The World Soil Day-2021 will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe on Sunday highlighting the importance of taking care of soil and conserving soil biodiversity.
The theme of this year’s World Soil Day is “Halt soil salinization, boost soil Productivity”.
The World Soil Day is observed annually on December 5 as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
On the eve of the day, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages wishing success to all the programmes adopted on the occasion of World Soil Day-2021.
In his message, President Abdul Hamid welcomed the initiative of the Soil Resources Development Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture to celebrate ‘World Soil Day-2021’ on December 5 like every year.
He said salinity destroys soil’s productivity and ecosystems, and threatens agricultural production and food security. The saline soil of the coastal areas is one of the degraded soils of Bangladesh, he added.
“I think the theme of this year’s World Soil Day `Halt soil salinization, boost soil Productivity’ is time befitting in this regard,” he said.
The President said salinization is the common phenomenon of any coastal region of the world and Bangladesh coast is not free from such type of natural hazards.
“Bangladesh has a vast area of coastal region that accommodates more than 35 million people,” he said, adding that salinity is considered as the main obstacles to crop production.
However, this vast area has a great potentiality for agriculture, he continued.
Mentioning that the soil and water of this region are associated with different levels of salinity, the President said: “I think coastal embankment, construction of dam and sluice gates, zoning of coastal salinity areas, plantation programmes and public awareness programmes can contribute to uphold the sustainable livelihood in the coastal region of Bangladesh.”
“The future of our food security will largely depend on our ability to produce food in marginal lands such as the coastal salt belt. For this, crop selection, cultivation methods, social activities and use of modern technology are important,” he said.
Abdul Hamid said the government has formulated “Delta Plan-2100” with the aim of achieving the status of a prosperous and developed country by addressing the long standing challenges for sustainable management of water, climate, environment and land system.
