Agriculture in Bangladesh:
Present position, Problems,
Prospects and Policy
1
Outline
Bangladesh agriculture at a glance
Characteristics
Importance of agriculture
Some challenges of agriculture
Prospects
Climate change and agriculture
Factors related to climate change impact
Consequences of climate change on agriculture
Adapting to climate change
Comprehensive approach to deal with the issues
Policy Supports
Conclusion
2
Bangladesh Agriculture at a Glance
Total farm holding: 1,47,16,000
Total area: 14.845 million hectares
Cultivable land: 8 million hectares
Current fallow land: 0.469m hectares
Annual Food Production: 31.9m MT
Annual Food demand: 31.9m MT
3
Strategies:
Self-sufficiency in food: 2012
Ensuring food security: 2017(a+a+n)
Middle Income Country: 2022
*(a+a+n=Availability, accessibility and nutrition)
4
2012
34.2 million tons
production
cing e
u ng
red a
& l ch
ity a
c tiv l ogic
u n o
prod e ch
s ing s &T
rea ap: inpu
t
ture
c
In l d g a l r
l
icu gy Self sufficiency in food
e n g
yi ditio ion e -A nolo
Ad aptat ed & Tech bit
- Ad twork vest d ha
r o
Ne st ha g fo
Po angin
Ch
2008
31.9 million ton
production
*Breakeven point
Strategy for achieving self-sufficiency in food
5
Food indicates only staple food
Characteristics of Bangladesh Agriculture
Cropping intensity 179%
Irrigated land 56%
Surface water:21% groundwater:79%
Land-man ratio: .06 ha
Mainly subsistence farming
Inadequate agro-processing
Non-mechanized farming
Fragmented land/plots
Dependence largely on nature
6
Importance of agriculture
21% GDP
48% labor force
Source of raw materials as backward
and forward linkage for agro based
industries
Agriculture determines people’s lives
and livelihood of this region
People living in rural areas 77%
Export value 12%
7
Some challenges
Rapid shrinkage of agricultural land @1% p.a.
Population growth @1.48% p.a.
Climate change and variations
Rapid urbanization growth @12% p.a.
Agricultural research and education (manpower
shortage, updating course curriculum)
Technology generation (needs expertise, time and
money)
Technology dissemination (needs expertise,
time, logistics support)
Alternate livelihoods/rehabilitation program
Inadequate value addition /food processing
8
Challenges continued…
Climate change adaptation & mitigation
Developing stress tolerant varieties
Transferring updated information and
technologies to the field
Attaining irrigation efficiency
Regaining soil fertility and natural ingredients
Research-extension-farmer-market linkage
Shortage of Agril labour at peak seasons
9
Prospects of Agriculture:
Modern technological know-how is available for
dissemination
Scope for expanding hybrid technology exists(10%)
Prospects for adoption of advanced technology in
agriculture are bright
Potentials for proper utilization of hilly/coastal areas
including agro-ecologically disadvantaged regions exist
Export potentials exist for high-value crops
Scope for crop diversification, intensification and value
addition to agricultural produces
Agriculture sector has capacity to absorb labor force
and to generate income
Scope for reducing yield gaps exists
10
Why Climate Change matters for
agriculture?
Heavily depends on natural rainfall,
weather & temperature, water level, soil
condition etc.
Uncontrolled farming environment
Rice based agriculture greatly depends
availability of fresh surface and ground
water
Seasonal farming
Lack of stress tolerant varieties
Changed cropping pattern
11
Types of climate change problems
Sea Level Rise (SLR)
Floods
Riverbank erosion
Drought
Salinity intrusion
Loss of homestead and livelihoods
Pest infestation
Land scarcity
12
Factors related to climate change
Indiscriminate use of natural
resources
Excessive and unplanned urbanization
Unplanned industrial growth
Imbalanced use of agricultural inputs
and extreme farming
Population pressure
Effect of industrial pollution by
developed countries
13
Combating Climate Change Impact
Adaptation:
Stress (flood, drought, submergence,
salinity, heat, cold..) tolerant varieties
Short duration crops
Innovative farming practices
Floating cultivation method
Crop diversification
Changing/shifting cropping pattern
Alternate wetting and drying irrigation
methods
14
Continued…
Mitigation
Coastal green belt
Embankment/Dam
Tidal River Management
Early warning and weather
forecasting
Cyclone shelters
Crop insurance
15
Collective efforts needed
Politicalcommitment
Educational Institutions
Civil society
NGOs
Media
Research organizations
Department of Agricultural
Extension/Extension service providers
Global cooperation
16
Recurrent natural calamities
Cyclones 1970, 1991, 2007(Sidr),
2009(Ayla)
Floods 1988, 2000, 2004, 2007
Erratic rainfall (e.g. late rainfall Aug/’09)
Severe drought
Heat and cold waves
Northwestern storm
Pest infestation
Draw down/Declining Water Table
17
Last two decades agricultural
growth
Inputs based growth
(intensive use of HYV/Hybrid seeds,
irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides, etc.)
Less mechanized farming
Insignificant methodological change of
farming
Crop diversification
Combination of vertical & horizontal growth
Presently less scope of horizontal growth
18
Policy support
National Agriculture Policy[1999; 2009(draft)]
New Agricultural Extension Policy
National Food Policy
National Seed Policy
National IPM policy
Fertilizer Management (Amendment) Act,2009
The Pesticide Act, 2009
Rural Credit Policy (Farmers friendly)
Land Policy & National Land use policy
19
PRSP- Agriculture and Rural Development
PRSP places agriculture and rural
development as key driver of pro-poor
growth strategy.
Government’s policy is to create enabling
environment and support transformation of
subsistence agriculture to a more diversified
agribusiness with increased participation of
private sector.
20
Continued…
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP),
entitled “Unlocking the Potential –National
Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction”
(2005), highlights the need for
- higher growth in rural areas, development
of agriculture and rural non-farm
economic activities as one of the four
priority areas to accelerating pro-poor
economic growth.
21
Continued…
PRSP puts emphasis on achieving
productivity and profitability gains, broad-
based support to agriculture, diversification
and commercialization of agricultural
enterprises.
PRSP also stressed on agricultural research
and technology generation, farmers’
demand-led extension services, energizing
agricultural marketing and agro-processing,
land use and women in agriculture.
22
Continued…
The most important feature of PRSP is the
formulation of precise and workable policy
matrix, which identifies 22 crucially important
strategic goals, fixes up targets against these
goals, charts actions already taken, sets future
policy agenda and priorities and delineates
responsibilities for the concerned ministries.
23
Government’s recent interventions
Farmers database and Farmers Inputs Support Card to 1
Crore 82 Lakh farmers.
Increased subsidy on Agricultural Inputs (Fertilizer, diesel,
electricity, seeds)
Farmer friendly agricultural credit policy
1 Crore 82 Lakh farmers’ new bank accounts being
opened
100 Hr. free supplementary irrigation
Enhanced Agricultural rehab grants to victims of natural
calamities
Support for accelerated mechanization of agriculture
Surface water irrigation
24
Conclusion:
Agriculture is the determining factor for
food security as well as pro-poor
development of Bangladesh economy.
The Problems of agriculture are
multifaceted. So the ways of addressing
the challenges should be
comprehensive, global and participatory
for sustainable agricultural
development.
25
26
