Farmland in Patuakhali is shrinking day by day as towns expand. Even so, farmers in the district grow various crops from high-yielding seed on 203,601 hectares. To raise yields they use excessive fertiliser and powerful pesticides, which is constantly putting agriculture in this coastal area at risk. No accurate figures are available on how much damage has been done to soil and the environment, and those concerned are calling on the government to take effective action now.

Md Mamun of the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) in Patuakhali said uncontrolled use of chemical fertiliser and pesticides is damaging the soil. No research has yet been done on how much Bangladesh's cultivable soil has been harmed, and research is needed to make up for the damage.

Dr Mohammad Asadul Haque, professor of soil science at Patuakhali Science and Technology University, told Jagonews that heavy fertiliser use is a serious problem. When one fertiliser is overused in the soil, uptake of other nutrients falls; if the soil has too much of one element, uptake drops. When people eat that food, they develop nutritional problems. Pesticides are another problem: using them on soil kills beneficial micro-organisms along with harmful insects.

He added that farmers in the southern region leave rice straw in the fields, and this straw can be mixed into the soil. It would greatly reduce the nutrient shortage in soils that already lack nutrients.

Plants need 17 essential nutrients to grow. Some of them (hydrogen, oxygen and carbon) come from water and air. The remaining 14 (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, magnesium, chlorine, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum and cobalt) come from the soil. Soils have been showing nutrient deficiencies since 1950. Our soils already lack six or seven essential nutrients, and another three or four may run short in the next 20–30 years. Experts say this could make high yields harder to achieve.

According to the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Patuakhali had 213,600 hectares of farmland in 2010, falling to 203,601 hectares in 2020. Over ten years, urban expansion has cut the district's cultivable land by 10,000 hectares.

Hridayeshwar Dutta, deputy director of the DAE in Patuakhali, said: "Farmers use more chemical fertiliser than organic. We are working to encourage them to use organic fertiliser. Pesticides are used in this region, and for lack of awareness farmers use them without control. The agriculture department is working so that they use pesticides in measured doses."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.