Bangladesh Agro Products Sector abridged overview

Sector Profile

• Bangladesh is primarily an agrarian economy. Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of economy since it comprises about 30% of the country's GDP and employing around 66% of the total labor force. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security.
• Meeting the nation's food requirements remains the key objective of the government and in recent years there has been substantial increase in grain production. Rice, Jute, Sugarcane, Potato, Pulses, Wheat, Tea, Tobacco, Oilseed, Spices and Fruit are the principal crops. Few of the products of this sector are currently exported in different countries with immense global competition. The growth and diversification of Agro products largely depends on the policy support, public-private joint initiative for institutional and financial support, availability of technical and business information, innovation and sustainable development of technology and related products, capacity development of industries, research and development facilities and removal of other barriers relating to the agricultural sector.
• In the present context of globalization, the ministry of commerce has taken initiative as part of the development and diversification strategy to increase industrial base and volume of foreign trade. The Agro sector also plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of the Bangladesh.

An abridged overview of Bangladesh Agro Products Sector:

• Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of the economy since it comprises about 18.6% of the country's GDP and employs around 45% of the total labor force. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human recourses development, food security & export diversification.
• A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, wheat is assuming greater importance. Tea is grown in the northeast. Maize and vegetables are assuming greater importance. Other Bangladeshi food crops are potato and sweet potatoes with a combined record production of 1.9 million tons in FY 1984; oilseeds, with an annual overage production of 2,50,000 tons; and fruits such as bananas, jackfruits, mangoes and pineapples. Estimates of sugarcanes production put annual production at more than 7 million tons per year, most of it processed into a coarse, unrefined sugar known as gur; and sold domestically.
• Bangladesh is the largest producer of world's best Jute, which also known as natural jute or raw jute. Rice being the staple food, its production is of major importance. Rice production stood at 20.3 million tons in 1996-97 fiscal years.
• The infrastructure facilities (Such as electricity, gas, transportation and telecommunication) and labor cost are comparatively lesser than other countries as such the sector shows high potentiality of growth and development.
• Business leaders, bankers, agronomists and researchers of Bangladesh are of the opinion that the northern region of the country has enormous potentials for sustainable agro-processing enterprises. The Multipurpose Jamuna Bridge contributed a lot in improving communication to and from the northern region, creating wider scopes for increased production of cereals, fruits, vegetables and livestock as well as their marketing both at home and abroad.
• Soil conditions, topography and climate makes the area ideal for large scale and sustainable production of cereals, fruits and vegetables. Vegetables like potato, cauliflower, tomato, white gourd, bean, spinach, pea and baby corn are being produced in the region in larger quantities side by side with broccoli, carrot, celery, capsicum and strawberry. Most of these have huge earning prospects through exports. Potato flakes also have great international demand and its production technology is relatively simple and labour intensive. Such an industry should have great prospects in Bangladesh.

Export Scenario of Agro Product Sector: