Pinky Akter : Md. Abbas Uddin. He is living in Chorfashion district of Vhola . According to family sources, his occupation is agricultural work. 52-year-old Abbas has been working in agriculture for about 32 years.
He cultivates paddy and various kinds of vegetables in his 2 acres of land. However, in recent years, his agricultural land has not yielded as expected. And this farmer blames the effect of climate change on less rain, and weather variation as the main reason.
Climate change has had a negative impact on agricultural land. Agriculture in saline areas is at grave risk. They are facing various problems including irrigation water.
Talk to more farmers in Charfashion. They said that this year’s low rainfall has adversely affected production. There has been an increase in the number of insects on the land. Green leafhoppers eat rice chlorophyll. There may also be various crop diseases
But the bigger problem is salt water. which mixes with agricultural soil and destroys crops. Talked to Solaiman of the local farmers association. He said the arable land is becoming uncultivated due to the intensity of salinity. Yields are falling, crops are deepening economic wounds in coastal areas. Farmers said that they could not sow rice seeds on time due to the weather this year.
the problem is that of irrigation water in the land. The decrease in the navigability of the rivers and the increase in the height of the salt water of the sea is due to the fact that the salt water of the sea is entering the agricultural land through tributaries from the river. In this area, it is not possible to irrigate the land from river or pond water in the coastal agricultural land, so the farmers have to irrigate the land by raising water through tube wells.
Farmers say that we used to irrigate the agricultural land by retaining the rainwater, but this year due to less rain, it will have a negative impact on paddy cultivation. In addition, due to less rain, irrigation will have to be done by extracting underground water, in this case, the production cost will also increase.
in this regard, Dr. Ainun Nishat, former vice-chancellor and climate expert of BRAC University, said that the situation is getting worse due to salinity. Farmers are unable to use surface water for irrigation, she further added that if the land is not made arable, it will affect people’s life and ecology. Apart from this, salt water should be prevented from entering by constructing and rebuilding dams in this area. Integrated planning and its implementation are essential for overall development.
Researchers from Ohio State University and Arizona State University have conducted a study on the effects of climate change. The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change under the title ‘Coastal Climchange The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change under the title ‘Coastal Climate Change, Soil Salinity and Human Migration in Bangladesh’. The researchers estimated that a moderate increase in salinity would reduce a farm’s agricultural income by 21 percent annually. 40 percent of agricultural land in southern Bangladesh will be under serious threat.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Founder Director Professor Dr. M. Tofazzal Islam Shaheen said, due to climate change, the agriculture sector is suffering severe damage. Crop diseases are increasing. Day by day the underground water level is going down, rivers are drying up, and deserts have appeared in some areas. He also said that high yield is possible without water irrigation in agriculture. The problem of climate change is becoming more pronounced on the coast of Bangladesh. Due to saline water in agriculture, they are not able to provide artificial irrigation. He talks about the discovery of agricultural production with less irrigation. Besides, Tofazzal Islam also suggested developing new technology and increasing research in agriculture.
3,000 liters of water is required for the production of each kilogram of rice. Maize and wheat require one-tenth of water.
A study by the Soil Resources Research Institute (SRDI) has revealed that coastal districts are deprived of more than 3 million tonnes of foodgrain production every year due to salinity alone.
SRDI recently conducted a study to assess the impact of salinity on agriculture in coastal areas. It has emerged that salinity has a large negative impact on the overall socio-economic situation including food security in the southern part of the country. As the salinity increases, the activity of microorganisms in the soil of the coastal region is decreasing. At the same time, the availability of organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the soil is also decreasing. On the contrary, copper and zinc levels are increasing.
Ripon Kumar Mandal, Chairman of the Department of Agricultural Economics of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University said, “we have started climate tolerant agricultural production. Various adaptations including aqua culture are being adopted on the coast.
