Soil fertility declining, food security under threat

Soil is a composite substance. Its components include 45 per cent minerals, 5 per cent organic matter, 25 per cent air, and 25 per cent water. Bengalis also call soil ‘mother.’ Poet Satyendranath Dutta, in his poem Mati from the poetry collections Kuhu and Keka, wrote: “It is not just soil—it is the staff of life; in every particle lies life; within soil plays the game of life; soil itself is the ocean of life.”

Because of the history, time, and processes of soil formation, soil scientists describe it as one of the world’s most astonishing objects and a priceless resource. Yet this invaluable resource is being degraded by various natural and human-induced abuses. Struggling soil is losing its fertility. Food and crop production is declining every day. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that if soil health is not maintained, Bangladesh’s food production could fall by 25–30 per cent by 2050, posing a serious threat to food security.

In the report titled Status of the World’s Soil Resources, published by FAO on the occasion of the International Year of Soils 2015, the condition of soils worldwide and the changes affecting them were described as a threat to human civilisation. The report stated that inappropriate farming practices, along with deforestation and forest destruction, are the main causes of soil health degradation.

A study conducted by the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Rajshahi University found that the organic matter content of soil in the Barind region ranges between 0.8 and 1.2 per cent, which not only reduces soil fertility but also makes the soil in this region nearly lifeless. In addition, the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority observed during the implementation of various projects that water scarcity and loss of soil fertility have put agricultural production and farmers’ livelihoods under severe challenge.

Soils in coastal regions such as Khulna, Satkhira, and Barguna are facing crisis due to salinity intrusion. On the other hand, even fertile soils in regions like Jashore, Chuadanga, and Kushtia are experiencing disruptions in crop production due to excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. As a result, food production and supply are being disrupted, placing food security at risk.

Amid such warnings about soil, “World Soil Day” is observed every year on 5 December. The day received United Nations recognition in 2013. This year’s theme was “Healthy Soil for Healthy Cities.”

Jashore–Chuadanga–Kushtia is a major agricultural region of Bangladesh. After Barishal, this region is considered the country’s granary. Farmers here have long been producing all kinds of conventional and unconventional crops, including flowers and fruits. However, production costs are now high. Rahman Mia, a chili and flower farmer from Jashore, said that in hopes of higher yields he applies far more chemical fertilisers and pesticides to his land, yet he does not get proportional output. He buys fertilisers freely from the market and applies them to his fields as he sees fit. He is unaware of soil testing and the “balanced fertiliser recommendation card” based on soil analysis. He also does not know that mobile soil testing laboratories conduct soil tests in the field.

Another farmer from the same area, Mokles Mia, cultivated paddy on nearly two bighas of land. Despite using excessive fertilisers, pesticides, and water, he is not making a profit. On the contrary, his costs are rising day by day. He said that while applying fertilisers and pesticides in the fields, he sometimes suffers from dizziness, breathing problems, skin diseases, vomiting, and other health issues.

An investigation by Prothom Alo found that farmers in almost all districts of the country are applying fertilisers and pesticides at excessive rates. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, the country’s total land area is over 14.92 million hectares. Of this, arable land accounts for approximately 8.82 million hectares, about 59 per cent of the total land. According to a 2022 World Bank survey, Bangladesh’s cultivable agricultural land is 8.11 million hectares. Meanwhile, data from the Department of Agricultural Information Services (AIS) show that the current total arable land area in Bangladesh is about over 8.64 million hectares.

A recent study by the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) found that nearly 76 per cent of Bangladesh’s total land has lost fertility due to soil degradation at “moderate to very severe” levels. As a result, crop production is declining by about 5.33 metric tonnes annually, or at a rate of 5–7 per cent per year.

A similar picture emerged from research by the Department of Soil Science at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. Professor Mosharraf Hossain said that the condition of soil is poor not only in Jashore but in almost all regions of the country. Studies show that along with excessive fertilisers and pesticides, salinity, human waste, plastics, and industrial chemical waste are polluting soil and water. Consequently, the organic matter content in Bangladesh’s soils has now fallen to 1 per cent or even lower.

Large and medium farmers in the Barind region of Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Mymensingh, and Tangail use the highest amount of urea fertiliser. In coastal saline areas, farmers apply more phosphate and less potash. In the haor region, during the boro season, diammonium phosphate (DAP) or mixed fertilisers are used most extensively for rice cultivation. As a result, biodiversity in the haor areas is being damaged at an alarming rate.

In hilly regions, especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the use of chemical fertilisers or pesticides in jhum cultivation was traditionally low. However, in recent times, increased commercial farming has led to excessive and uncontrolled use of chemical fertilisers such as urea, DAP/TSP, MOP, zinc sulfate, as well as pesticides, causing damage to the environment and land.

National averages show that more than 80 per cent of fertilisers used in Bangladesh are urea, 15 per cent are DAP/TSP, and the remaining 5 per cent are potash (MOP), zinc, gypsum, and other fertilisers.

Farmers freely purchase fertilisers from the market and apply them to their land, causing damage to soil, water, and ecosystems. Prothom Alo asked Bangladesh Fertiliser Association President Waliur Rahman about their responsibility in this regard.

Waliur Rahman said that fertilisers and pesticides are supplied to dealers based on specific demand at the field level. Dealers are trained to ensure that fertilisers are not sold to anyone except cardholding farmers. The amount of fertiliser each farmer is entitled to is specified in the fertiliser recommendation card. Monitoring this process is the responsibility of the upazila agriculture officer.

However, the reality in the field is different. Often, due to social, economic, and political pressures, dealers are forced to sell fertilisers, poisons, and pesticides without cards.

