Rohingya waste jeopardising cultivation in Cox's Bazar

COX'S BAZAR, May 08: Waste, especially in solid form, collected by community volunteers and disposed of in open spaces from the Rohingya refugee camps is creating agricultural concern damaging soil fertility in Cox's Bazar.

Sources said several hundred acres of arable land owned by local farmers have already become uncultivable under the impact of the waste disposed and released from the densely-populated Rohingya refugee camps in Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas of of the district.

Spread of the contaminated waste has turned the rivers and canals in the areas into narrow drains. Crops are getting damaged as toxic effluent from the refugee camps is flowing into the fields. Several thousand farmers have been affected by this catastrophe.

Against the backdrop of the disaster, locals have demanded that immediate and effective steps be taken for proper waste management in the Rohingya camps.

Local farmers said that before the Rohingya took shelter here, three types of rice and various seasonal vegetables were cultivated on the farmlands of the two upazilas every year.

Now cultivation has been kept halted on about 20 acres of land in Ukhia and Teknaf for the reason.

No matter how much cleaning is done; polythene, plastic bottles, medical waste and various types of plastic waste from the camps are destroying the cropland.

Kutupalong's farmer Ahsan Ullah said, "For the past eight years, the land has not been cultivated. Cultivation has been stopped due to the waste of Rohingyas. Amidst all these problems, no one is providing any kind of assistance. We farmers are in great distress."

Farmer Monir Ahmed said, "All the crops on my two acres of land are being destroyed due to the waste. We are living very helplessly. Though we sheltered the Rohingyas, we are now having to pay the price."

Another farmer Ramiz Uddin said, "The canal where I used to fish has now turned into a drain. There are no fish, the water is poisonous. Agricultural land and rivers and canals are all gone."

Local resident Abdul Gafur said that before 2017, the big canal of Balukhali was very suitable for fish farming. The area around the canal was very clean. Farmers used to take water from there and water their paddy and vegetable fields. Now, waste from Kutupalong camp is flowing into the river through it. Fruits and crops of all the fields along the canal are being destroyed. Everything has been contaminated with dirty water.

Locals claimed that at least 1,000 farmers in Ukhia and Teknaf have been affected due to the waste dumping from the Rohingya camps, but they have not received any government assistance so far.

Local Union Parishad chairman Gafur Uddin Chowdhury said that there are 32 Rohingya camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. Waste from these camps is falling into the crop fields through drains. Every year, whenever it rains, the crop fields go under water mixed with waste.

Due to the waste, it becomes difficult to cultivate crops in the local fields. Several hundred acres of farmland have been destroyed in this process.

Sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Cox's Bazar, said that both the amount of agricultural land and its production capacity are decreasing due to the impact of waste from Rohingya camps.

According to the DAE data, in 2015, the arable land in Teknaf was 13,728 hectares, which decreased to 11,036 hectares in 2025. At the same time, the land area in Ukhiya has decreased from 16,840 hectares to 16,000 hectares.

Marine researcher Md. Abdul Qayum said that the waste from Rohingya camps is flowing directly into the sea through rivers. This has become a serious threat to biodiversity, fisheries and the environment.

In this regard, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, advisor to the ministry of environment, forests and climate change, said, "We will try to find out a solution in association with everyone for proper management of waste in the refugee camps. Effective steps will be taken after discussing the matter with NGOs and government institutions."

tahjibulanam18@gmail.com