Changing pattern of agriculture in Bangladesh Essay

Change in the contribution of GDP The major change in the agricultural field is the contribution in the National GDP which is decreasing year by year. Like the GDP Growth rate of the agriculture sector is descending. Financial Year Contribution of Agriculture 1991-92 28. 70 1992-93 28. 21 1993-94 27. 30 1994-95 26. 02 1995-96 25. 68 1996-97 25. 87 1997-98 25. 34 1998-99 25. 28 1999-00 25. 58 2000-01 25. 02 2001-02 23. 98 2002-03 23. 47 2003-04 23. 08 2004-05* 21. 91 Fig 1: Contribution of Agriculture in GDP Contribution of Sub sector in GDP. As agriculture is consist of all the sub-sectors which are – crops, forestry, livestock and the fisheries. Like the total amount, percentage of the sub- sectors is also declining for contributing in the GDP. In Percent FY 95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-2000 2000-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 Sub-Sectors CROP 15. 03 15. 21 14. 59 14. 33 14. 59 14. 70 13. 75 13. 43 13. 23 12. 51 12. 19 Live Stock 3. 36 3. 27 3. 19 3. 12 3. 02 2. 95 2. 96 2. 93 2. 91 2. 95 2. 93 Forestry 1. 93 1. 91 1. 89 1. 90 1. 88 1. 87 1. 88 1. 86 1. 83 1. 82 1. 79 Fisheries 5. 36 5. 48 5. 67 5. 93 6. 09 5. 51 5. 40 5. 25 5. 11 5. 00 4. 86 Use of chemical Fertilizer. The use of fertilizer has been increasing for agricultural production. In the FY 1994-95 the total quantity of fertilizer use was 26. 41 lakh metric tons which increased to 37. 55 lakh metric tons in the FY 2004-05. The use of Urea fertilizer alone was 17. 48 lakh metric tons in FY 1994-95 which increased to 25. 23 lakh metric ton in FY 2004-05. The percentage increase in Urea use in FY 2004-05 is 59. 78% i. e. 9. 44 lakh metric to compared to that of FY 1993-94. This is attainable to increase the irrigated areas and diversified use of Urea. On the other hand the use of phosphates Fertilizer such as TSP, DAP and SSP increased by 42. 16 percent in FY 2004-05 compared to that of 1994-95. Since 1995-96 Urea super/ mega granules are being manufactured and marketed through private sector. This has resulted in reduction of the Urea saving of 30to 35% of Urea and increase in yield together with creation of employment opportunity in the rural areas. The number of machines for manufacturing Urea super granules has gradually increased since 1996-97. Super/ mega granules are also being used in other Rabi Crops. Besides use of different types of mixed fertilizer is being encouraged for balanced use of fertilizer. TSP complex in Chittagong has started production and marketing of NPKS fertilizer on experimental basis. Some factors in the private sector have started production and marketing NPKS. Import of NPKS is also being encouraged under private sector. mport of DAP, TSP,NPKS and potash with more nutrient contents instead of low nutrient content SSP fertilizer is being encouraged and farmers are also being motivated to use such fertilizer, steps are being taken to enforce fertilizer marketing of low quality fertilizer, steps are being taken to enforce Fertilizer Control Order, 1999. Post- landing inspection has been strengthened in the case of imported fertilizer in the private sector. Besides manuals for fertilizer inspection and fertilizer analysis have also been prepared. In Bangladesh chemical fertilizer has been used for a long time. The census of use of fertilizer in Bangladesh of different years are given in the next page- Use of Chemical Fertilizer Type 93-94 94-95 95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-2000 2000-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 Urea 1579. 0 1748. 5 2045. 5 2141. 0 1867. 0 1902. 0 2151. 0 2121. 0 2247. 42 2239. 0 2324. 08 2523. 39 TSP 234. 2 122. 9 111. 1 72. 6 62. 4 170. 2 259. 3 399. 5 425. 31 405. 0 361. 0 420. 02 DAP 28. 7 1. 8 0 0 6. 8 38. 6 109. 2 90. 1 127. 03 112. 0 90. 0 140. 72 MP 103. 9 154. 2 155. 9 219. 3 193. 5 210. 8 239. 5 139. 8 222. 26 250. 0 240. 0 260. 38 SSP 170. 6 533. 5 596. 9 525. 3 473. 3 362. 4 237. 2 138. 6 127. 13 130. 0 148. 0 170. 93 NPKS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10. 2 12. 87 30. 0 45. 0 90. 0 AS 10. 0 2. 5 8. 7 11. 7 9. 7 12. 4 26. 0 13. 0 20. 19 10. 0 9. 0 5. 59 Zinc 5. 2 0 1. 0 1. 2 0. 7 0. 3 1. 2 3. 0 0. 24 2. 0 7. 0 8. 0 Gypsum 86. 1 77. 2 103. 6 86. 6 113. 4 128. 2 189. 4 102. 3 96. 05 120. 0 140. 0 135. 70 Others 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Change in Agri-Financing During the two decades the system of agri financing has changed hugely. Now a day a huge part of agri finance came from the government Bank and other banks. There are a number of NGO to help the farmers with short term loan. Khudra Rin Prokolpo of Grameen Bank plays a very important role in changing this financing system. Before most of the agri finance was came from the Rich villagers who are generally known as Jamindars. But that loan was not enough helpful. Because the farmers have to pay a huge amount of money as interest of that loan and by giving back that loan and interest the farmers again reached at the point of taking loan again. Financial Years Target Disbursement Recovery Balance 1992-93 1474. 41 841. 85 869. 23 5692. 84 1993-94 1643. 08/ 1100. 79 979. 12 6222. 00 1994-95 2161. 72 1605. 44 1124. 11 7045. 22 1995-96 2434. 27 1635. 81 1340. 02 7769. 07 1996-97 2394. 22 1672. 43 1646. 38 8256. 00 1997-98 2525. 83 1814. 53 1779. 29 8515. 04 1998-99 3270. 01 3245. 36 2039. 65 9702. 51 1999-2000 3331. 00 2851. 29 2996. 29 10648. 90 2001-02 3265. 92 3019. 67 2877. 87 11137. 26 2002-03 3560. 53 3278. 37 3516. 31 11913. 35 2003-04 4388. 94 4048. 41 3135. 32 12705. 95 2004-05 5537. 91 4956. 78 3171. 15 14408. 94 Change in Employment Generation The economy of Bangladesh is based on agriculture, natural gas, and small industries of jute, textiles, garments, tea, cement, chemical fertilizers, sugar and light engineering. The contribution of agriculture to the country’s GDP is about 23 percent while crops account for 13 percent. Agriculture employs 64 percent of labor force in the country. Agriculture is also the largest employer of women. In 1995-96, 79 percent of the total number of employed women (15 years or older) worked in agriculture. Rice and other cereals occupies nearly 80 percent of total crop land giving a production of food grains of more than 26 million tons in 2001 from a net cropped area of more than 10 million hectares. Agricultural products account for about 25% of total export value. Bangladesh has the largest number of NGO activities in the world. There are more then 2000 NGOs operating in Bangladesh, many of them are associated with agricultural mechanization and food processing. The NGOs are promoting agribusiness in providing technical backup, micro credit and managerial skill. Some other NGOs are also initiating post harvest and food processing programs for rural women. The rate of population growth has brought down to 1. 48 percent; the supply of labor force continues to increase at over 3 percent per annum without further access to land for agriculture. Agriculture is presently and will remain the largest employer of labor in years to come. The national aim would be to increase GDP growth to more than 7 percent (presently 5. 33 percent) on average during the next decades.