Summary

According to the Global Climate Risk Index (2021), Bangladesh ranked as the seventh-most affected by climatic calamities across the world during the period 2000–2019. Climate change poses a great threat to Bangladesh’s economy because of its high dependence on agriculture. Today, the agricultural sector employs about 40.6% of the country’s labor force and contributes 14.10% to Bangladesh’s gross domestic product. Various climatic variabilities, such as changes in precipitation, temperature, rises of sea level, salinity intrusion, and natural disasters, that is, storm surges, cyclones, flood, drought, and so on, distress the agricultural sector. These impacts ultimately affect crop production and increase food insecurity. In Bangladesh, the coastal zone covers 32% of the land area and is home to 26% of total population. This area is particularly different from the rest of the country because of its unique geo-physical characteristics, funnel-shaped Bay of Bengal, and vast network of rivers. The coastal zone frequently faces the impacts of climate change through coastal flooding, cyclones, storm surges, drought, salinity intrusion, waterlogging, and so on. They not only affect agricultural productivity but also lead to degradation of soil productivity and enhance lower agricultural production. To cope with the impacts on coastal agriculture, government, non-governmental organizations, and communities have practiced a number of adaptation measures. Various climate change scenarios projected that the impacts will be more in future, and these will hamper agricultural production significantly. Considering these, this article provides nature-based promising agricultural adaptation measures such as: stress-tolerant rice and non-rice crops, floating gardens, sorjan farming, pond dyke systems, tower cultivation, zero tillage, among others. For the successful accomplishment of these adaptation measures, it further emphasizes the strengthening of agricultural research-extension services for disseminating up-to-date agricultural adaptation technologies, ensuring access to inputs, training and extension services, and formulating crop insurance.