ICT in Agriculture and Disaster Management - Bangladesh ...

FAO
Available reports show that the tropical and subtropical countries would be more
vulnerable to the potential impacts of global warming. Bangladesh is likely to be one
of the worst-hit countries of the globe, being an Asian as well as a Third World
country.
It is very likely that the soil salinity would increase due to climate change and
consequential effects. Increased salinity would significantly decrease food grain
production. This loss can be minimized by varietal and agronomic manipulations.
Reduction in food grain production would put additional pressure to the food security
of the country (Habibullah et al., 1999)
Climate change in combination with sea level rise would aggravate the soil salinity in
the coastal region of the country. A GCM modeling approach has indicated that, under
predicted climatic conditions the index of aridity will increase during winter (Ahmed
et al., 1996).
According to the Third Assessment Report of IPCC (2001) it is likely to have a 45 cm of
sea level rise. Under this scenario, if no adaptation is assumed about 11 % of land area
of the country would be lost and also 5.5 million people would be vulnerable.
Table 4. Some important statistics of the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh
Total Land Area (000 ha)P1P 14400
Population in 2010 (millions) 141.82
Population in 2020* (millions) 181.18
Percent of population within 100 km of the coast 55%
Coastline Length (km)
3306 (710 km coastal belt)
Territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles) (kmP2P) 40,257
Claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (kmP2P) 39,868
*Estimated population, P1P
(2008).
Source: WRI (2000). Coastline=This entry gives the total length of the boundary between the
land area (including islands) and the sea
Salinity Intrusion
In the winter months the areas suffer due to salinity related problems. In absence of
appreciable rainfall the soil in the coastal areas starts to desiccate, and because of
capillary actions salt comes up at the surface of the soil and accumulates in the root
zones of crops. Many of the crop varieties are not tolerant to salinity, and as a result, a
large area in the coastal districts becomes virtually unsuitable for a number of crops,
while the production of a few other crops is lesser under saline conditions.
Most of the land remains fallow in the dry season (January- May) because of soil
salinity, lack of good quality irrigation water and late draining condition. Farmers
cultivate mostly low yielding, traditional rice varieties during wet season. The process
of salinization is governed by many factors among which the dominant ones are land
characteristics and drainage of tidal flooding through a network of tidal creeks and
drainage channels inundates the soil and impregnates them with soluble salts thereby
rendering the topsoil and subsoil saline. Within the embankment the sedimentation
and inundation process with saline water in brackish water shrimp cultivation area are
still active. Only about six percent of the land types in coastal area are highland and
13% medium low land. The dominant land type in this region is medium highland,
which is about 64%. A comparative study of soil salinity maps of 1973, 2000 and 2009
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