Can Bangladesh reverse the decline in farming hands?
City Desk :
The number of active farmers in Bangladesh is rapidly declining, sparking concern among experts and policymakers over the country’s future food security, rural economy, and sustainable development.
Although Bangladesh is on course for Middle Income Country status by 2021, agriculture remains the largest employer in the country by far; and 47.5per cent of the population is directly employed in agriculture and around 70per cent depends on agriculture in one form or another for their livelihood. Agriculture is the source of food for people through crops, livestock, fisheries; the source of raw materials for industry, of timber for construction; and a generator of foreign exchange for the country through the export of agricultural commodities, whether raw or processed. It is the motor of the development of the agro-industrial sector, reports UNB.
According to recent data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and other sources, the share of people employed in agriculture has dropped significantly from 48.8per cent in 2010 to just 41per cent in 2022 among youth, and from 19per cent to 15.7per cent in the general workforce. Analysts attribute- the shift to rural-to-urban migration, low profitability in farming, and the effects of climate change.
“This is a red alert for our food system,” said Dr. Mizanur Rahman, an agricultural economist at Dhaka University. “If young people continue to leave farming behind, who will produce our food in the next decade?”
The economic disparity between farming and other professions is a major driver of this exodus. On average, agricultural workers earn 30 to 40 percent less than those in the service or industrial sectors. Rising input costs such as seeds, fertilisers, and irrigation have made farming increasingly unprofitable, especially for smallholders.
Additionally, farmland is vanishing. Bangladesh has lost nearly 2per cent of its arable land in the past decade, mainly due to urbanisation, river erosion, and land conversion for infrastructure projects. Many farmer families, especially in flood-prone or coastal areas, are now landless and forced to work as labourers.
Climate change has added further pressure. Floods, salinity intrusion, and erratic weather have caused billions in crop losses annually. Agricultural experts warn that a 1°C increase in temperature could reduce rice yield by up to 7per cent.
“There’s no future in farming unless reforms are made,” said Mofiz Uddin, a 55-year-old farmer from Barisal who recently leased out his land to a brickfield. “My sons all left for Dhaka.”
The government has acknowledged the problem and introduced limited subsidies and mechanisation programs, but critics say they fall short. Only about half of all farmland is mechanised, compared to 80per cent in neighboring India. Moreover, just 2.6per cent of vocational training graduates are engaged in agriculture, highlighting a lack of youth interest and training.