Cordaid places roadmap for saline-resilient coastal farming

Cordaid has called for scaling up saline-resilient agriculture in Bangladesh's southern coastal belt, where rising salinity threatens food security and livelihoods.

At a learning-sharing seminar titled "Breaking the Salt Barrier: Rewriting the Story of Saline Lands in Southern Bangladesh" held on Tuesday at a city hotel, government officials, researchers, private sector representatives, and development partners discussed lessons from the recently concluded COASTS project.

More than 30 per cent of Bangladesh's land lies in coastal zones, and over a half remains fallow due to salinity intrusion, cyclones, and tidal surges.

For millions of smallholder farmers, soil salinity has reduced productivity and forced them to abandon traditional farming practices.

Over the past four years, the COASTS project-implemented by Cordaid, a Netherlands-based international development organisation, with support from SRDI, the agriculture ministry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, and Lal Teer Seeds Ltd-converted 5,000 hectares of fallow land into farmland, trained 10,000 farmers, and introduced 15 salt-tolerant vegetable seed varieties.

Dr Md Mahmudur Rahman, Additional Secretary of the Agriculture Ministry, noted that 19 coastal districts are already affected. He stressed the need for saline-tolerant seeds, innovative technologies, and public-private collaboration.

"Salinity is not just a farmers' challenge; it is a national challenge," said Douwe Dijkstra, Country Director of Cordaid Bangladesh, urging joint efforts among communities, government, and private actors.

Stakeholders also called for mainstreaming saline-resilient practices into extension services, improving seed availability, and adopting community-led solutions.

Cordaid said the success of COASTS shows that climate threats can be turned into opportunities for innovation, resilience, and inclusive growth in Bangladesh's coastal agriculture.

The workshop was chaired by Dr. Begum Samia Sultana, Director General, Soil Resources Development Institute while Md Obaidur Rahman Mondol, Director, Field Service Wing, Department of Agricultural Extension; Md. Belal Uddin, Director, Training Wing, Department of Agricultural Extension; and Ms Ella Lammers, Senior Advisor, Department for International Development, RVO, spoke among others.

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