Other Agriculture Study

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  • Publication
    Promoting Agri-Food Sector Transformation in Bangladesh: Policy and Investment Priorities
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05-27) World Bank
    The agriculture sector has been critically important in reducing poverty in Bangladesh, and further progress in agriculture will remain important as Bangladesh’s economy continues to evolve. Declining agricultural productivity growth poses substantial risk to the development of the rural economy. There are substantial market opportunities for productive diversification and increased value addition for the agri-food sector in Bangladesh. The agri-food ecosystem analysis carried out for this study identifies critical constraints to the diversification and modernization of the agri-food sector. The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) crisis has hit Bangladesh’s economy and its agri-food sector hard and lasting impacts can be expected on the sector. The overall aim of this report is to identify policy and public investment opportunities for increasing agricultural diversification and creating an enabling business environment for private sector investment along the agri-food supply chain using the maximizing finance for development (MFD) framework. The report is intended to provide guidance to the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to implement and operationalize the strategic priorities of agricultural diversification and commercialization, as outlined in national agricultural policy 2018, to improve farms’ incomes, create rural jobs, and attain nutrition security in the country. The report is also intended to inform the World Bank’s strategies and dialogue for agriculture and rural development in Bangladesh and sharpen priorities for future engagement on agri-food sector modernization initiatives.
  • Publication
    Bangladesh Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan: Investment Opportunities in the Agriculture Sector’s Transition to a Climate Resilient Growth Path
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06-26) World Bank Group
    Bangladesh’s agriculture sector is the country’s main source of food security, employment, and poverty alleviation. More than 70 percent of Bangladesh’s population and 77 percent of its workforce lives in rural areas. Nearly half of all Bangladeshi workers and two-thirds of workers in rural areas are directly employed in agriculture. About 87 percent of the nation’s rural households rely on agriculture for at least part of their income. With one of the fastest rates of productivity growth in the world (averaging 2.7 percent per year since 1995, second only to China), Bangladesh’s agriculture sector accounted for 90 percent of the country’s reduction in poverty between 2005 and 2010. This growth has also allowed the country to triple its rice production since it gained independence in 1971 and to halve its food deficit, and with it the number of malnourished people, since the mid-1990s. In 1991, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshi children were underweight; today that number is less than one-third. Bangladesh faces growing demand for food and pressure from rapid land use change including significant losses of arable land. Population increases to an estimated 186 million by 2030 and 202 million by 2050, increasing income levels, and rapid urbanization at a rate of 3.5 percent annually 1 are expected to shift diets away from rice and wheat toward animal-based diets. At the same time, while Bangladesh produces almost all its own rice, current yield trends indicate production will not be able to satisfy growing demand for cereals (including rice), which is projected to increase 21 percent by 2030 and 24 percent by 2050. Given the increasing population density and continued loss of arable land caused by urbanization and other factors, enhancing the productivity of rice and other staple foods remains crucial. These trends suggest that Bangladesh must sustainably increase food production on far less arable land per capita to continue to strive for self-sufficiency in agricultural production. The World Bank considers climate-smart agriculture (CSA) a strategic priority investment in response to climate change in agriculture. The executive directors of the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group have recognized the need to address several concerning trends in the world’s poorest countries, including the growing demand for food, the unsustainable pressure of current agricultural practices on agricultural landscapes, the increasing threat of climate change to agricultural productivity, and agriculture’s significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Publication
    Dynamics of Rural Growth in Bangladesh: Sustaining Poverty Reduction
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-05-17) World Bank Group
    The rural economy in Bangladesh has been a powerful source of economic growth and has substantially reduced poverty, especially since 2000, but the remarkable transformation and unprecedented dynamism in rural Bangladesh are an underexplored, underappreciated, and largely untold story. The analysis identifies the key changes occurring in the rural economy, the principal drivers of rural incomes, the implications for policy, and related actions to foster future growth, further reduce poverty, and improve food security and nutrition. A substantial strength of this study is its empirical foundation, consisting of three sets of detailed data on rural households. Two of the datasets are unique in tracking the same set of households for more than two decades. These data make it possible to examine how change is occurring within and among rural households; they shed considerable light on trends that tend to be obscured at more aggregate levels of analysis. Nationally representative surveys and aggregate secondary data provide complementary and contextually rich insights into the household data.
