The New Nation - Internet Edition

ALTHOUGH extreme weather events are taking their toll on the country's agriculture that heavily depends on climate conditions, effects of climate change on the farm sector have 'not yet been assessed and mitigation efforts not determined', the media reported recently. According to experts who made their observations on the basis of available research, impacts in various ways and degrees on crops, fisheries, livestock, water resources bio-diversity and livelihood are real. Much delayed and less-than-average monsoon rain badly affected paddy cultivation this year. Climate change is likely to reduce agricultural productivity by at least 30 per cent.

The 'draft climate change strategy and action plan' has observed that high incidence of poverty and heavy reliance of poor people on agriculture and natural resources increase their 'vulnerability' to climate change. But Bangladesh is yet to firm up the details of its agenda by the concerned ministries ahead of the ensuing global summit on climate change in Copenhagen. Government officials, as reported by media, are yet to decide whether the country-paper would concentrate on demands for reparation for damage to environment and livelihoods, or it would raise voice for common causes of most vulnerable nations.

The initiatives taken so far by the agriculture ministry are limited to literatures that touch on the ideas such as floating vegetable gardens and issues of agricultural research programmes to development of high-yielding crop varieties which are salinity, drought and flood tolerant. Water resources, in fact, will become more variable, droughts and floods will stress agricultural systems, some coastal food-producing ares will be inundated and food production will fall. Agriculture still is the principle livelihood of 70 per cent of the world's poor. Plans should be in place to reduce the severity of the blows to Bangladesh's agriculture.