II. SALIENT FEATURES OF AGRICULTURE IN BANGLADESH Agriculture sector in Bangladesh includes crops, forestry, livestock and fisheries. Understanding the structure of agriculture and how it has evolved over time is necessary for understanding the role of agriculture sector in the economy of Bangladesh. This section presents the salient features of agriculture in Bangladesh.
2.1 Gradual Decrease of Agricultural Land: Agricultural land refers to the share of land area that is arable, under permanent crops, and under permanent pastures. Decrease of agricultural land is one of the alarming characteristic of agriculture in Bangladesh- a country that highly depends on agriculture. Agricultural land in Bangladesh was measured at 92 percent of land area in 1976, which reduced to 87.69 percent and 83.53 percent over the years of 2000 and 2010 respectively. The main reason behind the loose of agricultural land in Bangladesh is the growth of rural housing followed by urbanization and industrialization. Residences of increasing population of the country are expanding at the cost of agricultural land.
2.2 Increase in Agricultural Output: Since the early 1980s the agriculture sector has grown at an average rate of 3.08 percent at constant market price while GDP has increased at 4.78 percent. The growth rate of agriculture was lower than the growth rate of GDP because of phenomenal growth of manufacturing and service sector during the period. Rice production increased from 14 million metric ton in FY 1981 to 32 million metric ton in 2010. The constant growth of agricultural output has become possible due to introduction of High Yield Variety (HYV) seeds, chemical fertilizer, mechanized cultivation, and irrigation.
2.3 Dependent on Few Crops: In Bangladesh, the three main crops—rice, jute, and tea—have been dominating agricultural for decades. Rice is the staple food in the everyday diet of Bangladeshis. Although rice is grown almost entirely for domestic consumption, jute and tea are the main export earners. In addition to these products, Bangladeshi farmers produce sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, and various fruits and vegetables (such as sweet potatoes, bananas, pineapples, etc.) for the domestic market.
2.4 Enhanced Use of Agricultural Inputs: Though the agricultural land has been decreasing day by day, the growth performance of crop production has been very promising. This growth was possible due to increase in capital formation and adoption of new technology in agriculture. However, the higher level of capital formation is manifested by extensive use of mechanized cultivation by power tiller and tractors, modern irrigation facilities such as use of shallow tube wells, deep tube wells, lift pump, mechanical thrashing, husking, sowing, and sprinkle machineries. Moreover, use of high yielding variety (HYV) and hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides have also increased the productivity of the agricultural sector substantially. Over the last three decades total sales of chemical fertilizers have increased by more than three folds and area under irrigation rose by more than two folds whereas net cultivable land decreased by about 10 percent.
2.5 Low Growth of Cropping Intensity: Cropping intensity remained stagnant until late 1980s. There was a sharp rise in the years between 1987 and 2015. Cropping intensity increased from 153 percent in 1980-81 to 173 percent in 1995-96 and finally rose to 190 percent in 2015-16. It has not increased much in the last 30 years. This overall increase in cropping intensity is due to increase in tripled cropped area and decline in single cropped area. The double cropped area has not changed much over the last two decades, though it increased in1990s.
2.6 High Growth of Boro Rice: Among the rice, Boro has seen substantial increase in production over the last three decades. In FY 1972 total production of Aus, Aman and Boro rice were 2341, 5695 and 1738 thousand metric tons respectively. But over time total production of Boro has increased faster than Aus and Aman. In FY 2010 total production of Aus, Aman and Boro rice were 1709, 12207 and 18059 thousand metric tons respectively. Production of Boro increased from 1738 thousand metric tons in 1972 to 18059 thousand metric tons in 2010. Boro makes up about 18 percent of total rice production in 1972 and in 2009 the share is about 60 percent. The major reason behind switching to Boro is the higher yield per acre, widespread use of fertilizer responsive high-yielding variety (HYV) technology leveraged by controlled water management (either through irrigation and/or flood control).
2.7 Dependence on Nature: Although the uses of modern inputs are increasing day by day, the agriculture sector of Bangladesh is still heavily dependent on the weather, and the entire harvest can be wiped out in a matter of hours when cyclones hit the country. It is to be noted that dependency on rainfall has decreased many folds because of the expansion of irrigation facilities.
2.8 Small Farm Size: Agricultural holdings in Bangladesh are generally small. It is due to heavily increasing population, unwieldy land ownership, and inheritance regulations. Small firm size is one of the greatest impediments in the application of modern technologies in agriculture sector of Bangladesh.
2.9 Increase in Share of Fishing: Fishing is another important activity in the country that has contributed 3.69 percent to the GDP in 2014-15 and also provided 6 percent of the total export income in the same time period. The overall fish production was around 1.6 million metric tons during 1999-2000. Bangladesh exports its shrimp mainly to the international market.