Farmland fertility under threat

The topsoil of agricultural land is being sold to brick kilns in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar, causing damage to the fertility of earth and subsequent less production of crops.

Locals said a section of traders buy topsoil from farmers and later supply those as a raw material to the owners of more than 10 brick kilns that produce bricks for six months every year.

Photo: Star

After buying the soil at a lower price during off-season, they supply it to the brick fields at higher price in the dry season.

During a recent visit to South Chatalgaon, Kadipur, Koula, Hossainpur, Guptagram, Dhulipara, Hingazia, Lalpur, Bagherteki, Kotarkona, Palkirpool, Bhukshimoil, Sharifpur, Rautgaon, Kulaura Sadar, Karmdha, Prithimpasa, Tilagaon, Hajipur, Jaychandi, Bhatera, Brahmanbazar, and Baramchal villages, this correspondent found topsoil of two to three feet depth being dug up from farmland with excavators.

Locals said owners of Jonaki, Surma, KSB, Meghna, Ruposi, Kalim Ullah, Isqair, ASB, Arab, Raj, Baruakandi, and Titas bricks collect the soil.

Koyes Ahmed, a farmer of South Chatalgaon, said, "The owners of Jonaki and Surma bricks buy soil from me."

Shoeb Ahmad, another farmer from the same area, said, "I didn't sell earth for a long time. When the farmers sold topsoil from his farmland adjacent to my one, my land became very high and growing paddy is not suitable on high land. Therefore, I sold some topsoil this time."

Minhaj Uddin, a local, said, "Dhulipara-Kaula road is being destroyed due to transportation of the soil by pickups."

Contacted, Faiz Uddin, general secretary of Kulaura Brick Kiln Owners' Association and owner of Surma Bricks, said a few brick kiln owners directly collect topsoil from agricultural land and most of them buy from traders.

This correspondent could not contact any of the traders as the farmers did not want to disclose their names or identities.

About losing fertility of land, Faiz Uddin said many farmers apply dung and fertiliser to restore the soil's capacity.

Kulaura Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Abdul Momin said that the top 15 inches of agricultural land are very fertile, but as a result of its sale, the fertility decreases and the crop production capacity decreases.

Farmers are harming themselves by selling the topsoil. It takes about 15-20 years to recover the lost nutrients of the land, he said.

If this trend continues, the land will become unfit for cultivation in the future, said the officer. "We advise farmers not to sell the topsoil like this," he added.

According to Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, cutting of naturally created soil is completely prohibited. Moreover, changing the class of agricultural land, by cutting the surface soil, is also illegal.

In this regard, Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Mahmudur Rahman Khondkar said, "We visited some spots and found the incident of removing surface soil to be true. We will conduct drive against such acts soon."