Reza Mahmud :
Change in global climate increased salinity in coastal regions in Bangladesh and thereby created multidimensional crises and threat to food safety for more than 3.50 crore people, sources said.
Local people, ecologists and agriculture officials said that drought for years was behind the increasing salinity in the lands of the coastal districts creating serious crisis in agriculture, environment and health.
They said it created adverse impact on the people of the 19 districts covering 32 percent of the cultivable lands of the country.
Crops which were once produced there in good quantity are not being cultivated now due to the salinity problem.
The agriculture lost its variety in cultivations as the land lost its fertility and the farmers are suffering from poor production.
Farmers lost especially different varieties of rice production which has made them buyers of rice once who produced huge quantity of rice and hoarded those in their farm houses traditionally.
The inheritors of the once land lords cannot believe the stories of their grand fathers, ‘Gola vora dhan and pukur vora maas’ (Farm houses full of rice and ponds abound with fish).
Agriculture officials said that local farmers produced different rice varieties in Dakop, Koira, Paikgachha, Dumuria and Batiaghata upazilas of Khulna district years back.
But now, they, however, limited their production within few varieties of salinity tolerance rice.
Similarly the farmers in Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barishal, Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur are facing difficulties when the common people are also in hardship due to the reason.
Besides the crisis of agro sector, the people of the coastal belts live in hardship due to absence of drinking water. People of those areas used to buy drinking water from water treatment plants there.
Farmers described there miseries to The New Nation.
“From my forefathers’ era, different varieties of rice and other grains were cultivated in our lands, but nowadays severe salinity has created opposite stories. Production fell and family members were shocked,” said Mukhlesur Rahman Kajol from Paikgachha of Khulna.
He said that they consider the constantly increasing salinity as a threat to their livelihood.
Kajol said that nowadays farmers are hugely involved in cultivating shrimp in the region which is also inviting increasing salinity. Kajol and other farmers of the area said the shrimp farming also are not profitable always, as virus attacking incidents occur frequently for which the shrimp farmers fell into huge loss.
Md Atiqul Islam, Additional Deputy Director (Crops) of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Khulna told The New Nation, “The agriculture is being shrunken in these areas due to widespread of Salinity increasing there.”
He said now some salinity tolerant rice varieties are now being cultivated in those areas.
Abul Hossain, Upazila Agricultures officer of Shyamnagar told The New Nation, “There are 20,000 hectors of land to cultivate in Aman season (July to December-January), but in Boro season (December-February), only 16,000 hector lands are to be cultivated, and the remaining 4000 hectors of vast land remain out of cultivation due to salinity.”
“In Aush season(April-July), the scenario is the worst that only 200 hectors of land are to be cultivated and the rest vast lands are remain uncultivated only for the Salinity problem,” Abul Hossain said.
Md. Jasim Uddin Additional Deputy Director (Crop) of Department of Agricultural Extension, Satkhira told The New Nation, “Three coastal upazilas of the district, Ashashuni, Syamnagar and Kaligonj are suffering from salinity problems.
Change in global climate increased salinity in coastal regions in Bangladesh and thereby created multidimensional crises and threat to food safety for more than 3.50 crore people, sources said.
Local people, ecologists and agriculture officials said that drought for years was behind the increasing salinity in the lands of the coastal districts creating serious crisis in agriculture, environment and health.
They said it created adverse impact on the people of the 19 districts covering 32 percent of the cultivable lands of the country.
Crops which were once produced there in good quantity are not being cultivated now due to the salinity problem.
The agriculture lost its variety in cultivations as the land lost its fertility and the farmers are suffering from poor production.
Farmers lost especially different varieties of rice production which has made them buyers of rice once who produced huge quantity of rice and hoarded those in their farm houses traditionally.
The inheritors of the once land lords cannot believe the stories of their grand fathers, ‘Gola vora dhan and pukur vora maas’ (Farm houses full of rice and ponds abound with fish).
Agriculture officials said that local farmers produced different rice varieties in Dakop, Koira, Paikgachha, Dumuria and Batiaghata upazilas of Khulna district years back.
But now, they, however, limited their production within few varieties of salinity tolerance rice.
Similarly the farmers in Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barishal, Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur are facing difficulties when the common people are also in hardship due to the reason.
Besides the crisis of agro sector, the people of the coastal belts live in hardship due to absence of drinking water. People of those areas used to buy drinking water from water treatment plants there.
Farmers described there miseries to The New Nation.
“From my forefathers’ era, different varieties of rice and other grains were cultivated in our lands, but nowadays severe salinity has created opposite stories. Production fell and family members were shocked,” said Mukhlesur Rahman Kajol from Paikgachha of Khulna.
He said that they consider the constantly increasing salinity as a threat to their livelihood.
Kajol said that nowadays farmers are hugely involved in cultivating shrimp in the region which is also inviting increasing salinity. Kajol and other farmers of the area said the shrimp farming also are not profitable always, as virus attacking incidents occur frequently for which the shrimp farmers fell into huge loss.
Md Atiqul Islam, Additional Deputy Director (Crops) of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Khulna told The New Nation, “The agriculture is being shrunken in these areas due to widespread of Salinity increasing there.”
He said now some salinity tolerant rice varieties are now being cultivated in those areas.
Abul Hossain, Upazila Agricultures officer of Shyamnagar told The New Nation, “There are 20,000 hectors of land to cultivate in Aman season (July to December-January), but in Boro season (December-February), only 16,000 hector lands are to be cultivated, and the remaining 4000 hectors of vast land remain out of cultivation due to salinity.”
“In Aush season(April-July), the scenario is the worst that only 200 hectors of land are to be cultivated and the rest vast lands are remain uncultivated only for the Salinity problem,” Abul Hossain said.
Md. Jasim Uddin Additional Deputy Director (Crop) of Department of Agricultural Extension, Satkhira told The New Nation, “Three coastal upazilas of the district, Ashashuni, Syamnagar and Kaligonj are suffering from salinity problems.
