Bangladesh's economic growth is largely dependent on the growth of the agricultural sector. Agriculture, directly and indirectly, provides basic human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Agriculture contributed 13.47% to Bangladesh's gross domestic product or GDP directly and indirectly in 2020-2021. At the same time, about 50% of the people of Bangladesh are engaged in agriculture. But in recent decades, Bangladesh has been facing a low growth rate in agriculture due to global climate change. Rising temperatures have made the climate and weather conditions abnormal and unstable, with adverse effects on agriculture. This is because the growth of a particular crop requires a moderate number of natural elements such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, airflow, and so on. Due to climate change, the temperature is changing, which leads to a change in the amount of rainfall and type. Eventually, this change created an adverse effect on agricultural work. Climate change has created an adverse effect in the Bangladeshi agriculture sector in many ways. Let's deep dive into it. Read: How to stop global warming? How to combat climate change in Bangladesh? The impact of climate change Although climate change is a regular natural phenomenon, it is greatly influenced by human actions. Various human activities have accelerated climate change. Overall global warming and climate change affect developing countries like Bangladesh. The effect of climate change in Bangladesh has already begun; it has already hit the agriculture sector. According to a research report published, the sea level rise has been observed at a rate of 7.8 mm per year of the coast of Cox's Bazar. In the last four decades, around 3000 km2 of land area under Bhola island have been submerged into the Bay of Bengal. After reviewing various research reports, it can be seen that by 2100, the sea level could rise 1 meter, which could submerge 18.3 percent of the total area of Bangladesh. Read COP26: Global competition launched to find top climate science communicators Impact of floods on agriculture Due to climate change, sudden flooding has become a common phenomenon in Bangladesh that affects agriculture. About 1,400 sq km in the southeastern part of the country and 4,000 sq km in the northeastern part of the country face flash floods. However, flash floods are more harmful than regular floods. As for the regular flood, it starts slowly, and the farmers can estimate a time. On the other hand, the sudden flash flood impacts the crops as well as the effect on the lands.  Tidal floods caused extensive damage to coastal areas. Saline water creates water logging in the land and makes the soil unsuitable for plantation and crop cultivation. Districts like Sunamganj, Sylhet, Netrokona, Nilphamari, etc., are usually affected by flash floods. Due to the flash flood every year, thousands of acres of ripe Boro paddy get affected. Bangladesh is affluent in water resources, but the impacts of climate change are causing excess rainfall, floods, and water logging. At present, about 2.6 million hectares of land in Bangladesh are flooded every year. Read: Climate Change: How Bangladesh is being affected by Global Warming? Impact of temperature on Agriculture Rising temperatures will reduce the yield of upland rice and increase the rate of diseases in wheat. Moreover, wheat cultivation will not be possible in Bangladesh if the temperature rises by 2 degrees Celsius than the current temperature. The increasing level of carbon dioxide and rising temperature hamper the regular growth of the rice plants. The common problems are weakening seedlings, turn yellow, and prolong crop life. As a result of climate change, various plant diseases is increasing alongside the incidence of insects. Infestations of millibugs, aphids (sucking insects) and bacteria (bacterial diseases) and fungal diseases are more prevalent in various crops. Excess heat and humidity play a role in increasing fungal diseases of plants and similarly increase the number of insects and carriers of various diseases. In addition, if warm flow occurs in the winter season, the yield of more sensitive crops like wheat is greatly reduced, and wheat production becomes unprofitable. Increasing the temperature increases the perspiration or water discharge of the plant. It results in the scarcity of irrigation water. Read: Climate change: 'Children in Bangladesh, 3 other countries at extremely high risk' Impact of drought in agriculture Drought occurs in an area where the evaporation rate is higher than the rainfall. Agricultural drought refers to the disruption of the biological activity of the crops due to a lack of water in any stage of the crop life cycle. It happens due to an increase in weather regulators such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, evaporation, etc. If there is no rain for 15 days between April and mid-November, there is a possibility of drought, which is one of the most common natural disasters in agriculture. Every year 1.2-2.32 million hectares of land are affected by various levels of drought.  If there is a lack of regular average rainfall in the growth stage, the plant faces dehydration. This can damage the plant. Aman paddy is cultivated in 60% of the 83 lakh hectares of drought-affected cultivable land in the country. In addition, drought-affected Autumn rice and Boro paddy, jute, pulses, and oil crops, potatoes, winter vegetables, and sugarcane. Furthermore, if there is no rain in March or April, it becomes difficult to cultivate the land on time. As a result, sown man, autumn paddy, and jute cannot be cultivated in time. Read: Govt. moves to boost climate resilience of vulnerable people, says official document Saltwater infiltration and increase in salinity in agriculture Saltwater infiltration is a serious problem in Bangladesh. In 1973, about 1.5 million hectares of land were affected by mild salinity that increased to 2.5 million hectares in 1997. Currently, 3 million hectares of land are affected. Due to the obstruction of water on the coaster area, the saline land is increasing. It mainly happens due to water flow from upstream and low rainfall. If things stay like that, it will create more problems in the future. Bangladesh's geographical location, socio-economic infrastructure, and dependency on natural resources are the main reasons for having negative effects of climate change. Read Financial support to vulnerable countries must for effective climate adaptation: Shahab

