Crop production has been soaring steadily in the greater Chittagong region with farmers now more focused on diversifying into various vegetables alongside rice.
However, triple-cropping land areas are shrinking alarmingly, mainly in its coastal areas.
Harvests from triple-cropping have dropped significantly and so has the crop density in the areas affected.
Triple-cropping is a form of multiple cropping in which three crops are grown in sequence and/or interplanted on the same land in any given year.
The loss of triple-cropping land continued amid repeated warnings by the government against encroachment and building of industries close to arable land.
The Land Reform Bill was designed to stop the building of any infrastructure on triple-cropping lands.
What’s behind the drop?
Official findings say a rise in salinity along the coastline of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Noakhali districts caused the situation.
Significant loss of topsoil and land fertility coupled with growing urbanization, encroachment and erosion also contributed to the loss of triple-cropping area.
Additionally, the emergence of dried-up riverbeds every summer (locally known as chars) also added to the crisis.
According to the latest data from the Agricultural Extension Department (AED), farmers in the districts of the region applied the method on 125,913 hectares of land in fiscal year 2022-23.
Five years before that, there were 167,005 hectares of triple-cropping land.
This amounts to a decline of a staggering 42,092 hectares or 25.2% triple-cropping land over the period, when the average crop density decreased from 202% to 197%. Crop density is the number of crops planted in a single unit of land.
Mono, double-crop lands expanding The AED estimate shows that the area of single-cropping land spanned 202,943 hectares of land across Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Noakhali, Fani and Lakshmipur in the FY 2005-06.
It dropped to 167,005 hectares in FY 2017-18.
However, mono crop area increased to 182,115 hectares in FY 2022-23.
There were 351,759 hectares of two-crop land in the five districts in FY 2005-06.
The volume jumped to 382,754 hectares in FY 2022-23.
Bids to boost triple-cropping fail
The government took measures to increase the area of triple-cropping lands, but the production of tree crops a year went into a downward trend after FY 2017-18.
Compared to 129,461 hectares of triple-cropping land in FY 2005-06, the area surged to 167,005 hectares in FY 2017-18 and then plummeted to 125,913 hectares in FY 2022-23.
Chittagong AED Additional Director Mohammad Nasir Uddin said that the agricultural production in the Chittagong region is currently at its peak compared to any time in the past.
“Many lands that were previously utilized for mono-crop cultivation are now being utilized for double cropping annually.
Additionally, cultivation has expanded to previously uncultivated lands, leading to a decline in triple-crop cultivation,” he said.
At the same time, the production of crops varies from one area to another, said Nasir.
“Despite the increase in population leading to a decrease in arable land, the Agriculture Department is diligently working to enhance farmer productivity in the region,” he said.
“Not only in Chittagong but across the country, the use of technology in agriculture was not that widespread even 20 years ago.
And we’re working as to how production can be increased further through using technology on smaller land,” he said.
The AED official regretted the loss of arable land in the country despite the government's efforts in this regard.
“I hope our agriculture sector will become more self-reliant in the future,” he hoped.
