eeper saline intrusion due to a rising Bay of Bengal. Agronomists and agricultural experts worry that creeping salinity would engulf more and more land in the low-lying country. "The impact of climate change on agriculture is undeniable and will most certainly worsen if governments and donors fail to take suitable steps right now," Ghulam Mohammad Panaullah, former research director of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), warned. In the coastal areas, cocoa-nut and betel-nut trees do not yield half of what they did two decades ago, while banana groves are dying in hundreds, Panaullah told IRIN. Vegetables, from the coastal belt sold in urban Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi are deemed tasteless and fetch low prices compared to the produce from salt-free regions. In a country where almost 80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, this is bad news. According to the World Bank, Bangladesh's agriculture sector accounts for about 22 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and another 33 per cent of GDP comes from the rural non-farm sectors, though very much linked to agriculture. Around 54 per cent of the rural population is employed in agriculture. ActionAid in a report on the UN climate change summit in Poznan, Poland, said Bangladesh needs the support to develop its climate-resilient agriculture.Citing an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which said that South Asia might experience a 30 per cent drop in agricultural production by 2050, Action Aid said the slide was already evident. Food price volatility, which could be compounded by increasing climate change variability, is likely to be a serious problem in the foreseeable future, according to Action Aid. The report said support for sustainable climate-resilient agriculture was key to enabling farmers to adapt and increase food security. To address the problem, farmers have taken to the new technique of raising their vegetable beds. To preserve the soil's moisture they cover the seedbeds with straw and leaves. The technique prevents excessive evaporation and erosion. They are also increasing the use of organic manure to raise crops.Others are readjusting their cropping patterns altogether, the report said. "Bangladesh is one of the worst affected among countries that are facing the early impacts of climate change," said A.K.M. Rezaul Kabir, secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. In 2005 the government prepared a National Action Plan on Adaptation (NAPA) identifying 15 projects that need to be undertaken. But, "unfortunately three years have already passed and we have only just started implementing the first project," the official said. Bangladesh tops the Global Climate Risk Index 2009, followed by North Korea and Nicaragua. Launched at the UN climate change conference in Poznan on December 04, 2008, the index, drawn up by the international NGO Germanwatch, lists 170 countries. Natural calamities in Bangladesh claimed 4,729 lives last year, and the average loss of property in Bangladesh due to natural disasters stands at over US$4.0 billion per year, the NGO said. These changes in climate are already having major impacts on the economy and on the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people, said a World Bank report. Rainfall increases, during the summer monsoon, could increase flooding in more vulnerable areas in Bangladesh, say the forecasts. In the longer term, global warming could melt many glaciers to swell the rivers in South Asia, the report said. If that happens, green Bangladesh would turn into a grey desert and most people would die of starvation. Therefore,we should take nesessary action to protect our Bangladesh from affecting climate change.
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