Challenges of Population Growth on Agricultural Land in South Eastern Coastal Areas of Ampara District in Sri Lanka

Rapid population growth is a global concern, particularly in developing countries. It has become challengeable in the backdrop of the availability of agricultural land. The coastal areas of Ampara District are densely populated and that during the post tsunami and post war periods, the new settlements increased rapidly in these areas. This new phenomenon caused a series of problems including the demand for agricultural areas being increased and the lands filled for the purpose of re-settlement and constructions. This study explores a) to find the challenges of population growth on the availability of agricultural lands, b) to find the correlation between population growth and the loss of agricultural lands, and c) to provide strategies to manage the land use for the sustainable development. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. For this purpose, by using GIS 10.5 software, land use map was created to delineate the contrasts between the agricultural areas and built up land. The finding of the study revealed that the rapid population growth in the coastal areas of Ampara District has negatively impacted on the availability of the agricultural land.