Bangladesh: Challenges in Sustainable Agriculture



Bangladesh: Challenges in Sustainable Agriculture

A.   Introduction
There are 2.5 billion people in the world whose livelihoods depend on agriculture. Of these, one billionaire family farmers working small farms (of two hectares or less). The other 1.5 billion include farm laborers, fishers, migrant workers and pluralists. Family farms are more than just businesses.They also contributes to local, regional and national food security and to economic development. Forthe farmers themselves, their farms are the basis for secure livelihoods and their well-being. World agriculture will undergo far-reaching economic and physical change in the coming 50 years. Population increase, urbanization and income growth will drive the demand for food while high energy prices, stress on natural resources, and climate change may act to constrain supply. To feed the world’s growing population – projected to exceed 9 billion in 2050 (UN, 2009) – it will be necessary to boost the production of food and to do so sustainably[1]. To be sustainable, agriculture will need to be intensified and its environmental footprint made to shrink. Most important barrier to sustainable agriculture is genetically modified organ (GMO) as well as high rate of population growth (Wambugu, 2003). A sustainable agriculture is a system of agriculture that will last. It is an agriculture that maintains its productivity over the long run. Sustainable agriculture is both a philosophy and a system of farming. It has its roots in a set of values that reflects an awareness of both ecological and social realities. Working with natural soil processes is of particular importance. Sustainable agriculture systems are designed to take maximizes advantage of existing soil nutrient and water cycles, energy flows, and soil organisms for food production (Fariborz, Ma’rof, Zahid and Sarjit, 2009). These substances are rejected on the basis of their dependence on non-renewable resources, disruption potential within the environment, and their potential impacts on wildlife, livestock and human health. Instead, sustainable agriculture systems rely on crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, appropriate mechanical cultivation, and mineral bearing rocks to maximize soil biological activity, and to maintain soil fertility and productivity. Natural, biological, and cultural controls are used to manage pests, weeds and diseases (giz, 2010).

B.   Definitions of Sustainable Agriculture
The idea of sustainable agriculture has been around a long time. Since the very first crop was sown and animal was penned, farmers have tried to ensure that their land produces a similar or increasing yield of products year after back-breaking year; recent attempts to popularize the concept build on this tradition.
Modern definition:  Sustainable agriculture is the use of farming systems and practices which maintain or enhance (FACTA 1990):
  1. The economic viability of agricultural production;
  2. The natural resource base; and
  3. Other ecosystems which are influenced by agricultural activities.
This definition can be supplemented by some fundamental principles of sustainable agriculture:
  1. That farm productivity is enhanced over the long term;
  2. That adverse impacts on the natural resource base and associated ecosystems are ameliorated, minimized or avoided;
  3. That residues resulting from the use of chemicals in agriculture are minimized;
  4. That net social benefit (in both monetary and non-monetary terms) from agriculture is maximized; and
  5. That farming systems are sufficiently flexible to manage risks associated with the vagaries of climate and markets.
C. Sustainable Agriculture in Global perspective
Agriculture is sustainable when it is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, culturally appropriate and based on a holistic scientific approach[2]. Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA) is agriculture which makes optimal use of locally available natural and human resources (such as soil, water, vegetation, local plants and animals, and human labor, knowledge and skill) and which is economically feasible, ecologically sound, culturally adapted and socially just(giz, 2010). Sustainable development is the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable[3].

