, June 18 -- Agriculture Minister Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid on Thursday told the Parliament that Bangladesh has around 2.18 crore acres of arable land, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the country's total area.

"The total arable land area of Bangladesh is about 88,29,000 hectares (2.18 crore acres), which is about 59.7 percent of the total area of the country," he said, while replying to a question from MP Khairul Kabir Khokan (Narsingdi-1).

Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad tabled the question-and-answer session for Thursday, immediately after the day's business started at 3:00pm.

The agriculture minister said a huge amount of cultivable land is being lost every year due to unplanned urbanisation, housing and industrialisation in Bangladesh....