Unplanned Urbanization Effects on Agriculture in Bangladesh: A Case Study

Abstract: Bangladesh has undergone exceptional urban expansion over the past fifty years, and this trend is expected to continue during the following fifty. However, the process of rapid urbanization has resulted in serious threats to the sustainability of communities, such as an increase in slums, a shortage of affordable habitations, insufficient amenities for local residents, various types of pollution, and so on. During the last 12 years, agricultural land has been declining on average at a rate of about 1%. The rapid loss of agricultural land in Bangladesh is primarily due to the expansion of rural housing facilities and the country's industrialized urban orientation. Providing housing for Bangladesh's growing population has been a major challenge for the country's arable land. If land is taken away for non-farm activities at the current annual rate, there won't be any cultivable land left in Bangladesh in 50 years. If the trend is not stopped soon, the country would permanently lose its food security, rendering its poor population more subject to volatile international commodity prices.

Keywords: Unplanned urbanization; Agriculture; Food security; Bangladesh.