Unplanned use of agricultural lands in the country for building homes, industries and urbanisation purposes are making a sharp decline of crop land and creating a massive threat to our national food security. Although there have been government plans for protecting arable lands since 2011, they have not got a final shape as yet. It is hard to believe that we are losing nearly 69,000 hectares of agricultural land a year due to increase in rural settlements, unplanned urbanisation and industralisation, say agricultural experts.
In reality, there is a need for working out an effective strategy to check the country’s fast-shrinking arable land and thus maintain the momentum in increasing its food grain production. It is surprising that there is no strong monitoring of the government departments for protecting arable lands. It is also surprising that an agro-based country like ours has no arable land protecting law and devastating its most valuable crops land without hesitation. In such a situation, experts insist that they themselves have to find out a way on how more crops could be produced in a small land. But their suggestions must be taken into consideration seriously.
In this context, it is to be pointed out that the Arabian countries are digging artificial canals for pumping water to the desert for growing crops. Another Asian country Vietnam has constructed flyovers for vehicular movement from one city to another for protecting their arable lands. We express our frustrations over the government’s inactive attitude towards the illegal use of arable lands for different other purposes. Thus the non-government organisations operating in the countryside need to develop the agricultural sector, which accounts for 16 per cent of the GDP. According to official statistics, the total cultivable land of the country is 2 crore 11 lakh 57 thousand acres.
Such a trend of decline in arable land is worrisome. The authorities concerned should go for regular surveys of arable land to present an accurate figure so that necessary steps can be taken to save this land. It is quite a gigantic task, but not impossible. Long-term outlook appears to be bleak here as unplanned growth of population is complicating the process of meeting the demand for food, health requirements and educational facilities–triggering unemployment and social unrest.
