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Bangladesh is losing farmland alarmingly at a high rate of 80,000 hectares every year from a total of 14 million hectares due to rapid construction of houses, roads and industries with the growth of the population.
Farmers of the country now require 70 per cent of the total cropland for producing 26 million tonnes of rice to meet the demand for food by 150 million people. With two million people added with the existing population every year, farmers are facing the challenge of producing an additional 0.5 million tonnes of rice each year.
It was disclosed at a press briefing on 'Proposed National Rice Policy' organised by Bangladesh Rice Foundation (BRF) in the city Saturday with its chairman Syeduzzaman in the chair.
Amidst an alarming depletion of cropland the BRF recommended constructing cluster houses, village markets, rural industries, brickfields on non-agricultural and less productive land. The government is now considering the policy recommendations for regulating the use of rice land for non-farming purposes.
"Research expenditure for the agriculture sector declined to less than 0.2 per cent of the agriculture's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2002-05 from about 0.3 per cent in 1999-02, when other developing countries spend 0.6 per cent and developed countries spend 2.0 per cent," Syeduzzaman, former finance minister said.
Bangladeshi farmers having an average farm size of only 0.68 acres have already put their best effort to produce a huge quantity of food grains during dry season by using shallow pumps, but this year the boro production will be seriously hampered due to fertiliser and diesel crisis.
It has been reported that the recommendations to impose restrictions on the use and management of rice land to protect it are now lying with the ministries of finance and agriculture.
BRF prepared and forwarded a draft 'National Rice Policy' to the government recommending immediate policy intervention to protect the agricultural lands of the country.
BRF has recommended to increase the allocation for research to at least 0.4 per cent of agro GDP as the country's rice production will have to increase by extra 4 million tonnes by 2020 from the current 26 million to 30 million to meet the current level of per capita production.
The National Land Use Policy, Bangladesh which was enacted in June 2001 formulated comprehensive prescriptions for improving the utilisation and management of land in the country. No action plan for the implementation of the policy has, however, been developed yet.
The National Seed Policy (1993) has come to a halt as the farmers themselves still constitute the source of about 90 per cent of all seeds used in rice production, the other sources are Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation 5 per cent and NGOs and private sector about 5 per cent. But government intervention is a must in the sphere of hybrid and high quality seed production so that companies can not monopolise the seed business.
Average pest damage has been reported to be more than that 15 per cent of total production so the existing mechanism for regulating the manufacture, import and quality control of pesticide must be adequate both in public and private sector along with more use of surface water for irrigation has been suggested.
Thwarting the middlemen eating away the major benefit of agricultural subsidy the government should set up effective monitoring system, proper management, distribution channel to make rice cultivation more remunerative as per head rice consumption in the country is 164 kg every year when it is 148 kg in Indonesia, 103 kg in Thailand, 91 kg in Sri Lanka and 73 kg in Malaysia.
Rice supplies about 75 per cent of the caloric intake and 55 per cent of the protein intake in the country and it employs about 55 per cent of the total labour force of the nation.
Among others, Dr. Sadequl Islam, Dr Moazzem Hossain and Reaz Ahmad were also present at the press briefing.
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