Experts and economists on Thursday said that Bangladesh鈥檚 agriculture sector should get focus as one of the key economic drivers, beyond food security.
At a seminar 鈥楾he Political Economy of Agrarian Futures in Bangladesh鈥� organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies at the BIDS Conference Room in the capital Dhaka, they said that the fair prices of agricultural products for the farmers should be ensured to make the supply chain efficient and to ensure food security.
Agriculture economists also said that the social system of agriculture was undergoing a process of disarticulation and rearticulation to accommodate the intrusion of capital, along with the involvement of various stakeholders and economic actors associated with this transformation.
Power and Participation Research Centre executive chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman observed that while Bangladesh鈥檚 agriculture is often viewed solely through the lens of food security, it should also be recognised as a key economic driving force.
He identified climate change as one of the major challenges for the agricultural sector.
Hossain Zillur emphasised the need to utilise unused land in Bangladesh.
He pointed out that although the per capita land in the country was very low, there were significant areas of unused land in Satkhira and Sylhet.
Chairman of the standing committee on Ministry of Agriculture Md Abdur Razzaque said that agriculture was one of the key drivers of economic growth of the country.
The government has taken many initiatives to transform the traditional agriculture to commercial farming and success was taking place, he said.
Razzaque said that a huge amount of investments was needed for the commercial farming, but there were lack of entrepreneurs to make required investments in the area.
Citing the recent progress in the country鈥檚 agriculture sector, he said that from a food deficit country Bangladesh achieved self-sufficiency in producing food grains in 2015.
Many families solely depend on farming and there was a huge prospect for Bangladesh to export agricultural products, including mangoes and potatoes, Razzaque said.
Economic Research Group executive director Sajjad Zohir said that the acquisition of land by the government for the construction of infrastructure in recent聽 years had affected agriculture in the country.
The government should be careful about the human settlement during the acquisition of land for any development project, he said.
The economist also said that the government was encouraging private sector businesses to invest in economic zones across the country, which could potentially shift people from the agricultural sector to other sectors.
Bangladesh Agricultural University emeritus professor MA Sattar Mandal and University of Bath, UK emeritus professor Geof Wood jointly presented keynote paper in the event.
The keynote paper outlined four dominant trajectories for the future agrarian political economy: conversion of peasants into petty commodity producers, evolution of large-scale corporate farming through agribusiness, a rentier-contractor model retaining family land interests while enhancing national food security, and increasing cash tenancy driven by new entrants cross-subsidising from other income sources.
BIDS director general Binayak Sen urged the government to provide support to the agriculture in the next national budget for the financial year 2024-25 as 40 per cent of total population depended on the sector.
He suggested rationalisation of tariff policy and subsidy policy to provide support to the poultry, fisheries and other sectors.
BIDS research director Mohammad Yunus said that fair prices to the farmers should be ensured to make supply chain efficient.
The fair prices to farmer are also important to ensure food security, he said.
