New Era | The agricultural sector should focus on a key economic factor: experts

Experts and economists said on Thursday that Bangladesh’s agriculture sector should focus on one of the key economic factors beyond food security.

At a seminar on “The Political Economy of the Future of Agriculture in Bangladesh” organized by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies at the BIDS conference hall in the capital Dhaka, they said fair prices for agricultural products must be provided to farmers to supply an efficient supply chain and ensure food security.

Agricultural economists have also stated that the agricultural social system is undergoing a process of disarticulation and re-articulation to accommodate capital inflows, with the involvement of various stakeholders and economic actors associated with this transformation.

Center for Power and Participation Research Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman noted that while Bangladesh’s agriculture is often viewed solely through the lens of food security, it should also be recognized as a key driver of the economy.

He recognized climate change as one of the main challenges for the agricultural sector.

Hossain Zillur emphasized the need to develop unused land in Bangladesh.

He stressed that although the per capita land area in the country is very low, there are significant areas of unused land in Satkhira and Sylhet.

Chairman of the standing committee on the Ministry of Agriculture, Abdur Razzaque, said that agriculture is one of the key factors of the country’s economic growth.

The government has taken many initiatives to transform traditional agriculture into commercial agriculture and has been successful, he said.

Razzaque said commercial agriculture requires huge investments, but there is a lack of entrepreneurs who can make the required investments in the area.

Citing the recent progress in the country’s agricultural sector, he said that from a food deficit country, Bangladesh had achieved self-sufficiency in food grain production in 2015.

Many families earn their living solely from agriculture, and Bangladesh has huge prospects for agricultural exports, including mangoes and potatoes, Razzaque said.

Economic Research Group executive director Sajjad Zohir said the government’s land acquisition for infrastructure development in recent years has had an impact on agriculture in the country.

The government should pay attention to human settlements while acquiring land for any development project, he said.

The economist also said the government is encouraging private sector companies to invest in economic zones across the country, which could potentially shift people from the agricultural sector to other sectors.

Emeritus Professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University MA Sattar Mandal and Emeritus Professor of University of Bath, UK Geof Wood jointly presented the keynote paper at the event.

The lead article outlined four dominant trajectories for the future agrarian political economy: the transformation of peasants into small-scale commodity producers, the evolution of large-scale corporate agriculture through agribusiness, the rentier-contractor model preserving family interests in land while increasing the country’s food security, and the increase in cash rent resulting from from cross-subsidies from other sources of income by new entrants.

BIDS Director General Binayak Sen urged the government to provide support to agriculture in the next national budget for FY 2024-25 as 40% of the total population depends on this sector.

He suggested rationalizing tariff and subsidy policies to provide support to poultry, fisheries and other sectors.

BIDS research director Mohammad Yunus said that for the supply chain to be effective, fair prices must be provided to farmers.

Fair prices for farmers are also important to ensure food security, he said.