Bangladesh Has Lost 1/3 Of Agricultural Land Since 1971 To Make Room For More Inhabitants - Reuters

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In a taste of what the future might look like, Bangladesh suffered two massive floods and a cyclone last year that together killed about 4,500 people, made at least two million homeless and destroyed 1.8 million tonnes of rice, the country's main staple. Even without the additional threat of global warming, the country's future is under pressure from a rising population and shrinking farmland.

The country lost a third of its agricultural land to accommodate more people as the population rose from 75 million in 1971. Bangladesh has been able to increase food grain production to nearly 30 million tonnes from less than half that in the early 1980s because of better farming practices and high-yielding varieties of rice. But many believe Bangladesh has reached saturation point in producing grains, while the population is still growing at nearly 2 percent annually.

The World Bank thinks Bangladesh should change cultivation practices to boost food security, plant large areas of forest in flood-prone areas along rivers and the coast and build embankments. "We are conducting various studies to find options to save future environmental refugees," said Sakil Ahmed Ferdausi, a World Bank executive in Dhaka.

"The environmental refugee situation will turn into a dangerous problem in the future and the Bangladeshi government may find it difficult to face the challenge. So we asked donors to help the country," Ziaul Haque Mukta, of Oxfam International in Dhaka, said.

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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/47943/story.htm