Agriculture  science and practice of producing crops. The other sub-sectors of agriculture are livestock, poultry, fish and fisheries, and forest and forestry. The agriculture of Bangladesh largely depends on the amount and distribution of the rainfall ie the southwest monsoon, which comes during June-October. Since agriculture is the mainstay of the majority of the people of Bangladesh, the article deals with all relevant aspects, which are given below.

History

Agricultural land

Agricultural biodiversity

Production of major crops

Cropping pattern

Agricultural labour

Agricultural credit

Agricultural marketing

Agricultural policy

Agricultural education and research

Development of crop variety

Crop pests and diseases

Agricultural resources

Environmental issues related to agriculture

Agricultural machinery

Farm inputs and implements

Technology used in agriculture

Agricultural agency

Agricultural extension and training

History From very ancient times agriculture has been the main source of the livelihood of the vast majority of the population of the territories that constituted the Bengal province as in 1911, and in the two parts into which this province was subsequently divided independent Bangladesh and West Bengal under the Indian Union. The pattern has been more or less the same in other parts of the sub-continent. But the fact that almost the entire Bengal constitutes a flat, alluvial plain traversed by three mighty rivers the ganges, brahmaputra and meghna and their innumerable tributaries, with plenty of rainfall, make agricultural operations relatively easy. Consequently, population pressure on agriculture has been particularly heavy in this region.

The decline in industrial activity, especially in the production of cotton textiles, during the early British rule further added to this pressure. Indeed, by 1921 about four-fifths (77.3%) of the total population became dependent on agriculture as against an all-India average of 69.8%. During British rule these people belonged to different social groups: rent-receiving landlords (zamindars), tenure-holders of different grades on the one hand, and the raiyats (tenant-cultivators), bargadars and agricultural labourers on the other. The vast majority, of course, consisted of raiyats directly involved in agricultural operations. Of the two parts of Bengal, population pressure on agriculture has been higher in the territories that constitute Bangladesh today.

The most important feature of the agrarian economy during the ancient, medieval and the British periods was that crop production remained the most dominant sub-sector. Three other sub-sectors of agriculture viz livestock, fisheries and forestry were relatively unimportant. Needless to say, the pattern remains the same even today. A whole variety of crops was grown, and in the official publications issued by the British government these were mentioned under three heads bhadoi (autumn), aghni (winter) and rabi (spring) corresponding to their harvesting time. The crops included paddy, jute, wheat, jowar, barley, sugarcane, tobacco, oilseeds, potato, onion, garlic, opium, indigo, tea, different kinds of vegetable, pulses, spices and condiments. rice was the most important and one of the oldest crops. The earliest reference to this crop is found in the Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription belonging to the third or the second century BC. This crop is also mentioned in several other literary sources: KalidasaRaghovngsa, Ramcharita, Casapala, and Saduktikarnamrita.

Inscriptions, particularly those issued by the Sena rulers, contain description of paddy fields. Thus, the Anulia copperplate of Laksmansena mentions the harvest of sali rice in autumn. The same inscription tells us that the king gave away to Brahmans several villages containing lands producing paddy. Another reference to this crop is found in the Edilpur copperplate. In this inscription paddy is referred to in general term as sali. However, this is only one of the best of the many varieties grown in different early settlements of Bengal-Vanga, Varendri, Gauda, Purnavardhana or Pundra, Radha and Samtata. There are also references to a large number of other crops grown in ancient Bengal cotton, barley (yava), mustard, sugarcane, and pulses like kalai and mug. Cotton was the most important commercial crop. Different sources refer to its cultivation in ancient Bengal. Apart from these crops a large number of vegetables and fruits were also produced. The following vegetables are mentioned in the sayings of Khana brinjal, long gourd, radish, arum, chilli, turmeric, and patal. Fruit trees like mango, jackfruit, pomegranate (dalimba), plantain, Modhuka, date (kharjura), citrom (vija), figs (parkali), tamarind, and coconut were also widely grown. The mango and breadfruit are mentioned in a large number of Pala and Sena inscriptions.

