[🇧🇩] Agriculture in Bangladesh

[Saif]

Agri export suffers sharpest decline in 7 years

The export growth of agricultural products, including vegetables, fruits and dry food, decreased 26.96 per cent in the first eight months of the current financial year, the sharpest decline in seven years, official figures showed.

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Agri export suffers sharpest decline in 7 years​

The export of agricultural products, including vegetables, fruits and dry food, decreased 26.96 per cent in the first eight months of the current financial year, the sharpest decline in seven years, official figures showed.

Agricultural products fetched $623.18 million in July-February of 2022-23, which was $853 million in the same eight-month period of 2021-22, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).​

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This was the sharpest decline in seven years. It rose 28.36 per cent in July-February of 2021-22.

The sharp export slowdown is threatening Bangladesh's increasing earnings from the selling of agricultural products in the external markets.

The shipment went past the $1-billion mark for the first time in 2020-21 when exporters fetched $1.03 billion. The momentum continued in the following fiscal year when the earnings rose to $1.16 billion, according to the EPB.

Exporters blame the higher raw material costs and buyers' reluctance to procure products from Bangladesh at the escalated prices for the decline.

Owing to higher cargo fares and freight costs, local exporters themselves are also showing a lack of interest in selling fresh farm produce in the overseas markets, they said.

Mohammad Shahadat Hossain, assistant general manager for exports at Kazi Food Industries Limited, said: "Due to the increase in the price of raw materials, buyers are not agreeing to the new price. Our prices are also much higher than in the competing countries. So, we are losing markets."

At the same time, the profit margin has also decreased, he claimed.

Firms exported frozen vegetables, fruits and processed foods to 12 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"Although the quality of our products is better than competitors', Bangladesh is lagging behind due to higher prices," Hossain added.

Mizanur Rahman, proprietor of Need Agro Foods Limited, said the cost of production had increased by 35 per cent. "When the new price is sent to buyers, they don't want to place orders. As a result, orders have decreased."

Need Agro Foods exports bakery products and spices to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Rahman said competitor countries such as India could sell products at prices that are lower than quoted by Bangladeshi companies. Even Pakistan is selling products at lower prices than Bangladesh.

Square Food and Beverage Ltd usually exports aromatic rice, spices, mustard oil and snacks to the Middle East, the United States, Canada and various European countries.

Rezaul Karim, assistant manager of the international marketing department of the company, said the government has stopped the export of aromatic rice since July 2022 to keep the local rice market stable.

"So, we can't export aromatic rice now. This has a negative impact on our overall exports."

Rice accounts for about 30 per cent of the export value of Square Food and Beverage.

Debasish Singha, head of business at Danish Biscuit, owned by Partex Star Group, said the company's goods exports fell by nearly 20 per cent in July-February due to rising prices and the ongoing global economic slowdown.

It ships products to 54 countries.

A top official of an export-oriented company, said some exporters used to show higher receipts in their documents in order to reap more benefits from the government's incentives.

"After the issue came to the notice of the government, the misuse has reduced. This could be one of the main factors for the decline in exports," he said.

The government provides a 20 per cent incentive for the export of agricultural products.

SM Jahangir Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association, said freight costs have gone up. So, importers, mainly in the Middle East, are showing a lack of interest to buy fresh farm produce from Bangladesh.

"In the last six months, airlines have hiked cargo fares at will," he said, adding that the air freight cost has shot up 40 per cent over the last one year.​

 

[Saif]

Paradox of agricultural mechanisation

THE story of the ‘massive’ mechanisation of agriculture in Bangladesh, sordidly, conceals more than it reveals. A priori reasoning...

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Paradox of agricultural mechanisation
Abdul Bayes | Published: 00:00, Mar 13,2024

— LightCastle Partners

THE story of the ‘massive’ mechanisation of agriculture in Bangladesh, sordidly, conceals more than it reveals. A priori reasoning would suggest that such mechanisation would have raised both yield and profitability, thus putting the farmers on an even keel. But allegedly, they are in peril with dwindling margins. The paradox of rising mechanisation and farmers’ failing fortunes from production has been amply addressed by recent research. A group of researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute attempted to shed important insights into agricultural mechanisation in Bangladesh. The overall goal of the research on the state of agricultural mechanisation in Bangladesh is to assess the mechanisation support programme’s impact on the agricultural sector and its effectiveness.

The discussion kicks off with the observation of declining agricultural labour force participation (2005–2022) and increasing real wages in agriculture (2010–2022) and then presents a summarised sequential history of mechanisation policy over time:

Adoption of mechanised irrigation (1970–1990): liberalisation of input markets, elimination of import tariffs on machinery, multiple engine and pump brands and sizes, and spare parts entering the market; repair workshops appear.