D. Objectives of Sustainable Agriculture
  • Make best use of the resources available
  • Minimize use of non-renewable resources
  • Protect the health and safety of farm workers, local communities and society
  • Protect and enhance the environment and natural resources
  • Protect the economic viability of farming operations
  • Provide sufficient financial reward to the farmer to enable continued production and contribute to the well-being of the community
  • Produce sufficient high-quality and safe food
  • Build on available technology, knowledge and skills in ways that suit local conditions and capacity.
·         Basic Elements of Sustainable Agriculture
·         Sustainable agriculture’s benefit to farm and community economies is grounded in four well-established economic development principles and a fifth, concern for the community (giz, 2010).
E. Steps to a Sustainable Agriculture
The agro-ecosystem is made up of many interacting components with multiple goals. Nurtures natural resources and maintains ecological balance is driven by market demand and economically viable, ensures local replicability, gender equity, and social acceptability, generates predictable income and considers availability of household labor and seasonality of labor demand.
F. Approaches of Sustainable Agriculture
Ø  Sustainable agriculture has been practiced for many decades and encompasses a tremendous number of different approaches described by many different names. To this point, most of these approaches have largely been limited to the substitution of environmentally (giz, 2010).
Ø  More significant advances can be expected, however, as a result of developments in the science and art of agro-ecosystem design and management.
Ø  Many of the approaches in conventional agriculture (minimum tillage, chemical banding) would fall into the "efficiency" category (giz, 2010).
Ø  Efforts to substitute safe products and practices (botanical pesticides, bio-control agents, imported manures, rock powders and mechanical weed control) are also gaining popularity (giz, 2010).
Ø  The systems that focus on redesign of the farm are the most sophisticated, generally the most environmentally and economically sustainable, over the long term.
The approaches of sustainable agriculture is very variable, and is dependent on the physical resources of the farmer, and the degree deficiencies in support farm, the talents and commitment of the support available (Abelson and Hines, 1999).
G. Policies for Sustainable Agriculture
The Bangladesh govt. policies have always emphasized food grain self-sufficiency, which has not necessarily coincided with agricultural sustainability. The growth of agricultural production and productivity, which had risen significantly during 1970s and 1980s, declined during 1990s. These slowdowns have worsened since 2000; both overall agricultural production and food grains production have shown negative growth rates in 2000-01 to 2002-03 periods (GoI, 2002). Decline in the growth rates of agricultural production and productivity is a serious issue considering the questions of food security, livelihood, and environment. This examination must be framed not only by Bangladesh’s ongoing need to ensure food self-sufficiency but also by the consequences of access to international markets (FACTA, 1990).
H. Challenges in Agriculture
H.1. Challenges in Agriculture[4]
ü Rapid decrease of agricultural land @1% p.a. (82000 ha decrease annually)
ü Population growth @1.36% p.a.
ü Climate change and variations.
ü Rapid urbanization growth @12% p.a.
ü Agricultural research and education (manpower shortage, updating course curriculum).
ü Technology generation (needs expertise, time and money, logistics support).
ü Alternate livelihoods/rehabilitation program.
ü Depletion of Soil Fertility: low nutrition
ü Falling Productivity of HYV: Stagnancy in Research
ü Domination of Rice: 75% Cropped area
ü Population Increase: Additional 2.5 MMT by 2015
ü High Production Cost: Irrigation 26% P. Cost Subsidy only 0.1%
ü Marketing and storage Problems (such as potato cold storage)
ü Inadequate value addition /food processing.
ü Climate change adaptation & mitigation.
ü Research-extension-farmer-market linkage.
ü Shortage of Argil labor at peak seasons.
H.2. Environmental Challenges in Agriculture
The challenge for Bangladesh agriculture, to put simply, is to increase production, while minimizing environmental impact. This includes conserving and protecting the quality of the resources that determine the performance of agriculture like land, water and air. Reductions in yield, although determined by many factors, may be partially a consequence of land and water exploitation (FAO, 1994).  By the early 1980s approx. 53 percent of Bangladesh’s geographical area had been considered degraded according to the Ministry of Agriculture: Water logging affected about 8 percent of the cultivated area, while alkali and acidic soils both affected about 4 percent. The major process of land degradation is soil erosion (due to water and wind erosion) contributing to over 75 percent of the land degradation. One third of this land was degraded by human activities, while nearly one half was degraded by a combination of human and natural causes. CPD found a negative and significant negative relationship between land degradation and foodgrain productivity in both the 1980s and 1990s. The future challenges are very significant for sustainable agriculture. The real picture is shown in figure-1 below:









Figure-1.
If look the graph (Figure-1) where in 1970 population were very small in number but in 2010 it’s a large number of population and food production also increasing but the total cultivate land are not increases some time it was decreases too. Our present population is 150 Million and if this rate of birth is ongoing than by 2020 it will reach 160 Million or above.  So, it the final time to address the population control otherwise the upcoming disaster would be damaged our whole structure and when people eat the meet of human being in absent of food or food crises.