The Chinese traveller hiuen-tsang who visited Bengal in seventh century AD refers to the abundant growth of panasa in Purnavardhana. This crop is also mentioned in Govindapur copperplate of Laksmansena and the Calcutta Sahitya Parisad copperplate of Visvarupasena. The plantain tree is frequently depicted in Paharpur terracotta plaques. From the inscriptions of Khadga, Chandras and Varmans and those of the Senas it is clear that from the eighth century onwards coconut was extensively grown. Betel-leaf and betel nuts were also grown. Betel leaf cultivation was in the hands of a class of people known as Barai or Barujivi. These crops were exported to other parts of India. Another product used mainly for construction of houses, baskets and sunshades was bamboo. Ramcharit describes Varendri as a land of excellent flowers of countless varieties including asoka, kesara, madhuka, kanaka, ketaka, malali, nagakesara and lotus. Trees which supplied medicines or fruits such as amlaki, triphala, haritaki were also cultivated in ancient Bengal.

The basic livestock of the peasants was cattle, used for ploughing, transport and various dairy products. Wealth was sometimes measured in terms of the number of cattle in one's possession. Certain expressions in Pala and Sena land grants suggest that pasture grounds produced various kinds of grass for livestock and these were usually located near villages. Villagers sometimes employed communal cowherds who drove the cattle branded with the owners' marks every morning to the pasture and waste beyond the fields under cultivation and returned with them at dusk. Milk, curd and butter were important articles of diet. The flesh and bones of the cows were used for manuring, while cow dung was used both as a fuel and manure. Among various other animals represented either in sculptures or referred to in inscriptions and literary sources mention may be made of buffaloes, horses, goats, sheep, deer, monkeys, boars, jackals, lions, tigers, etc. A whole variety of fresh water and sea-fish was available in abundance and fish constituted an important item of the diet of the people.

Epigraphic and literary sources are full of references to the fertility of the soil in ancient Bengal. When Hiuen-Tsang visited Bengal in the seventh century AD, he noticed intensive and regular cultivation of land. His description is corroborated by some of the poems in Saduktikarnamrita. However, all land was not fertile nor served by adequate rainfall. Such land needed artificial irrigation. The numerous tanks in many parts of north Bengal Mahipala, Ramsagara, Pransagara were most probably constructed by the rulers for this purpose. The people also knew the technique of sinking wells for reaching deep-flowing streams. In some cases, they altered the course of rivers so that they could supply canals. They also knew how to regulate the flow of water to make canals overflow and thus swamp paddy fields. William Wilcox calls this ancient system 'overflow irrigation'. Literary sources provide names of different agricultural implements used during this period. These are ploughshares (fal), cleavers (da), sickles (kaste), frames (pasi), ladders (mai), sticks (pacanbadi) and rice-husking pedals (dhenki). Most of these implements were made by village blacksmiths and carpenters. Casapala of Ramesvar describes the different processes involved in the manufacture of those implements.

In most copper-plates belonging to the Gupta period and found in Bengal there are references to the king or the state itself selling land; when the land is donated for religious purposes, the king is given one-sixth of the religious merit due from the land grant. In every case the application for the purchase of land was made to the king through local officers. The king's permission was particularly necessary in these pious grants for it was only the king who had the power to exempt land from the payment of all royal dues. Thus in the earliest period for which records can be traced the king or the state was the owner of the soil. Some advocates of the theory that there was private ownership of land have argued that lands referred to in most of these inscriptions were khila or wastelands. But three copperplates from Faridpur and most Pala and Sena inscriptions record grants not merely of wastelands, but of whole villages as well. These villages must have included in them settled vastu and cultivated lands also. Again, the evidence of the Tippera grant of Lokanatha makes it clear that the king's ownership extended to forestlands. For then proof which can be advanced in support of the royal ownership of land is that the king could confiscate or annul a grant and make a fresh endowment of it to another person. However, though lands were owned by the state, cultivation was carried on by peasants living in villages and was based on individual peasant farming. The king's share of the agricultural produce was obviously the main source of state income. But though a host of tax names are mentioned in our sources these do not tell us what proportion of produce was appropriated by the state as revenue and as levies. Most of the land revenue was assessed in kind, but certain classes of crops were assessed in cash on the ground that it was difficult to divide into shares. Probably hiranya was a tax of this type. In some areas cultivators had to pay royal dues on the basis of the number of ploughs used for tilling land.

