CHANGES IN LAND USE PATTERN IN BANGLADESH OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES

Based on secondary data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, an attempt has been made in this paper to evaluate the changes in land use pattern during the period of 1980/81 to 1999/2000. Absolute changes of land use for different purposes during this period as well as trend values and growth rates were estimated. The growth estimates showed that land not available for cultivation and culturable waste land significantly increased at the rates of 2.1% and 4.09% per annum respectively. As a result, net sown area significantly decreased at the rate of .61% per annum. On the other hand, significant increase in total cropped area at the rate of .28% per annum during the period however, compensated the loss of sown area. Further, it was found that land under forest area increased insignificantly during the last two decades. The rate of decrease of current fallow land over the period was also found to be insignificant