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National Agriculture Policy

Introduction :

The economy of Bangladesh is primarily dependent on agriculture. About 84 percent of the total population live in rural areas and are directly or indirectly engaged in a wide range of agricultural activities. Agriculture contributes about 32 percent to the country's GDP, about 23 percent of which is contributed by the crop sector alone. About 63 percent of the labour force is employed in agriculture with about 57 percent being employed in the crop sector.

The scope of modern agriculture has been widened significantly. Although agriculture used to be originally defined as the cultivation of land for producing crops only, now-a-days, any applied activity through proper utilization of natural resources which relates to the production, development, preservation, processing, marketing and extension of not only crops but also other agricultural commodities such as fish, meat, eggs, forest products, etc. is universally accepted within the purview of agriculture. According to the above definition, crop production, animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry, etc. are integral components of agriculture. But, crops undoubtedly constitutes the largest and most important sector of Bangladesh agriculture. Although overall agriculture encompasses the development of crops, livestock, fishery, environment and forestry, separate policies on fisheries, livestock, as well as environment and forestry have already been formulated by the respective ministries. In this perspective, Ministry of Agriculture has formulated this policy document in order to provide proper guidelines for various development activities relating to crops which is the largest sector of agriculture. As expected, policies related to crop production and marketing together with minor irrigation, seeds, fertilizers and agricultural credit got prominence in the document. Since crop sector plays the major role in Bangladesh agriculture and gets the top most importance in various agriculture related programmes of the government, this policy document for the development of crop sector is, therefore, titled as the National Agriculture Policy.

In Bangladesh, it is possible to reduce rural poverty and raise the living standard of common people by establishing agriculture as a profitable sector. It is, therefore, necessary to reorganize and develop the agricultural production system into a more dynamic and commercially profitable sector. In this context, the primary goal of the National Agriculture Policy is to modernize and diversify the crop sector, in other words the entire agricultural system, through initiation and implementation of a well-organized and well-coordinated development plan.

The following opportunities and constraints prevailing in the agriculture sector have been taken into consideration with a view to framing and implementing an effective agriculture policy:

Opportunities

• Agriculture sector is the single largest contributor to GDP.
• Crop production system is highly labour intensive and there is an abundance of labour supply in the country.
• Agriculture is the largest source of employment for skilled and unskilled labour.
• Favourable natural environment generally exists throughout the year for crop production.
• Wide range of bio-diversity exists for different crops.
• Different crops and agricultural commodities are the main sources of nutrition, including protein, minerals and vitamins.
• Agricultural commodities have comparatively higher value added than non-agricultural commodities.

Constraints

• Agriculture is dependent on the vagaries of nature and is risky.
• Availability of cultivable land is decreasing.
• Lack of proper land use planning.
• Widespread poverty among the population engaged in agriculture.
• Lack of required capital for agricultural activities.
• Agricultural commodities are rapidly perishable and post harvest losses are too high.
• Inadequacy of appropriate technology considering farmers' socio-economic conditions.
• Decreasing yields of different crops due to slow expansion of modern technology as well as unplanned use of soil and water.
• Uncertainity of fair price of agricultural commodities due to underdeveloped marketing system.
• Very weak backward-forward linkage in agriculture.
• Limited knowledge of common people about the nutritional value of agricultural commodities including vegetables and fruits.
• Absence of efficient as well as effective farmers' organization at the grass root level.
• Inadequate use of improved seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and other inputs.