This document summarizes agriculture in Bangladesh. It notes that agriculture makes up 21% of Bangladesh's GDP and 48% of its labor force. Some of the key challenges facing Bangladeshi agriculture are population growth, climate change, lack of mechanization, and fragmented land plots. The document also discusses strategies to achieve food security and make Bangladesh a middle income country by 2022. It outlines both challenges posed by climate change and ways of adapting to and mitigating its effects, such as developing stress-tolerant varieties and coastal green belts. Collective efforts across different sectors are needed to ensure sustainable agricultural development.

1. Agriculture in Bangladesh
Prepared by: M. Muniruzzaman,
Lecturer, Dept. Of Sociology and Anthropology,
Green University of Bangladesh
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2. Bangladesh
Agriculture at a
Glance
 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
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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)
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Characteristics of Bangladesh AgricultureCharacteristics of Bangladesh Agriculture
 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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Importance of agricultureImportance 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%

6. Some challenges
 Population growth rate1.48%
 Climate change and variations
 Rapid urbanization growth @12%
 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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Challenges continued…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

8. Prospects of Agriculture
 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.
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Why Climate Change matters forWhy Climate Change matters for
agriculture?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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Types of climate change problemsTypes of climate change problems
 Sea Level Rise (SLR)
 Floods
 Riverbank erosion
 Drought
 Salinity intrusion
 Loss of homestead and livelihoods
 Land scarcity

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Factors related to climate changeFactors 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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Combating Climate Change ImpactCombating 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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Continued…Continued…
Mitigation
Coastal green belt
Embankment/Dam
Tidal River Management
Early warning and weather
forecasting
Cyclone shelters
Crop insurance

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Collective efforts neededCollective efforts needed
 Political commitment
 Educational Institutions
 Civil society
 NGOs
 Media
 Research organizations
 Department of Agricultural Extension/Extension service
providers
 Global cooperation

15. 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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16. 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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