  • Publication
    Food Price Increases in South Asia : National Responses and Regional Dimensions
    (World Bank, 2010-06-01) World Bank
    Food price inflation not only threatens macroeconomic stability but also decreases the welfare levels of most households, especially the poorer ones, for whom food consumption constitutes a relatively large share of total expenditures. This report analyzes the causes and effects of food price inflation in South Asia during the period 2007?08 and beyond; simulates the impact of food price increases on household welfare and the potential of adjustments in consumer and producer behavior for mitigating the negative impact on welfare; and assesses the potential impact of regional trade liberalization on food prices. The appendixes describe the policy reactions of individual governments to the increases in food prices against the background of their respective domestic food policies. The focus is on wheat and rice, which are the main food staples in South Asia and together account for an important part of food expenditures of the poor. By analyzing the household?level impacts of the food crisis and taking stock of the policy responses of national governments, including their regional dimensions, the report allows lessons to be drawn regarding the policies that South Asian governments may want to follow to enable them to react appropriately in case another food crisis unfolds, while at the same time helping to prevent such a crisis from occurring.
  • Publication
    Mission Note Bangladesh, March 15-31, 2009
    (Washington, DC, 2009-03) World Bank
    The Government of Bangladesh has requested the World Bank to provide further assistance to the livestock and dairy sectors. During a mission of the Sector Manager of Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) of the South Asia region of the World Bank to Bangladesh in November 2008, the Secretary of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MOFL) of the former Caretaker Government of Bangladesh (BD) requested the Sector Manager for assistance to the development of the dairy and fisheries subsectors to support the livelihoods of the rural people and contribute to the economic growth of the country. The secretary of the MOFL also reminded the Bank of its proposal for an investment request for dairy development to the Bank sent in 2007. In response, the Bank agreed to carry out a technical mission to review the current state of the livestock sector (with special focus on the dairy sub-sector) and the fisheries sector, particularly inland fishery production (including freshwater capture and freshwater aquaculture). The mission reviewed policy, technical and administrative aspects in order to identify key bottlenecks and assess the scope for Bank-supported further development of the sectors. This request of the Government is consistent with the emphasis in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan (PRSP) on further development of the livestock and fisheries sectors which together account for 7 percent of total Gross Domestic Product, or GDP (3 percent livestock, 4 percent fisheries) and 33 percent of agricultural GDP).
  • Publication
    Agriculture in Bangladesh : A Note on Food Security by Enhancing Productivity
    (Washington, DC, 2009-01) World Bank
    Awami League's Election Manifesto 2008 appropriately recognizes the importance of ensuring food security for all in Bangladesh. Food Security requires increasing agricultural growth which in turn is a key factor in reducing poverty in the country. Food security also requires increasing agricultural production and protecting consumers. Sustained production increases, in turn, require technology-driven increases in the productivity of crops (rice in particular), fisheries and livestock. This is possible through interventions that improve: (i) agricultural research and extension systems to generate and disseminate high yielding varieties and location-specific solutions to production constraints; (ii) timely access to quality production inputs, especially seeds and fertilizer; (iii) coverage, targeting, and administration of production subsidies (especially fertilizer) in order to make them efficient and fiscally sustainable; and (iv) irrigation and drainage. Increasing the incomes of small and marginal farmers requires promotion of commercial agriculture and agri-business opportunities through: (a) value chain development and value-addition to selected agricultural commodities; (b) improvements in market infrastructure; (c) supporting the development of farmer groups and producer organizations and link them with value chains and markets; and (d) facilitating private sector investment in agri-business development, demand-driven research and extension systems, and rural finance through public-private partnerships. Food safety nets are needed to protect poor and vulnerable consumers but their coverage, targeting, and administration need to be improved. All these interventions will require a right blend of public policies, resources, and participation of public and private sector, and increased technical and administrative capacity of the institutions responsible for agriculture extension, research, food procurement, water management, and safety net management.