About 10.56 lakh out of 16.89 lakh hectares of coastal land in the country are affected by salinity of various degrees, according to a survey of the Soil Resources Development Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture. The findings of the survey in 2010 on saline soil of Bangladesh said that more than 62 per cent out of the total cultivated land in the coastal areas had already been affected by salinity. About 10.53 lakh hectares were stricken by very slight, slight, moderate, strong and very strong salinity. Some of the new lands of Satkhira, Patuakhali, Barguna, Barisal, Jhalakati, Pirojpur, Jessore, Narail, Gopalganj and Madaripur are affected by different degrees of salinity which is reducing agricultural productivity remarkably, according to the survey findings. The total salinity-hit land has increased to about 10.56 lakh hectares from 8.33 lakh hectares over the last four decades. In 2001, the size of the salinity-affected land was nearly 10. 20 lakh hectares. The worst saline-stricken districts are Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira and Patuakhali. The report said that withdrawal of fresh river-water from upstream, irregular rainfall, introduction of brackish water for shrimp cultivation, faulty management of sluice gates and polders, regular saline tidal water flooding in unprotected area and capillary rise of soluble salts were the main causes of increased soil salinity in the top soils of the coastal regions. The district-wise water samples from different water sources such as sea, river, canal, pond, enclosure, hand tube well, shallow tube well and deep tube well were taken for preparing the survey report, said SRDI officials. Earlier, the SRDI had carried out two surveys on saline soil of Bangladesh