Adoption of mechanised tillage (1990–2005): duty-free import for 2WT (1995), flourishing of SME metal workshops, flourishing of machinery rental market local service providers.

Adoption of mechanised threshing (2005–): targeted government incentives for the purchase of selected machinery (combines, transplanters, etc), special consideration to areas where mechanisation is lagging.

There is evidence of large regional variations in the extent of machine use, with the coastal and haor belts witnessing the least mechanisation owing to a variety of factors: machines considered are power pump, seeder, power tiller, tractor, and thresher; lowest levels of ownership in the coastal zone and north-east (focus of government mechanisation priorities); highest levels of machine ownership in the west and north-west (districts with high cropping intensity) and hubs of small-scale machinery manufacturing have emerged in the west and north-west.

In fact, the government has extended its support for mechanisation in the form of various incentives, especially in the import of machines. For example, in the first phase, the government offered a 30 per cent incentive for purchasing power threshers, reaper sprayers, power tillers, seeders, weeders, dryers, power winnowers, sprinkler irrigation sets, etc. In the second phase (2012–2019), the government granted a 50–70 per cent incentive for purchasing power threshers, reapers, sprayers (foot pumps), combine harvesters, and rice transplanters. In the third phase (2019–), the government provided a 50–70 per cent incentive for purchasing power threshers, reapers, sprayers, combine harvesters, and rice transplanters, seeder/bed planter, power weeder, dryer, maize sheller, potato digger, potato chip maker, carrot washer, etc.

As a result of those incentives, machine ownership increased from 2008 and 2019, but from a very low base. Ownership of agricultural machinery increased among smallholders, but remained concentrated among larger farms; most agricultural machines used by farmers are rented (84–98 per cent). It means that there has developed a large rental market for agricultural machines in rural areas.

Through regression analysis, the researchers reached to the impacts of mechanisation (2011–2018) by types of equipment as follows:

Threshing helped gain small yield through reduced grain loss, saved labour, and increased in labour productivity slightly. But there was no increase in profitability associated with threshing (rental costs may offset labour savings/yield increase)

Other machines also did little to help save labour or increase profitability. Reasons for using these machines appear to be convenience, speed, and avoiding drudgery.

On the other hand, during 2011–2018, wage rates monotonically increased by 16–30 per cent but paddy prices monotonically moved in opposite directions by 18–29 per cent. In fact, the real gross margin for boro cultivation (constant 2011 prices) declined from about Tk 18 thousand per acre to about 7 thousand per acre, and the net margin (including opportunity costs) fell from Tk 10 thousand to minus 800 during 2011–2018. It thus seemingly shows that mechanisation of irrigation, land preparation, and threshing is insufficient to improve farmers’ economic performance. At the same time, it suggests that mechanisation of largely unmechanized labour-intensive tasks will be needed to move the needle.

As has been argued by the researchers, the most labour-intensive is planting and threshing, where no penetration of machines is evident yet, thus eroding farmers’ profits due to the high wage for labour. For example only 0.1 per cent of rice farmers used machines for planting and 0.9 per cent for harvesting in 2018.

The researchers have come up with a number of recommendations for policymakers. The emerging policy considerations should be: rental market is key for smallholder access to agricultural machinery; large machines are much more expensive than small machinery; banks are hesitant to provide loans due to limited rural presence, lack of credit history, and lack of understanding of rental service business viability; importers and manufacturers have limited capacity to extend (or obtain) credit; current mechanisation policy prohibits transfer of machine ownership; no hire-purchase loans via banks (common in other countries); challenges with spare parts, maintenance for sophisticated machines; and few skilled operators, mechanics, and little training.

It must also be admitted that we face knowledge gaps on different fronts, such as the extent of adoption of machines for planting and harvesting; the impacts of adoption of new machines (yields, profitability, labour allocation, gender, climate); the financial viability of rental service provision models for service providers and barriers to effective operation; the efficacy of targeting incentives for machine purchases and scope for improvement; and effective models for financing machine purchases and rentals.

In Conclusions, the authors tend to observe a long-run decline in the profitability of farming due to tightening rural labour markets and declining cereal prices (pre-2022); high levels of mechanisation in irrigation, land preparation, and threshing; limited scope for productivity gains or cost savings; that mechanising harvesting and planting has the potential to reduce labour constraints, improve productivity, free up labour, and reduce costs; that the extent of adoption, impacts, and constraints are not yet well understood; and that focused research is needed to inform policy choices that enable accelerated adoption.

So, unless the most labour-intensive segments of rice crop production, such as transplanting and harvesting, are mechanised, the paradox of mechanisation and mourning can hardly be resolved, and all attempts should be thrown in that direction.

