The New Nation - Internet Edition

A SURVEY on land holdings has found 0.31 percent decrease in cropland over a period of about two decades. The survey identified diversion of cropland to making orchards, fisheries and social forestry as the cause of the decrease. But there are some other important reasons that lead to the sharp decrease in croplands. With the growth of population more and more croplands are diverted to make a greater number of homes.

Industrial estates are normally established on less fertile and barren lands. But such establishments are very often established on fertile agricultural land. Hundreds of acres of land acquired for setting up industrial estates in different districts have remained unused for years. Unplanned urbanisation and infrastructural development are the other causes of loss of agricultural land. These factors together progressively bring down the cultivable land area. This has serious implications on food production in the country.

In view of the urgency of the problem the government should adopt a land use plan to ensure appropriate use of land. The land use plan must have provisions to strictly prohibit use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. Zoning of economic activities based on nature and quality of land needs to be made to allocate different types of land for different uses. No agricultural land should be used for industries, urbanisation and physical infrastructure. Agricultural land is also threatened by global warming. In the event of even one metre of sea level rise due to global warming sixteen percent of land is likely to go under saline water. This, together with loss of agricultural land for unplanned uses, may bring economic catastrophe unless steps are taken right now to avert the trend in destruction of agricultural land.