Bangladesh’s soils are mainly of five types—sandy, sandy loam, loam, clay, and clay loam. The Soil Resource Development Institute works on determining which fertilisers are needed for which crops and soil types.

GM Mustafizur Rahman, chief scientific officer at the Khulna divisional office of SRDI, said that tests conducted in Jashore, Chuadanga, and Kushtia show that soils in these areas are mainly loam. Farmers are applying nearly double the amount of fertiliser required for crop production in such soils. Due to a lack of awareness, the three fundamental properties of soil—physical, chemical, and biological—are being severely disrupted.

According to the 2025 BBS survey, 56 per cent of agricultural land is “not economically sustainable.” Fifty-three per cent of land has half or more of its area damaged. Asked what needs to be done to recover from this situation, Habib Mohammad Naser, chief scientific officer of the Soil Science Division at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, said that soil with less than 2.5 per cent organic matter is considered dead soil. Citing a recent organic matter status map prepared by SRDI, he said that 78 per cent of the country’s land has organic matter below 1 per cent. Ideally, it should be at least 2.5 per cent. This means that the vast majority of the country’s soils are now infertile and nearly dead.

Bangladesh is a humid subtropical country. Its soils contain very little plant and animal residue, cow dung manure, organic manure, green manure, and peat. Moreover, due to temperature and humidity, organic matter decomposes rapidly, making soils rough and nearly lifeless.

In a 2021 media briefing by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Agriculture, it was stated that Sri Lanka uses the highest amount of chemical fertilisers in South Asia—about 300 kilograms per hectare—followed by Bangladesh at around 289 kilograms per hectare, and India at about 166 kilograms per hectare. Myanmar uses far less, at approximately 24 kilograms per hectare. However, after Sri Lanka abruptly abandoned chemical fertilisers in 2021 and faced economic and agricultural collapse, it resumed using fertilisers in higher quantities to stabilise the situation.

Meanwhile, India and Bangladesh use pesticides at much higher rates than necessary compared to other countries. In 2023, the PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP), one of the five regional centres of Pesticide Action Network (PAN), conducted a survey in Bangladesh, India, Laos, and Vietnam. The results showed that 92 per cent of the pesticides used in Bangladesh and India are extremely hazardous. In many cases, farmers in these two countries are using pesticides that are banned in Europe.

According to data from the Oxford University–based international initiative Foresight for Food, more than 70 per cent of land in Bangladesh is used for agriculture, producing about 700 million tons of food annually. About 60 per cent of the country’s food comes from arable land. Therefore, maintaining soil health is crucial to reducing future risks to food security and the environment in Bangladesh.

To address the problem, Md Zainal Abedin, chief scientific officer of the central laboratory of SRDI, said that the institute has a total of 34 soil laboratories. These include one central laboratory in Dhaka, eight in divisional cities, 10 mobile laboratories across the country, and 15 regional laboratories. The objective is to enable farmers to easily test their soil when needed to determine soil quality and biological health, and to prepare balanced fertiliser recommendation cards accordingly so that fertilisers and pesticides can be applied as required for specific crops and soils.

According to data from the Department of Agricultural Extension and the Department of Agricultural Information Services, the number of households involved in agriculture in Bangladesh is 16,881,757. The net cultivated agricultural land amounts to 18,636,434 acres. Thus, the soil analysis services provided by SRDI are far below national demand, and the institute cannot reach all 64 districts.

Experts say that establishing laboratories only at the district level would be insufficient given demand and need. Therefore, along with a permanent soil laboratory in each district, a mobile soil testing laboratory is required at each upazila level to provide services to remote villages, wards, unions, and both small and large crop fields.

Bidhan Chandra Das, former professor of the Department of Zoology at Rajshahi University and an ecosystem researcher, said that although soil is an inert substance, it is treated as a living resource. All fauna and flora on the earth’s surface depend on the life force of soil to survive. Excessive fertiliser use not only degrades soil but also negatively affects ecosystems. It contributes to biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change. Microorganisms and insects beneath the soil die off, causing nutrient imbalance and loss of fertility. Crop production declines while production costs rise.

Excess chemical fertilisers and pesticides used in soil mix with water, polluting it. They also reduce oxygen levels in water, endangering fish, other animals, plants, and entire ecosystems. Pesticide use harms farmers’ mental and physical health and also damages domestic animals, grazing livestock, wildlife, and beneficial insects. Therefore, experts advocate adopting organic pesticides or natural farming as safeguards for maintaining soil health.

The book Land Degradation in Bangladesh, published by SRDI in 2022, states that about 11.24 million hectares of land in Bangladesh have been degraded or lost fertility, accounting for 76 per cent of the country’s total land. The study identifies deficiencies in organic matter (cow dung manure, organic manure, green manure) and imbalances and shortages of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, zinc, boron, calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, molybdenum) as key causes of declining soil fertility.

Currently, chemical fertilisers are used on 98 per cent of the country’s land. The amount of chemical fertiliser used per hectare of cultivable land is 391 kilograms—nearly three times the global average. Moreover, almost all farmers apply fertilisers based on estimation rather than soil testing.

Taking this SRDI publication into account, Mohammad Nazim Uddin, organic agriculture researcher and senior scientific officer at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, said that the government’s 2018 agricultural policy emphasised increasing the use of organic fertilisers in agricultural land and recommended subsidies or incentives where necessary. To achieve this, subsidies for organic fertilisers should be increased alongside chemical fertilisers. He suggested ensuring that 25 per cent of the total recommended fertiliser subsidy in the budget is allocated to organic fertilisers, if necessary through legislation. This would help protect both public health and state resources.