Abdul Bayes, a former professor of economics and vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University, is an adjunct faculty at East West University.​

 

[Saif]

Weather-resilient rice farming promises

THE agricultural sector plays a vital role in promoting its economic growth. The contributions of agriculture and the crop subsector to the...

www.newagebd.net

Weather-resilient rice farming promises
Published: 00:00, Mar 14,2024

A successful and extensive implementation of WFBAS in rice production would help to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2.4, which focuses on rice productivity and profitability for farmers as well as long-term food security, writes Niaz Md Farhat Rahman

THE agricultural sector plays a vital role in promoting its economic growth. The contributions of agriculture and the crop subsector to the gross domestic product are about 13.47 per cent and 6.77 per cent, respectively. Rice is the main staple crop in Bangladesh, supplying more than 80 per cent of the total consumed food and contributing 60 per cent of the total required protein. The country ranks third in the world in rice production.


The contribution of rice farming, with a share of about 70 per cent, to the agricultural GDP is significant. Nearly 48 per cent of total rural employment in Bangladesh is directly or indirectly involved in rice production, and more than 13 million farms grow rice in an area covering some 11.77 million hectares, accounting for 78 per cent of the total agricultural crop production.

The weather significantly influences crop growth, maturity, yields, pest and disease prevalence, and water and fertiliser needs. Furthermore, the weather also has an impact on the quality of crops during their movement from the field to warehousing and then to the market. Adverse weather can affect the quality of products during transportation, as well as the viability and vigour of seeds and planting material during warehousing.

Crops and cropping systems must be matched to the meteorological requirements for maximum yield in a specific area, and pest- and disease-prevalent seasons must be avoided. Short-period meteorological data, either routine or analysed (like initial and conditional probability), play a significant role in strategic crop and cropping practice planning.



Usually, farmers cultivate in a weather-blind situation for several hours. Therefore, variations in weather and extreme weather events frequently damage crops, and farmers do not take any precautionary measures. Moreover, the benefit of favourable weather events (eg, fertiliser application on a sunny day or reduction of irrigation for the next hours or days of rainfall) remains unexploited. Weather-smart farming would consider the weather forecast and translate it into advice for farm operations to reduce the risk of adverse weather events and utilise the benefits of favourable weather events.

Agricultural weather forecasts give the required meteorological messages to guide farmers in making decisions in time about particular field activities. The impact of weather irregularities on a given crop depends on different cropping stages and on the location. The Weather Forecast-based Advisory Service under Weather Resilient Rice Cultivation Technology developed by Agromet Lab of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is a crop management system that uses weather forecasts to generate location-specific and crop growth-stage-wise advisory services.

WFBAS is an effective concept and technique for weather as well as weather-smart rice production in Bangladesh. It can help farmers and decision-makers make appropriate rice crop management decisions for various weather conditions ahead of time. It would lessen risk as well as allow farmers to take advantage of favourable weather circumstances.

For the first time, the BRRI Agromet Lab reported on the performance of WFBAS and traditional farming practices regarding yield enhancement, profitability, and the risk of rice cultivation in different regions of Bangladesh.

The experimental findings of the BRRI Agromet Lab reveal that farmers who practice weather-resilient rice cultivation technology can enhance grain yield by 7 per cent, about half a tonne more than traditional. The study found strong evidence that management was a significant contributor to enhancing rice yield rather than choice of variety.


Nevertheless, the effective utilisation of weather information can significantly decrease overall crop losses. Furthermore, the optimal and timely use of inputs in the WFBAS system can lower production costs by an average of 13 per cent. In terms of risk, WFBAS is better than FP, despite the greater environmental variance. Moreover, WFBAS provided a scope to protect the environment with the minimum residual effect of fertiliser and pesticides. It also reduced the pressure on groundwater by ensuring efficient water management. Overall, farmers can earn an additional US$229.33 per hectare from Boro rice following the WFBAS instead of FP because WFBAS is less cost-intensive (e.g., low production cost) but more productive (eg, higher yield) than FP.

The WFBAS technology was about 31 per cent more profitable than the FP technology. WFBAS is considered an important means to improve farm outcomes by aiding the decision-making of the farmers about various operations (such as sowing, fertiliser application, irrigation, and plant protection) well ahead of time. Around 2 kg more seeds were used with FP technology. FP was found to be more labour-intensive than WFBAS. Farmers used almost 840 labourer hours per hectare on average under FP, whereas it was around 720 labourer hours under the WFBAS management system.

The farmers who followed the WFBAS were able to reduce their use of fertiliser by 16 per cent and irrigation water by 23 per cent while maintaining or even increasing their yields compared to those who did not follow that system. We also found in this study that farmers who followed WFBAS were able to reduce their use of herbicides by 52 per cent, insecticides by 40 per cent and fungicides by 26 per cent while maintaining or even increasing their yields compared to those who did not receive the services. Finally, the farmers benefited from higher income through yield enhancement, reduction of the costs of production, and reduction of risk.

