It is alarming that arable land across Bangladesh is fast shrinking. Growing industrialisation, rapid urbanisation, and mindless encroachment of human habitat have speeded up the process. The net cropped area, the total land sown with crops, has been declining over the past few years, raising grave concerns among agricultural officials and experts about food security for the ever- growing population.
According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country lost over one percent of its net cropped area, falling to 19.83 lakh acres in 2023 from 20.08 lakh acres in 2020, the largest decline in a decade. According to agricultural experts, the cropland is declining and there is no doubt about it. The gross cropped area declined amid a steady reduction in farmland due to the construction of new homes, roads, other infrastructures, and industrial use.
Rural and urban settlement is increasing in line with population growth. Building of facilities is even seen in the middle of the cropland. The country will need land for industry and it cannot be ignored, given the unavoidable purpose of economy and job creation. Experts warn that farmland will decline further due to industrialisation. The Bangladesh Environmental Statistics, 2024 published in June this year said that the country lost two percent of agricultural land to non-farm purposes. The rate at which the farmland is fast depleting is sparking fear that there would be literally no farmland after some fifty years from now on and the country may lose food security making its people entirely exposed to volatile international food market.
In the Rice Vision for Bangladesh: 2050 and Beyond prepared by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), it was stated that the population will reach 21.54 crore in 2050, when 4.46 crore tonnes of clean rice will be required. It will be nearly impossible to ensure food for all if we cannot stop the conversion of agricultural land to non-farm use and the country would be able to meet rice demand provided that the area under rice remains unchanged.
The shrinking of farmland is ominous because the country will be in search of more farmlands to feed its growing population. As a consequence, forests will be diminished which now roughly stands below 11 percent instead of 25 percent of the total area. Waterbodies will also be filled in implicating an irreparable damage to environment and nature, which might frequently cause calamities like floods, drought, cyclone, and landslides turning many people into climate refugees. Therefore, a solution to the critical issue of farmland depletion could be the formulation of a pragmatic land-use policy. Besides, the horizontal expansion of residences, schools and colleges, factories and industries and the like should be vertical.
The government should, therefore, no longer delay in enacting a stringent law to stop completely the use of agricultural lands in non-farm activities. It augurs well that the interim government is preparing a policy to protect farmland from other uses in its efforts to ensure food security for the growing population. Some experts are of the opinion that the country may need to grow as much as 50 percent more food by 2050 to feed the ballooning population. We, therefore, need a radical solution which is to re-engineer our agricultural system.
