Farmland Must be Protected to Ensure Food Security

The country is losing farmland every day. Farmland is the main source of food security, yet it is moving to non-farm uses. This is not new, but agriculturists have long warned that the result will be severe. If farmland shrinks, the output of rice, wheat, vegetables and fruits will fall. A food crisis may follow, and the country may depend on imports.

Land is shrinking while the population is growing. A small area of farmland cannot feed so many people. Food security and farm output will face a big crisis in the future. The Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) says about 69 thousand hectares of farmland leave farming every year. Unplanned urban growth, fast industry growth, new homes, roads and river erosion cause this.

An Asian Development Bank report from 2025 says farmland falls by 0.36 percent each year. About 307 acres go to industry, towns, homes and roads every day. In the last few years, 2 percent of the country’s farmland has left farming. Bangladesh’s population is passing 200 million. If this loss does not stop, the country cannot feed everyone in the future.

Growing homes in villages and towns is a main reason for the loss. Industry also takes more farmland. The country needs industry for its economy and jobs. But the big question is whether industry grows with a plan that protects farmland. River erosion also swallows farmland and homesteads every year. People who lose their homes build new ones elsewhere, and that takes more farmland.

The government spends hundreds of crores of taka each year to stop river erosion, but it cannot stop it. Stories of corruption, rule breaking and looting in this sector have run for years. Public money washes away with the river, and no one fixes the problem. Farming is not only about rice. Fish farming, dairy and poultry also depend on it, and each one links to the others. People fill ponds and water bodies as well as farmland to build homes and industry. This cuts output in these sectors too.

The country has no food crisis today, but the loss is so fast that a crisis may come soon. Floods, droughts, low rain and storms already destroy a lot of food grain each year. This often leaves a gap in output targets. A shortage of any one food item leads to cries for help across the country. In 2019, heavy rain and sudden floods hurt onion output badly. Prices shot up and a crisis followed. The government then moved to import onions from Pakistan, Turkey and other countries.

A small country like ours has seen what happens without food security. The famine of 1974 is now history. After that, the country pushed to raise farm output. But the population kept growing, and unplanned towns, industry, roads, homesteads and buildings kept taking farmland. The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) says farmland has fallen by about 30 percent since independence. Farm output has still grown a lot in the same time. But if farmland keeps shrinking, output will fall one day and food security will break down.

Ukraine and Iran faced war, yet no food crisis hit them. Iran is also under sanctions. The reason is that both countries grow their own food on large farmland. In our country, the fall in farmland puts food security at risk.

To ensure food security, the country must protect farmland. Agriculturists say the country should plan multistory buildings in rural areas. The authorities need one joint plan to build industry, roads and other buildings while saving farmland. The agriculture, industry and land ministries and other bodies must act together. Vietnam built elevated roads and flyovers between districts to save farmland, and it saved a lot of land that way. Bangladesh should think about how to build roads without losing farmland.

The country must also focus on growing more on less land. Our agricultural scientists have already done well in high yield and nutritious crops. The country should turn single crop land into multi crop land. News said recently that Nilphamari turned single crop land into three crop land. The country needs a plan to do this on farmland everywhere. There is no other way to food security than protecting farmland and raising its output.