Mar 9, Dhaka (bdnews24.com) — Bangladesh could lose all its arable land by the end of the century if the current rate of encroachment on farmland is not stopped, according to new research.

Zafar Sadeque, a professor of agricultural studies at Atgharia College in Pabna, made the observation in a paper presented at a symposium in the capital on Tuesday.

According to his research, about 1 million hectares of arable land were lost in the last 16 years in Bangladesh from industrial expansion and the increasing demand for human accommodation.

Sadeque has extrapolated that the country is losing about 212 hectares every day – an equivalent of 77,000 hectares per year.

"A further 1.4 million hectares of cultivable land will be lost by 2021 – the year when Bangladesh will celebrate its golden jubilee of independence," said Sadeque.

He added that 7.5 million hectares of currently available arable land could vanish even sooner if population and industrial growth increase further.

Sadeque suggested that the loss of over 1.2 million hectares could be avoided by constrcuting multi-storey buildings in villages for family housing.

"If 100 families are accommodated in a 10-storey building containing 10 flats on each floor, then only 1.3 hectare of land will be required rather than 130 hectares", he said.

Other papers presented at the session highlighted that marginalised people were slowly losing their access to productive natural resources including land.

The presentations highlighted the plight of poor fisherfolk in the country's north-eastern floodplains and the trend of the eviction of indigenous peoples in different parts of Bangladesh.

The agricultural symposium was inaugurated earlier in the day by land minister Rezaul Karim Hira, who said that comprehensive agrarian reform was imperative to ensure Bangladesh's food security, people's livelihoods and to increase the country's economic prosperity.

Workers Party President and MP Rashed Khan Menon called for securing farmers rights and reform

The conference - organised by the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL), a coalition of about 200 national and local non-governmental organisations across the country – will continue over the next two days including sessions on the WTO, farmers organisation and land reform.

Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, convener of the coalition chaired the inaugural session, at the National Press Club; CSRL member secretary Ziaul Hoque Mukta moderated.

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