Rampant saline water-based shrimp cultivation on agricultural lands in the south-western coastal region of the country including Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts poses a threat to soil fertility, thus casting an ominous shadow on country’s food security and environment as a whole. The farmland of Koyra, Paikgaccha, Dacope upazilas of Khulna district, Shyamnagar, Assasuni, Kaliganj, Debhata, Kolaroa upazilas of Satkhira and Rampal, Kochua, Mongla, Saronkhola upazilas of Bagerhat district have lost soil fertility due to unplanned cultivation of shrimp, especially the tiger shrimp (Bagda) species which requires a high level of saline water, concerned sources said.
Shrimp cultivation first began in Munsiganj of Satkhira in 1972, outside the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) embankment, which was built in the 1960s along the coastline to save land from saline water.
Gradually the cultivation rolled inside the embankment and engulfed village after village and then districts, making thousands of agri-farmers jobless. As the coastal land was mono-crop, where only Aman-rice could be cultivated during rainy season, soon shrimp business became a round-the-year activity. Shrimp cultivation has taken more than 77 percent of the region’s agricultural land.
Farmer Abdul Latif Sarder of Lata union under Paikgaccha upazila alleged, “The vested quarters breach the local embankment and let the saline water enter the cropland. As the poor farmers cannot grow crops or rear cattle there, they sell their land at throw-away prices to the unscrupulous people.”
The cattle and bird population and number of trees have declined because of indiscriminate saline water shrimp cultivation, claimed local people. Even grass cannot grow here due to the excessive level of salinity in the soil, he added.
Another farmer Noor Mohammad Gazi said, “I have over 20 bighas of cropland here but I cannot grow crop there as those have lost fertility due to intrusion of saline water.”
“Fodder crisis is a serious problem in the area. I purchased straw for Tk 10,000 this year for my cattle. But it is not possible to rear cattle as we have to purchase fodder regularly,” he also said.
Salinity caused by growing shrimp cultivation over the last three and a half decades, damaged the soil fertility of more than one million hectares of coastal arable land that could yield 2.5 million tonnes of rice, enough to meet the country’s annual food deficit, according to the government’s Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI).
A recent SRDI study says about three quarters of the land cannot grow rice due to high salt content in the country’s coastal districts, mainly Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat.
Professor Dilip Kumar Datta, Environmental Science Faculty of Khulna University said, “Shrimp cultivation can take place when the ‘ph’ of soil remains static at 5.5, he said, adding that even shrimp cannot survive in the environment if toxic level becomes high because of years of cultivation.”
Prof Dilip further said, “The soil of the farmland here has lost fertility gravely as the presence of acid and alkali is not proportionately traced in the laboratory test. The excessive level of salinity is the reason behind the problem.”
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Khulna Md Abdul Aziz said, “Salt water staying in shrimp enclosure for long time causes gradual salt sedimentation in the land, which destroys fundamental element of the soil, and thus its basic composition.” He urged the government to boost agriculture in the region banning unplanned saline water shrimp farming to protect the environment and ensure food security.
-With The Independent input
