Salinity particularly in the thousands of acres of croplands in the country's vast southern region is increasing almost alarmingly causing possibilities of turning a large number of croplands into barren lands in future, according to agriculture experts.
Rapidly spreading salinity was not only decreasing fertility of the croplands or increasing cost of crop production, but it was also severely affecting aqua life, biodiversity and threatening food security in Barisal region, the expert said.
Admitting the fact, the acting additional director of Barisal regional Department of Agriculture Extension, Debangshu Kumar, said that situation was deteriorating day by day.
The DAE experts said that the tolerable degree of salt in land for the production of crops was the maximum four to five unit deci Siemens per meter.
Water with electrical conductivity of only 1.15 dS/m contains approximately 2,000 pounds of salt for every acre foot of water.
Sources of regional offices of Department of Agriculture Extension, Department of Hydrograph of Water Development Board and Soil Resource Development Institute said that rapidly expanding aggression of salinity on croplands reached to 4.28 lakh hectares in 2009, from 3.77 lakh hectares in 2000 and 2.78 lakh hectares in 1973.
It means aggression salinity spread more than 27 per cent in 2000 than 1973 and more than 47 per cent in 2009 from 1973.
In 1973 the salinity affected lands were 2.18 lakh hectares in Barguna and Patuakhali districts and 0.60 lakh hectares in Bhola and Pirojpur districts.
This affects spread in more than to 3.77 lakh hectares in 2000 within 27 years.
However the aggression of salinity became speedier within next 9 years and expanded to 4.34 lakhs hectares, more 20 per cent areas, in 2009 in all of the six districts of Barisal division.
'Even salinity is now affecting at least 15 thousand hectares lands of Barisal and Jhalakathi districts, which are more than 110 kilometres far away from the coast and rapidly spreading to upper stream of north,' acknowledged Ifterkharuzzaman, scientific officer of Barisal office of SRDI.
'About one-third of the cultivated land and one-fifth of the arable land in the region are now under threats of rapidly expanding salinity,' he said.
The salinity has reached 6 to 7 dS/m per meter inside embankment and 9-12 dS/m outside embankment in different areas of the region including Kalapara, Galachipa of Patuakhali, Sadar, Amtali and Patharghata of Barguna, Zia Nagor, Nazirpur of Pirojpur, Lalmohon, Manpura of Bhola districts, according to the related sources.
During the dry season, salinity stands there at 9-11 inside to 12-16 dS/m, outside embankment, the experts noticed.
Besides over flowing of river-tide, destroy and damages of embankments during disasters like Sidr and Aila and changing climate decreasing amounts of raining in the region and also helping aggression of salinity with effect of loss of fertility.
Affected fishermen and farmers are now searching for alternative livelihood and urging for research to find out salinity resistant varieties of crops to save them from incurring losses and burden of loans.
The agriculture research department already invented IRRI-47 variety of up to 12 ds/m saline resistant paddy and expanding its cultivation in salinity affected areas and continuing research for more powerful saline resistant variety, the DAE acting AD said.
Source : New Age
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