Considering the rapidly depleting groundwater table in Bangladesh’s northwestern zone, known as the Barind Tract, the country declared 25 subdistricts of the region as water crisis-prone areas in December 2025.
In a circular, the government suggested that farmers immediately cut their cultivation of the high irrigation-intensive rice variety boro. At the same time, it directed the state-owned Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) to stop providing irrigation to the farmers.
BMDA is an authority under the Ministry of Water Resources that oversees irrigation of extracted groundwater through roughly 16,000 deep tube wells to more than half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of arable land in northern Bangladesh.
“The water crisis is nothing new in the region. However, the sudden declaration of stopping irrigation and boro cultivation brought BMDA and the farmers into a confrontational situation,” said Md Abul Kasem, additional chief engineer of BMDA.
“Later, we discussed the situation with the Water Resources Ministry and got a verbal direction to continue the irrigation till the next formal decision is made,” he added.
The declaration came per the suggestion of the Bangladesh Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO), as it suggested the government take measures to curb groundwater depletion in the country.
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Creating a sudden ban on rice production in this part of the country would be a disaster for Bangladesh’s food security and have a negative impact on about seven million people.
Mohammad Shamsudduha, faculty member, Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction University College London
According to WARPO, five subdistricts of Chapai Nawabganj, 10 subdistricts of Rajshahi and 10 subdistricts of Naogaon are marked at different levels of groundwater scarcity, including high, medium and low.
A 2024 study said the Barind Tract was the most drought-affected zone in the country due to its lesser rainfall, rising temperature and loss of groundwater, which ultimately reduces vegetation in the entire area.
The study also mentioned that the average annual rainfall of the centre of the Barid Tract is 1,625 millimetres (64 inches) annually, while the national average is 2,550 mm (100 in). Three districts — Chapai Nawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon — are considered the core area of Barind Tract.
Drought-prone Barind is a hub of food
To ensure food security in the country, as well as to bring the drought-prone northwestern part of the country under agriculture, Bangladesh introduced a government-run irrigation facility in its northern part through the BMDA in 1985.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in the 2022-23 fiscal year, the country produced about 47 million tons of cereal crops. Of them, about 39 million tons were rice. In Bangladesh, rice grows in three seasons: aush (pre-monsoon), aman (monsoon) and boro (winter or lean).
According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, boro made up of the lion’s share at about 21 million tons, while aman accounted for about 15 million tons and aush, 3 million tons. The data also said three core districts of the Barind Tract produced about 1.4 million tons of boro combined.
“Though the government’s move ensures adequate rice production in the country, in the case of Barind Tract, the event [groundwater driven irrigation] made the region drier,” said Mohammad Shamsudduha, a faculty member of the Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College London.
Meanwhile, a 2021 study termed the style of irrigation in Barind Tract as “unsustainable groundwater extraction” for the sake of producing the dry season rice, boro.
As per the study, the northwest region of Bangladesh is considered the food bowl of the nation and has seen a huge increase in boro cultivation, from 116,007 hectares (287,000 acres) to 1.6 million hectares (almost 4 million acres) in the last three decades, due to the overuse of groundwater.
“Creating a sudden ban on rice production in this part of the country would be a disaster for Bangladesh’s food security and have a negative impact on about 7 million people living in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon districts,” Shamssudduha said.
He suggested creating other options before imposing a ban on rice production.
The options
Meanwhile, for the last couple of years, farmers in the region have been transforming their agricultural practices from rice to other cash crops like vegetables and fruit orchards, which consume less irrigation.
The move happened with the support of the government and NGOs.
As an example, the development organisation BRAC has been introducing ginger, onion, potato, garlic and vegetables like gourd in Sapahar subdistrict of Noagaon district for the last three years.
“We introduced the alternatives on a pilot basis. Meanwhile, we observed that the poor and marginalised farmers took the initiative positively. If it works for long, we have a plan to replicate the initiative to the entire drought-prone zone,” said Abu Sadat Moniruzzaman Khan, program head of Climate Change Programme at BRAC.
Another important option is considering ensuring the livelihood of the region through cattle farming, both at the household level and commercially.
“Under a pilot program, we have already identified that cattle rearing for milk production could be a good solution,” said Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of a policy research organisation on agriculture and climate change and a member of the independent Technical Advisory Panel of the Green Climate Fund, who is working on alternative livelihood possibilities for drought-prone people.
“The supply of available grass and other resources could easily be met for cattle rearing. At the same time, the government should introduce supply chain and storage facilities of milk in the entire region to make the effort successful,” he added.
According to the Bangladesh Rice Knowledge Bank, imposing technology like the alternate wetting and drying method would be a way to continue rice production, as it requires about 30 per cent less irrigation compared with current practices, which require around 3,000 litres (790 gallons) to 5,000 l (1,320 gal) of water to produce 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice.
This story was published with permission from Mongabay.com.
