1. Agriculture in Bangladesh:
Present position, Problems, Prospects and
Policy
Presented by :MULTIFORM
Dept. of AIS
University of DHAKA
19th batch
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2. 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
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3. 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

4. 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

5. 2012
34.2 million tons
production
ing
uc ge
re d an
ch
y& al
vit lo g
ic
cti o
du hn
g pro Tec
as in : t s& re Self sufficiency in food
cre gap l inpu
In ld cu
ltu
 e tiona n
yi di gri logy
o e-A no
d
A apt ati d & ech it
e T b
- Ad twork vest d ha
r o
 Ne st ha g fo
 Po angin
2008
 Ch

31.9 million ton
production
*Breakeven point
Strategy for achieving self-sufficiency in food
Food indicates only staple food 5

6. 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
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7. 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%
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8. 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
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9. 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
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10. 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
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11. 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
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12. Types of climate change
problems
Sea Level Rise (SLR)
Floods
Riverbank erosion
Drought
Salinity intrusion
Loss of homestead and livelihoods
Pest infestation
Land scarcity
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13. 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
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14. 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
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15. Continued…
Mitigation
 Coastal green belt
 Embankment/Dam
 Tidal River Management
 Early warning and weather forecasting
 Cyclone shelters
 Crop insurance
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16. Collective efforts needed
Politicalcommitment
Educational Institutions
Civil society
NGOs
Media
Research organizations
Department of Agricultural Extension/Extension
service providers
Global cooperation
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17. 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
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18. 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
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19. National Agriculture Policy[1999; 2009(draft)]
Policy support
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
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20. 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.
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21. 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.
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22. 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.
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23. 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.
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24. 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
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25. 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.
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