In Bangladesh, while the amount of cultivable land is decreasing, soil fertility and organic matter levels are also declining at an alarming rate. Experts say excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is damaging soil health. They warn that if this situation continues, sustaining agricultural production in the long term will become a major challenge. A detailed report by Sushanta k Singha, with visuals by Al Mamun.

Details story:  Bangladesh has around 20 million acres of agricultural land, of which about 18.5 million acres are cultivable. Due to population growth, construction of houses, industries, factories and roads, as well as river erosion, agricultural land is decreasing at an average rate of 0.5 percent per year. At the same time, excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and hormones is causing land to lose its fertility.

Delwar Jahan, entrepreneur of the Natural Agriculture Center and Biodiversity Farm, said:

“About 79 percent of the soil cannot supply the nutrients necessary for plants. For example, zinc deficiency weakens the human immune system. Around 56 percent of our soils are deficient in zinc. As a result, children are also suffering from zinc deficiency. A single pinch of soil contains nearly one billion beneficial bacteria. But modern chemical-dependent agriculture does not take this biodiversity within the soil into consideration.”

Dr. F. H. Ansari, Company Advisor at ACI Limited, said on the issue:

“I spoke with the Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council. He said that one-third of Bangladesh’s land has become toxic due to the excessive use of inorganic fertilizers. This is a serious concern and immediate steps must be taken.”

Agricultural researchers say that cultivating three crops a year on the same land does not allow the soil enough time to rest. They warn that unless the use of cow dung and other organic soil-enriching materials is increased, future food production could be threatened.

Delwar Jahan, entrepreneur of the Natural Agriculture Center and Biodiversity Farm in Manikganj, said:

“Rice-washed water, raw eggs, rice or wheat bran, husk, cow dung, a little wild soil, sour yogurt, and date or palm sap can be mixed together and left for a few days to create a beneficial bacterial culture. When this is mixed with cow dung and stored, it turns into a powerful organic fertilizer within a month. Mixing one liter of this solution with ten liters of water and spraying it on farmland can serve as an alternative to pesticides and help fulfill micronutrient deficiencies in the soil.”

More than 50 percent of the chemical fertilizer used in Bangladesh is urea. However, experts say that the nitrogen demand of farmland can also be met through livestock urine.

Delwar Jahan said: “A large cow produces around 3,000 liters of urine annually. This urine can work like urea fertilizer by increasing nitrogen in the soil. If farmers collect it and mix one liter of urine with ten liters of water before applying it to plants or farmland, the need for external nitrogen fertilizer can be reduced significantly.”

Every year, around 8,000 brick kilns remove fertile topsoil equivalent to about 6,000 acres of land for brick production. Overall, the BNP government has turned the Agricultural Land Protection Ordinance, introduced during the interim government period, into law in an effort to protect farmland.

“No chemical fertilizers, pesticides or hormones are used on this land. Because organic fertilizers are used, all the necessary natural elements remain intact in the soil. The natural smell of the soil itself indicates how fertile it is. Nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh’s land has already lost its fertility. There is no alternative to organic fertilizer to restore it.”