©Sanzidur Rahman
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Bangladesh: Macroeconomic Setting and Performance of Agricultural Sector
Bangladesh, a predominantly agrarian economy, is characterized by small-scale, fragmented farming, employing primitive technology and is one of the poorest and most populous nation of the world. The country has to support some 115 million people with a density of 800 persons per sq. km. The majority of the population lack food security as reflected in extreme poverty and widespread hunger. Though agriculture serves as the mainstay of the population contributing about half of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing two-third of the total labor force, the high population growth rate offsets the increased agricultural production thereby exacerbating the food deficit and poverty. The land-man ratio is one of the lowest in the world. Hossain (1989) rightly remarked that, "there are few countries in the Third World where technological progress is of higher importance in maintaining the food-population balance than in Bangladesh ... if the country is to maintain a modest per capita income growth of about 2 percent a year ... food production has to grow over 3.4 percent a year to avoid a further increase in cereal imports, which are currently about 10 percent of domestic demand" (pp.14). Further Hossain (1989) stressed that the agriculture does not have the resources to meet such a challenge since all the cultivable land is in use and the increasing population pressure dramatically reduced the average farm size holdings to less than a hectare and therefore opted for rapid technological progress as the key to maintain the food-population balance in the country.
Bangladesh Economy: General Characteristics
Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, emerged as a new nation in 1971 following the aftermath of Liberation War. As such, the country has to carry on to rebuild its economy owing to widespread destruction. Coupled with this are the natural disasters, such as cyclones of 1970, successive floods during the late 1960s and a famine in 1974 which further accentuated the degree of development crisis. An analysis of the selected indicators of structural change in the economy (Alamgir and Berlage, 1974; BBS, 1979, 1980, 1989, 1991, 1994) for the past four and half decades (1949/50-1993/94) reveals declining role of agriculture in economic development. While the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) quadrupled in 45 years, the population also increased almost three times, leaving the real per capita income to increase by only 50% from its inital value in 45 years and presently standing at only US$ 220. The agricultural component of GDP only doubled in this period with significant fall in its share to GDP from 65% in 1949/50 to only 30% in 1993/94. It was the non-agricultural component, the combination of industry and services sector, that was largely responsible for the subsequent growth of GDP for this 45 year period. However, the contribution of industries to overall GDP remains less than 18% reflecting the persistent weak industrial base of the economy as a whole. The services sector, in fact took over the lost share of agricultural sector over this 45 year period, presently accounting for 52% of GDP.
In terms of growth rate, for the entire period 1949/50 to 1993/94, the agricultural sector as a whole grew only at the rate of 1.8% as compared to 6.6% for industrial and 4.5% for services sector, respectively. Considering only the post-Liberation period, 1972/73 to 1993/94 (a 22 year span), the agricultural growth rate is about 3.1% while the industrial and service sector growth rates are much higher, 8.8% and 8.6%, respectively.
Overview of Bangladesh Agriculture
Agricultural sector dominates Bangladesh economy in terms of contribution to national income as well as employment. More than two-thirds of the labor force depends on agriculture for employment. Bangladesh's export mainly consists of jute, jute goods, and tea. Crop production dominates Bangladesh agriculture accounting for more than 60% of agricultural value added in 1993/94. Alauddin and Tisdell (1991) noted that if supporting activities like transport and marketing of agricultural products are taken into account, the share of agricultural sector GDP is likely to be over 60% of total. Within the crop sub-sector, foodgrain production is central to the economy dominated by rice monoculture. About 80% of the gross cropped area is planted with rice which accounts for about 93% of total cereal production (Alauddin and Tisdell, 1987). In recent times, wheat is also gaining importance though its coverage remained extremely low.
Over the past thirty years, the major development influence in Bangladesh agriculture has been the introduction of "green revolution" technologies. This bio-chemical "land-saving" technology which transformed much of the Asian region were introduced at a relatively later stage (during the late 1960s) and at a much slower pace (Alauddin and Tisdell, 1991).
Though the basic aim of agricultural development policies over the last four decades remained at increased food production, the program components underwent vast changes shifting from one category to the other. In the early 1960s, flooding during the monsoon and lack of irrigation facilities during the dry periods were identified as the major constraints hindering use of modern agricultural inputs. As such, the government aimed at building large scale irrigation and drainage facilities (Alauddin and Tisdell, 1991; Hossain, 1989). In the late 1960s, when major thrust was given in promoting "green revolution", the program strategies shifted from building large scale irrigation installations to more divisible and modern techniques of irrigation (e.g., shallow tube well (STWs), deep tube wells (DTWs) and low-lift pumps (LLPs)) coupled with increased distribution of highly subsidized chemical fertilizer and HYVs of rice. In the early 1970s, HYVs of wheat were introduced. As noted by Alauddin and Tisdell (1991), during the initial years until the early 1970s, HYVs of rice (e.g., IR-8, IR-5, and IR-20) used to be imported directly. However, subsequently the Bangladesh agricultural research system adapted and indigenously developed different varieties of rice and wheat which were then multiplied and released for farm production.
Links to other sites on the Web
Bangladesh Agriculture
Bangladesh and its Agriculture by ICPPGR
Sustainable Development Dimensions by FAO
Bangladesh Agricultural University Staff and Graduates
© 1997 hsp59593@ait.ac.th