SANGSAD BHABAN, June 13, 2024 (BSS) - Agriculture Minister Dr. Md. Abdus Shahid today said the government is sincere to keep limited the use of farmland for non-agricultural purposes and refrain from building establishments here and there.

He was responding to a query raised by treasury bench lawmaker Md Mamunur Rashid Kiron which was tabled in the House.

Abdus Shahid said letters have been sent to Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Ministry of Land and Ministry of Industries mentioning about keeping limited the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes and not to build establishments here and there and directives have been given to the field level officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension to take initiatives to confirm the matter.

The minister said that the process of passing a law called “Agricultural Land Protection and Land Use Act” is underway to protect agricultural land.

He said according to the data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the total area of the country is 1 crore 49 lakh 21 thousand hectares and the total cultivable land is 88 lakh 17 thousand 935 hectares, which means that the cultivable land in the country is about 59 percent.