We work with farming families and rural communities across Bangladesh to keep agricultural topsoil where it belongs: on the field. The uppermost layer of soil carries most of the land's organic matter, nutrients and capacity to hold water, and it takes generations to form. When it is cut away and carried off, the land left behind yields less, demands more fertiliser and recovers only very slowly.
Our work is mainly persuasion, carried out face to face. Our volunteers hold small meetings in villages, at markets and in schools, setting out in plain terms what losing the top layer of a field costs a household over the seasons that follow. We speak with landowners approached by soil buyers, with sharecroppers whose living depends on land they do not own, and with those who buy and transport earth. Where cutting is already underway, we encourage neighbours, community elders and local government representatives to take the matter up together, and we help people reach the authorities responsible for protecting cultivable land.
Alongside this, we promote practices that rebuild soil rather than strip it: returning crop residue to the field, composting household and farm waste, planting along field edges and embankments so that earth stays in place during the rains, and avoiding the burning of stubble.
Anyone can take part. Farmers, students, teachers, religious leaders, youth clubs and local journalists are all welcome to join our sessions, to speak up when land near them is being cut, or to volunteer with us.