Food Ministry Adviser Ali Imam Majumdar has emphasized the need for a legal arrangement to protect the country's shrinking farmlands exclusively for agriculture, preventing their conversion for housing, industrial, or commercial purposes to ensure food security for future generations.
"Protection of the arable land is essential for ensuring food security and balance of rural economy and environment. But, the farmland is decreasing day by day. So, a law to protect the arable land is a must," he said.
The adviser made the remarks while presiding over a view exchange meeting on the draft of the "Land Zoning and Agricultural Land Protection Ordinance 2025" at the Land Ministry in Dhaka.
The government has prepared a draft of a new ordinance that proposes the conservation of 80% of Bangladesh's existing farmland exclusively for agriculture, prohibiting any other use without strict official approval.
The Land Adviser opined that the protection of farmland is also a protection of the environment.
He said farmlands are often filled up for building factories and brick kilns without taking approval from the authorities concerned.
"It will be possible to stop such acts if there could have been a specific law," he added.
Home Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, Housing and Public Works Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan, and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan, among others, were present at the meeting.
