New roads put agriculture at stake

Mohammed Sohel, 37, of Golichipa Para in the North Halishahar area of Chattogram city, is planning to work as a transport worker as the four-acre land he used to cultivate as a sharecropper has been turned into a truck terminal and cold storage depot.

"The land owner rented out the land for the truck terminal and coal storage depot, thereby compelling me to look for an alternative livelihood," he told this correspondent recently.

Sohel is not alone. Over a hundred farmers, whose lives solely depended on agriculture, were forced to change their profession after at least 120 hectares of arable land were turned into transport terminals, cattle farms, and factories.

These lands, located in North Kattali, North Pahartali, South Kattali, Halishahar, and Patenga areas, used to be cultivated to produce different crops, including tomato and watermelon, according to the metropolitan agriculture office in Chattogram.

After the construction of two link roads in the region to enhance connectivity, there has been a boost to business activities in the region, which in turn has made agriculture no longer attractive to landowners.

The 12.5-kilometre Port Link Road connecting Faujdarhat and Halishahar, which opened in 2007, paved the way for this transition.

Later, the 15.5km Outer Ring Road, which opened in 2021, connecting Faujdarhat and Patenga, further boosted connectivity and depleted agricultural land.

This correspondent recently visited several points of the Outer Ring Road and observed that many commercial structures have been built on the east side of the road.

"Earlier, after every seasonal harvest, the markets used to be flooded with an array of different crop varieties. But those days are no more," said Ataur Rahaman, 55, a vegetable vendor in Foillatoli Bazar under Halishahar area.

Jahangir Alam, a farmer from North Kattali, said, "Before these two roads were constructed, I used to earn my living by growing crops. Now, I am struggling to make ends meet after the agricultural lands were lost to commercial activities."

The six-acre land he used for cultivation now houses a workshop. At least 70 vehicles can be kept at the workshop at a time.

Elias Mistree, owner of the workshop, said, "After the road opened, most Chattogram Port-bound vehicles started using this road, which convinced me to set up the workshop here."

Any structure can be built on agricultural land after getting permission from the local ward councillor of Chattogram City Corporation.

"However, most of those using their arable land for commercial activities do not come to us for any kind of permission," said Nesar Uddin Ahmed Monju, a ward councillor in North Kattali area.

Contacted, officials of Department of Agricultural Extension said the use of arable lands for commercial activities is on the rise in the region in absence of a dedicated law to protect agricultural land.

Mohammed Nasir Uddin, additional director of Chattogram regional office of DAE, said, "We do not have any legal power to prevent farmlands from being used for non-agricultural purposes. We just give permission on condition that the establishment cannot be built on cropland."

Nasir Uddin, however, claimed that they did not approve the structures built on croplands on both sides of the Outer Ring Road.