A recent study on rural land has estimated that 69.5% rural households lost their land in the past 10 years for various reasons among which grabbing and acquisition were two major contributors.
The study titled “Rural Land Market in Bangladesh: A Situation Analysis” conducted by a team led by Prof Abul Barkat, chief adviser of Human Development Research Centre (HDRC), points out that the average amount of lost land per household was 64.3 decimal.
A total of 400 households came under the study in three upazilas – Amtali in Barguna, Jamalpur Sadar and Mohanpur in Rajshahi.
Prof Barkat, however, says it cannot be called a national-level study because “the sample size is thinner than the total rural population of Bangladesh.”
“But, various questions will come from this study and that will be helpful for a large-scale study,” he said during a PowerPoint presentation of the study at a roundtable organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation yesterday.
Barkat said: “Most of the land losers are poor.”
The study pinpoints the key reasons for the loss of land in the three rural areas: river erosion (32.1%), deception (20.7%), grabbing (18.9%), government land acquisition (13.2%), litigation (5.7%), feud between brothers (5.7%) and others (3.7%).
Prof Barkat said the data was prepared on the basis of a study on three sample areas; in case of a large-scale study, the loss limit caused by erosion would come down as river erosion is not a common feature all over the country.
The study is part of a project titled “Sustainable Access to Land Equality (SALE),” jointly being carried out by Manusher Jonno Foundation, CARE and Uttaran in collaboration with the Department of Land Records and Survey of Bangladesh and sponsored by the European Union.
The major focus of the project is on promoting digitalisation of land records and survey in Bangladesh. It is expected that this process will ensure equality in access to land leading to the achievement of the target of Digital Bangladesh.
Prof MM Akash and land expert Shamsul Huda recommended that the government should form a “land bank” to control land purchase and sale mostly for the agricultural land all over the country.
Referring to Barkat’s study, MM Akash said: “Land grabbing and acquisition are not properly explained in the study. If these two factors had been analysed properly, it would have become a national-level study.
“If a ‘land bank’ is formed, land grabbing will slump. If anyone wants to sell their land, they have to sell it to the land bank and vice versa.”
Akash recommended three steps – land digitalisation, bringing an end to political influence, and formation of a proper land law – to prevent anomalies in the field.
Shamsul Huda echoed the view, saying poor and marginal people were losing their land because of the absence of a proper land law.
The discussion was chaired by Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation.