Matia Chowdhury

Minister of Agriculture
Bangladesh

Perspective

On Bangladesh.

Many people think of Bangladesh as a struggling and hungry country and their view is coloured by the dramatic natural disasters we have suffered in the past. But Bangladesh has made considerable progress in recent years, particularly in agriculture.

For Bangladesh, as for so many similar countries, it is the small, marginal farmers who constitute the real strength of the nation's agriculture. And they are also a real productive force in the overall economy. In 1996/97 our farmers produced a record harvest (rice and wheat) of 20.34 million metric tonnes. This compared with 19.10 million MT in 1995/96. But to remain productive, farmers require a timely delivery of agricultural inputs at prices they can afford; they need strong research and extension services; and they need access to improved and appropriate technology.

To meet these needs the fertilizer distribution system has been strengthened, and steps have been taken to strengthen and improve the efficiency of the agricultural research system within the country. In addition, a new national agricultural extension policy has been approved, and a Water Management Wing has been established. But, some major weaknesses remain.

One major weakness is the gap between potential yields and the yields achieved by our farmers. One example is that the potential yield of some of our high yielding varieties is more than 4 tonnes/hectare whereas the average yield realized by the majority of our farmers is only about 2 tonnes/hectare. This weakness is, in turn, caused by other weaknesses.

Poor seed quality is a major weakness; only about 4-5% of total seed requirement is of certified seed and consequently we have a low rate of seed replacement. To achieve our desired levels of production, this needs to be raised to 10-12%. Another weakness is insufficient attention to surface water for irrigation; it is ironical in Bangladesh that because of past lack of attention to surface water management at least 80% of the rainwater that comes in the monsoon is drained to the Bay of Bengal. If we could use that water we could achieve better production.

Another major weakness is availability of agricultural credit: the amount is inadequate and the delivery system is very inefficient and a bit corrupt. This may be surprising to some who have heard about the micro-credit provided by the Grameen Bank and various NGOs such as Proshika. But this credit is for the poorest of the poor who lack any collateral to offer against credit.

The lack I am referring to is the agricultural credit required by farmers who do have collateral. These small and marginal farmers need credit to improve technology and surface water management, both of which can be costly. So here the government will have to step in and arrange this facility since the farmers cannot do it for themselves.

Finally, anyone who visits Dhaka or any other large city in the developing world will realize that people, particularly young people, continue to leave our rural areas and come to the city in search of employment. It is a tough challenge that we face but we must develop the infrastructure in our rural areas and the priority will be to get electricity to our villages. Electricity has many benefits but among them is the facility to develop agro-processing industries in the areas of agricultural production. People come to the city from necessity not choice; we must offer them the alternative of income generation in their home areas.

People ask whether Bangladesh will be able to feed itself in the coming century. I do not believe that this is an impossible task. Science has developed so much and continues to offer so many products and technologies. If we can develop more high yielding varieties, short duration varieties, varieties that are salt-tolerant for that vast area of our country that is saline-prone, and if we can improve management of water, then our farmers can do it. When we achieved Independence in 1971/72 our population was 75 million, now it is 125 million and our food gap today is no greater than it was at Independence. Our farmers have proved that they can cope in the past. With the right support and facilities they will cope with the future challenges also.

Back to top