"Along Bangladesh's southern coast, farmers threatened by the impacts of climate change are striving to boost their resilience to rising salinity in the soil and water by growing salt-tolerant crops and turning to innovative agriculture techniques.

The country's coastal regions, which make up a third of all arable land, have been hit by worsening drought, heat and water scarcity in recent years, while researchers say saline build-up is growing, spurred by various factors including rising seas.

Salinity levels in Bangladesh have increased by more than a quarter over the past three-and-a-half decades, according to the country's Soil Resources Development Institute.

For example, salinity in the Rupsa River in southern Khulna district rose to 16.8 parts per trillion (ppt) in 2011 from 0.7 ppt in 1962, according to a 2022 government report which warned that sea level rise would exacerbate the problem in the future.

Md. Tahmid Zami reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation August 25, 2023. [2]