The impact study results of the sensitivity analysis revealed that the adoption of WFBAS technology will stimulate total rough rice production by 0.172 million tonnes if only 5 per cent adoption rates can be ensured. We have valued the farmers’ additional benefit by adopting WFBAS technology in terms of actual (18.25 BDT per kg) as well as the government-declared rough rice farm-gate prices (26.00 BDT per kg) during 2018–19. The results showed that the nation will benefit from adding BDT 3143 million if only 5 per cent of farmers adopt the WFBAS. However, if the government-declared price can be ensured, the benefit can be BDT 4478 million.

We have already set a target of bringing 3 per cent of total farmers under the WFBAS by 2025 and 5 per cent by 2030. The forecast results showed that rough rice production would increase by 0.119 million tonnes if the adoption goal of 3 per cent is met by 2025 and that would be 0.214 million metric tonnes for 5 per cent adoption by 2030. Therefore, the investment in the dissemination of the WFBAS in the smart farming process will be beneficial for sustainable rice production and increase farmers’ income.

Finally, a successful and extensive implementation of WFBAS in the rice production system would assist Bangladesh in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2.4, which focuses on rice productivity and profitability for farmers as well as the long-term food security of the country.

Niaz Md Farhat Rahman is a principal scientific and coordinator, Agromet Lab, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.​

 

[Saif]

Food minister seeks support from FAO to boost mango export

Food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Thursday sought support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation to increase mango export from Bangladesh....

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Food minister seeks support from FAO to boost mango export
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka | Published: 19:15, Mar 14,2024

-- UNB photo.

Food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Thursday sought support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation to increase mango export from Bangladesh.

He sought the assistance when Jiaoqun Shi, FAO representative in Bangladesh, paid a courtesy call on him at his secretariat office.


During the meeting, they discussed the development of the country's food management and international commercialisation of local fruits.

The food minister said that Bangladesh had achieved self-sufficiency in the production of cereals.

Besides, the production of fruits and vegetables has also increased a lot, he said adding that the country produced about 25 lakh tonnes of mangoes annually but the amount of export was low compared to production.

Jiaoqun Shi said that FAO was working to strengthen food security around the world and it would continue its support to ensure food security in Bangladesh.

Food decretary Md Ismail Hossain and director general of Food Directorate Md Shakhawat Hossain, among others, were present at the meeting.​

 

[Saif]

Agriculture must adapt to climate change

Our food security, farmers’ survival are at stake

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Agriculture must adapt to climate change​

Our food security, farmers’ survival are at stake

VISUAL: STAR

It is a proven fact that climate change is severely affecting agriculture in Bangladesh. Temperatures are consistently rising along with decreased rainfalls, leading to increased salinity, and thus changing our once-fertile lands into dust bowls or lands with poor yields. Its implications for our food security cannot be more profound. Take rice, our main staple. Varieties that need expensive fertilisers and pesticides have replaced many indigenous, high-yielding varieties of paddy that were nutritious and required no chemicals to grow. While we commend the efforts of the agricultural agencies in developing climate-resilient crops, future efforts must reflect the urgency and innovation necessitated by the intensifying climate change.

A report on Koyra, Khulna tells a positive story about how vast lands left barren by increasing salinity are being turned fertile with farmers planting paddy, vegetables and fruits, while also engaging in fish farming. This has been possible through various government bodies, such as the Department of Agricultural Extension and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), which support farmers by providing them with salinity-resistant seeds, advice, training and fertilisers. By adapting to cultivation of salinity-tolerant crops and going into fish farming, these farmers are becoming more solvent and do not have to leave their homes to seek employment elsewhere. Therefore, the community as a whole has benefitted.

The Koyra model must be replicated all over the country, especially in districts like Patuakhali where many farmers have had to abandon their ancestral profession for low-paying jobs in the cities, because the lands they grew crops in have become barren. A report in this paper quotes an official of the Meteorological Department of Patuakhali stating that over the last six years, the average temperature in the district has increased by at least 4.5 degrees Celsius. Rains start much later than before and for shorter periods of time. The high temperatures destroy many of the paddy saplings, and lack of rain leads to low-quality yields, only fit for poultry feed. The number of people engaged in agriculture has thus significantly dropped in the last 10 years.

The government must focus on these districts—once major producers of crops but now left with vast areas of fallow lands. We urge the government to mobilise its relevant agricultural bodies and collaborate with private organisations to invest in research of climate-resilient crops specific to these districts. The government should incentivise farmers to return to their farmlands and grow crops again.​