Seen Comprehension - 40 Alim

                    The Challenge ahead -1                       

1. Feeding (প্রতিপালন) the ever-growing (সদা বর্ধমান) population (জনসংখ্যা)  is a big challenge for Bangladesh in the coming decades (কয়েক দশক ধরে). The major (মুখ্য) challenge for the country is to sustain (বজায় রাখা) the current (বর্তমান) level (উচ্চতা) of agricultural (কৃষিজাত) production (উৎপাদন). The task (কাজের) is daunting (কঠিন), especially (বিষেশত) when the country loses (হারায়) about 80 thousand hectares of cultivable (চাষযোগ্য) land annually(বার্ষিক) due (বাকি) to excessive (অত্যাধিক) pressure চাপ on land for human settlement বন্দোবস্ত as well as the building of infrastructures পরিকাঠামো such এমন as roads and bridges. Moreover, পরন্তু river erosion ক্ষয় and other non-agricultural uses contribute অবদান to the diminishing কমা  of agricultural land. Although যদিও the total number of farm holdings ধারনের have increased বর্ধিত by 18 percent,  শতাংশ the cultivated  কর্ষিত area has declined অস্বীকার  with the average গড়  farm size decreasing from 2.26 acres in 1983-84 to 1.69 acres in 1996.

Given that about 80%  of the farms are small and highly fragmented, more imaginative and effective organizations of production are deeded to sustain agricultural productivity and create more employment and income for the farming community. The newly emerging 'contract farming' taken up by a number of private agri-business firms is one approach for promoting food production, especially fruit and vegetables. One possibility to compensate for the loss of land is to go for land reclamation in the Bay of Bengal for which of course the country needs massive external assistance. 

It is essential to improve agricultural production in general and food production in particular. For this, support from the public sector is necessary to generate and promote technologies, and hence to strengthen production. Bio-technology research and de3velopment of hybrid crops and animal species need to be given priority which will probably involve partnerships with multinational private sector firms and institutions.