In the northwest region of Bangladesh, to tackle drought and the water crisis, 16,000 deep tubewells and stricter irrigation management The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Bangladesh, has taken strict and specific steps to prevent the increasing drought, rapid decline in groundwater levels, and salinity in agricultural lands in the northwest of Bangladesh.
New limits are now in place for irrigation to avoid environmental issues from too much groundwater use in Barind Tract and its nearby regions in the northern part of the country.
Steps and environmental strategies: The latest data from the ministry shows that around 5.4 million hectares of land in the northwest part of the country are at risk of drought. Several urgent measures are being implemented to address this crisis:
Preventing the abuse of deep tubewells: The water level was falling quickly because of too much water being taken from around 16,000 deep tubewells in the area, causing tight rules on new irrigation work.
Technology-based smart agricultural advice: To reduce farmers’ dependence on groundwater and encourage them to use the right amount of water at the right time, real-time weather and agricultural advice are being provided through mobile apps, voice calls and SMS through the ‘Bangladesh Agro-Meteorological Information System (BAMIS)‘.
Financing the Climate Trust Fund: The Bangladesh Climate Change Trust, which has been operating since 2009, has so far disbursed more than US$ 495 million, a large part of which is being spent on developing 12 new varieties of crops that are drought- and salinity-tolerant and disseminating them to farmers.
Conclusion and Green Page View: If we do not lower the pressure on groundwater and use more surface water, the farming system in the Barind area will run into big problems.
This timely regulation and technology-based agricultural initiative of the government will bring long-term benefits in protecting the country’s food security.