Bangladesh has been an agrarian state since time immemorial. Whether it's the suitable six seasons or the fertile land bounded by the mighty rivers, the production of crops in this region has always been on the higher side. However, over time, the existing processes of cultivation and agrarian techniques became redundant. With the huge development in the sector, one of the key challenges was to disseminate this knowledge and technology to rural farmers. The Department of Agricultural Extension has taken up that solemn task and has taken several app-based initiatives to better penetrate the rural areas. Here are the top mobile apps that the DAE has developed for the farmers. Best Mobile Apps for Farming and Agricultural Extension Services in Bangladesh Crop Production This app was developed by the joint venture of BTRC and Asia Pacific Telecommunication under the HRD project. APT also acted as the financier of the project to digitize and bring technological ease to rural farmers. The crop production app was one of the first of its kind in the country. The diversity of seasons as well as soil texture means different regions of Bangladesh are good for different types of crops. However, there is no empirical data to suggest which crop is best suited for which region. With that in mind, the crop production app is designed to be a storehouse of data of all the agricultural production in a single year. From the application, farmers can access the crop data to find out which crop is best suited for their regions and plan their crops accordingly. This not only brings a better crop production but also ensures a better profit margin for the farmers as well. Read Top health apps for online doctor consultation services in Bangladesh DAE Office Directory Most of the farmers in the rural areas of Bangladesh are illiterate and they are dependent on the age-old tradition of crop cultivation. To initiate technological development and put them into effect, the Department of Agricultural Extension appoints Agricultural Extension officers in different regions of Bangladesh. these officers act as a mentor to the farmers to teach and educate them in various new process and innovation that helps in a better yield of the crop. The DAE office directory app was developed to make communication with the officers easier and more personalized. A user can directly locate the name and contact o the relevant officer in their region. Moreover, they can make direct calls from the app itself which makes the process even more hassle-free. The app is free to download from the play store of android devices. Concurrently, you can also download the app from the DAE website. Read Online apps reshaping cattle markets ahead of Eid, thanks to local admins DigiCow Digicow is part of the farming tech solutions limited base in Kenya. The company was founded in 2014 to make farming digitalized as well as more efficient. In Bangladesh, DigiCow operates in collaboration with Grameenphone’s initiative – the smart farm. The platform operates to provide all the crucial health and reproduction data of an individual cow on a farm. For this, a farmer needs to install a smart tag on each of their cows and receive all the health-related data of individual cows directly into their app. Every year, there is production loss due to sudden illness and a lack of protective measures for the cow's health. The DigiCow platform effectively eliminates those threats and allows for a continuous monitor of health. This helps to ensure that the cow is healthy and also get information about their reproduction period. Read Best Food Delivery Apps in Bangladesh in 2021 Weather Forecasting App This is also another app developed by the joint venture of BTRC and APT under the HRD project. This is one of the five applications that were developed to facilitate rural farmers through the DAE. The DAE works closely with the farmers and tries to educate on the basics of the application and how to use them. granted that most of the farmers of Bangladesh do not have access to smartphones and the internet, some of the services of this app can be availed through text messaging service as well. Weather plays a vital factor in crop production and it is important to know about the macro as well as micro-changes to plan crop plantation as well as harvesting. The weather forecasting app displays the relevant information of a region on a micro-scale so that it is possible to deduce the changes and plan crop plantation and harvesting accordingly. Read Best Ride-Sharing Apps in Bangladesh Fosholi App Fosholi is by far the most comprehensive application when it comes to everything related to agriculture. The application was developed by a joint venture between Danish Company G4AW and the ACI Agrobusiness. As an abundantly agriculture-based country, there is a lot of agricultural production of different crops. With different crops, comes different issues as well as better harvest prospects with the use of proper fertilizer as well as taking appropriate measures. All of this information can be hard to get by for a rural farmer and sometimes access to DAE officials is also not available. The Fosholi comes in aid for this exact reason. It is an all-in-one app that will give you the desired information based on your location, season, and crop. You can get all kinds of information about the growth, plantation, nurturing as well as harvesting of your crops. There is also information regarding the use of fertilizer as well as reports of the previous harvest in the area to better understand the expected harvest scale. The app has been quite popular among the DEA officers as well as they can use it as a one-stop solution for all types of queries of the farmers. The application is available on both Android and iOS platforms as well as their website. Bottom Line The DEA including the private sector recognized the need for an overhaul in the existing process of agricultural development and as a result, took initiatives to develop various applications which specialize in a certain area to better help the farmers. These Bangladeshi Agricultural apps are having a tremendous impact on the overall alleviation of the harvesting as well as reducing crop damage.  Read Top Job Searching apps in Bangladesh