H.3. the challenges for sustainable farming
Many development and farmers’ organizations, researchers and policymakers are already convinced of the opportunities that small scale sustainable farming provides in meeting the needs of a growing world population for food and energy. The publication of the 2008 World Development Report (World Bank, 2007) and the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD, 2009) clearly show the way forward for sustainable agriculture. But although the time is right for an alternative agricultural approach, real change is difficult to achieve and family farmers still face many challenges.
• Climate change is already affecting food production and putting vulnerable, small-scalefarmers at risk. At the same time, industrial agriculture contributes significantly to climate change;
• Land grabs are accelerating the development of industrial farming, with multinational companies producing for the world market, and further marginalizing small scale producers and local markets;
• Share holders and private equity funds are increasingly using land and agricultural commodities in their speculative activities;
• A few seed companies control the global seed market which is severely reducing agro biodiversity;
• The agrochemical industry advertises their strategy for industrial agriculture as the solution for the future, despite their past failures;
• A few multinational food companies exert significant control over a large number of value chains, thus reducing market opportunities for small-scale producers and small retailers.

H.4. Policy Challenges for Developing Countries
1. There is an urgent need for clear priorities to invest in biotechnology (FAO, 1994).
2. Another crucial area of need is to ensure availability of finances for biotechnology research and development (FAO, 1994).
3. A responsible management of biotechnology should be established as a pre-requisite for sustainable agricultural development and it requires that effective regulation for bio-safety and food-safety are established wherever transgenic crops are to be developed and released.
4. Developing countries should also consider the role of intellectual property rights and their impact on the acquisition, development and diffusion of biotechnology (FAO, 1994).

I. Conclusion
Modern agricultural biotechnology is one of the mostpromising developments in modern science. Used in collaboration with traditional or conventional breeding methods, it can raise crop productivity, increase resistance to pests and diseases, develop tolerance to adverse weather conditions, improve the nutritional value of some foods and enhance the durability of products during harvesting or shipping (Kamal and Sultana- DNF.). With reasonable biosafetyregulations and appropriate policies, this can be madeaccessible to small-scale farmers with little or no risk tohuman health and the environment. Therefore, in a worldwhere the consequence of inaction is death of thousandsof children, we must not ignore any part of a possiblesolution, including agricultural biotechnology. On the other hand policy issues and challenges should be meets as early as possible otherwise more disaster waiting for current and future generation.
Bibliography:

1.      Abelson PH, Hines PJ (1999). The plant revolution. Sci., 285; 367-368.
2.      Cook RJ (2000). Science-based risk assessment for approval and useof plants in agricultural and other environments In: Persley GJ, LantinMM (eds): Agricultural Biotechnology and the Poor. Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research, Washington, D.C. pp.123-130.
3.      FAO (1999). The state of food insecurity in the world. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
4.      FAO (1994) Development and Education Exchange Papers (DEEP): Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development: Part 1: Latin America and Asia, Rome, p. 5.
5.      FACTA (1990). “Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act of 1990.Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1603. The NationalAgricultural Law Center.
6.      Fariborz Aref, Ma’rof Redzuan, Zahid Emby, Sarjit S .Gill (2009): Barriers of Tourism industry Through Community Capacity Building, International Review of Business Research Papers, Vol. 5 No. 4 June 2009 Pp. 399-408
7.       F. Wambugu (2003), Biotechnology for sustainable agricultural development in Africa: opportunities and challenges
8.      giz (2010), Sustainable Agriculture – a Challenge for the 21st Century, Conference report, Bonn, 23-24 November 2010.
9.      Kamal M.A., Sultana, S.A. (Not found): Barriers to Development in Open Learning and Distance Education: Bangladesh, Bangladesh Open University.
10.  McCalla AF (1999). Prospects for food security in the 21st century withspecial emphasis on Africa. In: Agric. Econ., 20(2): 95-103.


[1] Class note of Dr. M.A. Kamal, MDS-510, Sustainable Development: Policies and Tools, 21-7-2011
[2] (NGO, Sustainable Agriculture Treaty,1992
[3] Document CL 94/6 94th Session of the FAO Council, 1988.

[4] Class note of Dr. M.A. Kamal, MDS-510, Sustainable Development: Policies and Tools, 21-7-2011

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