Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the progress and regional variations of crop production in Bangladesh. The secondary data were used and collected for the years 1980-81 to 2002-03 from the ‘Statistical Yearbooks of Bangladesh', ‘Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics' and population census of different years. The study was conducted during the period from September 2006 to February 2008. An analysis was done for twelve mutually exclusive agro-ecological zones by assigning various indicators of crop sector development. The remarkable progress of rural literacy rate, ratio of agricultural workers to population, number of farmer's co-operative societies and per capita regional domestic agricultural products in two decades was observed in different regions. Wide disparities in the level of crop sector development had been observed across the regions. The overall results reveal that some of the regions are in better positions in respect of socioeconomic progress, land use pattern, input use, growth performance of HYV rice and food-grains production. The developed regions were 'Old Himalayan Piedmont Plain and Tista Floodplain', 'Karatoya Floodplain and Atrai Basin', 'Brahmaputra-Jamuna Floodplain' and 'Middle Meghna River Floodplain' on the basis of land utilization pattern, input use and food-grains production. Analysis of regional disparities reveals that 'Sylhet Basin and Surma-Kusiyara Floodplain', 'Greater Dhaka', 'Middle Meghna River Floodplain' and 'Lower Meghna River and Estuarine Floodplain' regions has developed remarkably in the last twenty years. Keywords: Crop production; Development indicator; Growth performance; Regional variation DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v7i2.4746 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 7(2): 351-360, 2009
Highlights
The overall agricultural development in Bangladesh conceals considerable regional differences because of farming practices, techniques, availability of irrigation facilities, attitude of the farmer etc. in different parts of the country
The differences in agricultural productivity among the regions to some natural phenomena, such as, rainfall, temperature, humidity and some other agro-ecological features which are relatively less favourable in the lagging regions. It is the natural phenomenon and government policies in the past relating to agricultural extension, input distribution, institutional credit facilities, agricultural co-operatives, and some basic/institutional inefficiency are the causes of backwardness in productivity in the lagging regions
There are some population characteristics that might have played a vital role in the regional variations in the agricultural development
Summary
The overall agricultural development in Bangladesh conceals considerable regional differences because of farming practices, techniques, availability of irrigation facilities, attitude of the farmer etc. in different parts of the country. The differences in agricultural productivity among the regions to some natural phenomena, such as, rainfall, temperature, humidity and some other agro-ecological features which are relatively less favourable in the lagging regions. It is the natural phenomenon and government policies in the past relating to agricultural extension, input distribution, institutional credit facilities, agricultural co-operatives, and some basic/institutional inefficiency are the causes of backwardness in productivity in the lagging regions. Productivity differences may due to the government policies in allocating subsidized inputs such as chemical fertilizers, irrigated water, high yielding varieties of seeds, pesticides etc. The annual rate of increase of total cereal production between 1990-91 and 1998-99 was only 1.43 percent (Quddus et al 2004)
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