SALINITY is silently creeping into the vast areas of the country’s Southwest region over the years. The green croplands have turned into a gray and deserted zone, resulting in problems to the once affluent cultivators of the area. Farmers of Mongla and Rampal upazilas of Bagerhat and Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira used to get fresh harvest of Aman on a yearly basis. But the greed to earn more cash by shrimp cultivation made their lands infertile due to salinity. For the last several years people there cannot grow rice due to rising salinity. The use of cropland for export-oriented shrimp cultivation, has destabilized the food-chain of the area.
Almost through the whole year, land and canals are used mainly for farming brackish water shrimp for export purpose. A fall in freshwater flow from the upstream, rising sea level, shrimp cultivation and its uncontrolled expansion, and congestion in canals for embankments built by politically influential people are mainly responsible for salinity that has taken a toll on food grain production. In the past, cultivation of transplanted Aman rice was in order to ensure the supply of their staple food in the area. But over the years, Aman acreage fell gradually due to rising salt content in soil, mainly from continued saline water retention on farmland for shrimp cultivation and congestion in canals.
Salinity is a curse. Scientists said Aus and Boro rice cannot be grown in saline lands, while Aman cultivation also faces setback as none of the varieties can tolerate such a high level of salinity. More than two lakh hectares of land in the south have lost the potential for agriculture as plants cannot absorb sufficient amount of water due to high salt concentration. In this situation, plants actually die from water stress or drought in most soils if the soluble salt concentration is high. To ensure food security, many farmers in these coastal areas tried to grow saline-tolerant rice in recent years but could not get good results. Not only rice farming, trees such as betel nuts and coconuts, fruits as well as livestock also suffer due to rising salinity.
The main form of livelihood –shrimp cultivation has grown over the years due to a rising export demand, government’s policy support and financing by multilateral lenders such as World Bank.
The farmers ruined their croplands for shrimp cultivation but the shrimp cultivation did not make their lives stable and made their high-yielding fields infertile, perhaps forever. A coordinated and complementary plan needs to be chalked out and implemented to save the area from becoming a gray zone. The ecological and environmental characteristics of the area must be preserved for renewable economic gains.
