture land for ensuring food security and future generation of Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal), the experts observed."
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