Cropland fertility in peril as brick kilns use topsoil
Workers dig and remove earth from the surface of cultivable land for use at the adjacent brick kiln in Saidpur upazila under Nilphamari district. Photo: STAR
Several hundred acres of cultivable land in the district loses fertility every year as brick kilns are collecting huge quantities of earth from the topsoil of agricultural lands for making bricks. Consequently, the affected lands remain uncultivable and fallow for years, affecting overall crop production. The situation sees a worsening trend due to lack of strong monitoring from the district and upazila administrations. There are 30 recommended brick kilns in the district and 22 of them are in Saidpur upazila only, said sources in the office of Nezarat Deputy Collector in the district. Nokul Chandra Adhikari, manager of SKB brick kiln in Saidpur upazila, informed that the brick kilns in the district usually produce 30-35 lakh bricks annually. It needs 1,000 cubic feet earth to produce 8,500 bricks and this can be collected from one foot surface of a 100-foot-long and 10-foot-wide land, he said. And so, a brick kiln needs 3.53 lakh cubic feet earth to produce 30 lakh bricks and accordingly, 1.06 crore cubic feet of earth is used in the 30 brick kilns of the district. Thus a brick kiln needs 12-15 acres of land to procure required volume of earth. So the top soil of 360-450 acres of land is being removed in a year by the 30 brick fields in the district. As per existing rule of the government, a brick kiln cannot use more than two acres of land. But this rule is being deliberately violated as each brick kiln is using 12-15 acres of land under the nose of district and upazila administrations, said Sreedam Das, an environmental activist. With increase in earning and improvement of living standard in recent years, more people are inclined to construct multi-storied buildings and demand of bricks is on the rise. To meet the enhanced demand, the brick kilns owners looking for more cultivable lands around the kilns to collect earth. For this they lure the farmers by giving handsome amounts of money. Usually a farmer can earn only Tk 8,000-Tk 10,000 from a bigha of land annually by cultivating paddy on a bigha of land (1 bigha = 30 decimal) in a year, said Zillur Rahman, former chairman of Ramnagar union parishad, also former owner of a brick kiln. As the agents of brick kilns owners offer the land owner farmers Tk 20,000 Tk 30,000 in exchange of cutting one to three feet deep top soil from a bigha of land at a time in a year, many farmers gladly accept the proposal. He said. Some brick kiln owners even adopt unfair means to compel the unwilling farmers to allow the cutting earth from his land, locals said. Visiting different brick kiln sights in Saidpur upazila on Sunday, this correspondent found that a large area of land in Niamatpur, Kadamtali, Kamarpukur, Aishdhal, Bromottor, Ashur Khai and Kalabagan villages has remained fallow. Farmers Rashid Mia and Abdur Rahman living beside brick kilns at Ashur Khai village said that their five bighas of land is now uncultivable as they sold the top soil to brick kiln owners. "All nutrients remain mixed in 6-9 inches of the topsoil. If the topsoil is removed then the affected land becomes unproductive. Usually 4-5 years is needed for such a land to regain its previous fertility,” said ABM Mostafizur Rahman, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Nilphamari. Nezarat Deputy Collector Zakaria Rahman said, "We are aware of violation of rules by many brick kiln owners. Environment directorate has taken action against a brick kiln in the district recently. We are not giving permission to open new brick kilns."
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments