Some 40, 0016 lakhs acres of arable land has disappeared from the country in the last one decade, according to an ‘Agriculture Census-2019’ report. The 5th Agriculture Census was conducted in the country from June 9 to June 20, 2019. The total arable land in the country is now 186.81 lakh acres which was 190.97 lakh acres according to the previous Agriculture Census in 2008.
The final report of the latest agriculture Census was published on Tuesday at a function under the Agriculture (crops, fisheries and livestock) Census-2018 project. The previous four Agri Census were carried out in the country in 1977, in 1983-84, in 1996 and in 2008.
If this unhealthy trend is not stopped
immediately, the country will face
serious difficulties in ensuring food
security for its growing population in the future
Although agriculture now contributes to around 11.50 percent of country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but its contributions is enormous in terms of ensuring food security as country’s around 40 percent of the workforce is being engaged in agriculture. Agricultural land in the country decreases by one percent every year. In this way if two lakh acres of land are lost every year, then there will be no more agricultural land in future.
All these lands are going into the hands of non agriculture sector like housing, industrialisation and other purposes. By filling croplands, various infrastructures like high rise buildings, factories, industries, hotels, resorts and other business establishments are being built indiscriminately across the country. Besides, brick kilns are also destroying the arable lands in many ways alongside polluting the environment. If this unhealthy trend is not stopped immediately, the country will face serious difficulties in ensuring food security for its growing population in the future.
The government must pay attention to protecting farmlands for the development of sustainable agriculture. All concerned must be more conscious as the country’s crop productivity will come down drastically due to continuous declining of arable land. To this end, the government will have to undertake a combined planning on agriculture by annexing urban agriculture with the mainstream agriculture so that the country can face the future challenges. The government should immediately approve the proposed “Protection and Usage of Agricultural Land Act” and implement it strictly in order to save the country from barrenness and food shortage.
