The government plans to stop brick kilns burning the fertile top layer of farmland by supplying them with surplus soil from canal excavation instead. Dinajpur TV reported the plan on Saturday, 17 October, citing the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
State minister for environment Sheikh Faridul Islam said a pilot project starts this year and will later be expanded nationwide. Deputy commissioners in districts where canals are to be dug have been told to bring licensed kiln owners into the scheme, and the excavated soil will be delivered to designated kilns. Nationwide canal digging may begin in late October or early November. The kiln owners' association has been asked to submit data on its kilns, and efforts are under way to expand the use of concrete blocks in place of fired bricks.
Professor Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumder, dean of science at Stamford University, estimates that about 8,000 brick kilns use farmland topsoil and the soil beneath it. Once topsoil is removed it takes 15 to 20 years to recover, yields fall and fields become waterlogged. He noted that circulars on block bricks issued in 2019 and 2025 were never fully put into effect.
Professor Md Zillur Rahman of Dhaka University's Department of Disaster Science and Climate Resilience said topsoil holds the most organic matter; once it is gone, farmers need more fertiliser and pesticide to grow crops again, multiplying their costs.
Md Alamgir Kabir, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), said the Agricultural Land Protection and Land Use Control Act 2026 bans cutting farmland soil for commercial use, yet many farmers sell it to kilns for quick cash. He wants a national policy for handling soil from the roughly 20,000 km canal programme. Under the Land Crimes Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, cutting topsoil from arable land without the deputy commissioner's permission carries up to two years in prison and a fine.
Reporting: National desk, Dinajpur TV
Photo: Dolon Prova / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Dinajpur TV
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