For information on agricultural conditions in medieval times one has to rely on the accounts of foreign travellers and local literature. Indeed, foreign travellers praised the fertility of Bengal soil and the state of its agriculture. For example, a Chinese account of 1349/50 stated, 'The seasons of Heaven have scattered the wealth of the Earth over this kingdom'. At about the same time ibn batuta visited east Bengal. He mentioned that as he travelled from sylhet to sonargaon by rivers for 15 days he saw on his right and left orchards, water wheels, prosperous villages and gardens, 'as if we were passing through a market'. During shaista khan's time Bernier came to Bengal. He noticed on both sides of the Ganges 'extremely fertile' fields producing a whole variety of crops. Abul Fazl informed us that a particular variety of rice was 'sown and reaped three times in the same year without little injury to the crop'. But this cannot be taken as an index of the general fertility of the land. For even as late as the middle of the twentieth century, only a small part of the land was cropped more than twice in the same agricultural season.

However, the validity of early references to the flourishing conditions of agriculture cannot be in doubt. Certainly during the Sultanate and Mughal periods Bengal agriculture experienced considerable expansion. Many of the place names with abad (for example, Fatahbad and Khalifabad) meaning "settled" or "cultivated" bear testimony to their settlement and cultivation during this period. The government took some steps for the extension of cultivation through reclamation. For example, it provided loans called 'taqavi' to enable peasants to buy seeds and bullocks or agricultural tools and implements. More frequently, lower revenue rates were granted to encourage the cultivation of wasteland. The rates were gradually increased every year until full rates were reached. The government took such steps primarily because extension of cultivation meant enhancement of land revenue, which was the principal source of income of the government. The basic impetus to the extension of cultivation was provided by population growth. However, it is not possible to say to what extent crop acreage expanded during medieval times. But Irfan Habib has hazarded the guess that during the Mughal period (1526-1707) the cropped area in certain parts of Bengal (as also in some other regions of Mughal India) doubled.

As in the ancient period, the chief agricultural produce was rice. It was produced in such abundance that after meeting local requirements there remained a considerable surplus for export. Broadly speaking, three varieties of paddy were grown. These were Aush (autumn), Aman (winter) and boro (summer). Within each of these three varieties there were great many cultivars of rice. Many of these are named in contemporary sources, including Shuny-Purana and Shivayana. Indeed, according to the former there were more than one thousand varieties. The Mughal historian Abul Fazl corroborates this information when he says that a large vase would be filled up 'if a single grain of each kind were collected'. This description in not exaggerated. For in an exhibition held in Calcutta in the first decade of the twentieth century, more than one thousand varieties of rice were put on display. Abul Fazl speaks of a special variety of paddy which used to grow up with the gradual rise of water-level so that no harm was done to the crop from water. Here he seems to be referring to broadcast variety of Aman paddy grown in low-lying areas subject to regular flooding. The other variety of winter rice was transplanted Aman or ropa Aman.

Cotton and mulberry plants were the two most important industrial crops of the province. Incidentally, cotton and silk were the principal industries of Bengal. Cotton was produced in different districts of western, northern, and eastern Bengal. In western Bengal a large quantity was produced in Birbhum, Burdwan and Nadia districts, while in north Bengal it was produced mainly in Rangpur, Malda and Dinajpur districts. However, the best quality of cotton suitable for the famous muslin industry was grown in dhaka and mymensingh districts. John Taylor, an agent of the east india company around 1800 AD, mentioned that the cotton (karpas) produced around Dhaka city and along the banks of the Meghna was the 'finest' that was to be found in 'any part of the world'. Taylor further mentioned that cotton seed was sown in October-November and harvested in April-May. With the decline of the cotton textile industry during the rule of the East India Company, cotton cultivation virtually came to an end in Bengal. Mulberry plants for silkworms were grown in central and north Bengal, especially in the districts of murshidabad and rajshahi. In all probability this crop was introduced from China and it was for the first time mentioned in the account of a Chinese traveller in the fifteenth century Bengal. Abul Fazl, Travernier, Bernier and English factory records also refer to the cultivation of mulberry plants in the province. Travernier, who visited kasimbazar in 1666, stated that the annual production of this crop in Kasimbazar was of the order of 2.5 millions pounds and a certain part of it was exported to other parts of India.

Yet another commercial crop was sugarcane. Down to 1756 a considerable trade in Bengal sugar was carried on with Madras, Bombay, the Malabar coast, Surat, Sind, Muscat, the Persian Gulf, Mocha and Jeddah. Bengal was the chief centre of this industry with a large export trade in sugar even in the middle of the seventeenth century. This is clear from the accounts of Barbosa, Barthema, and Bernier as well as from the records of the English and the Dutch. It would then appear that sugarcane constituted an important industrial crop in medieval Bengal. A certain proportion of the land was sown with such commercial crops as rape, mustard and other oilseeds. Several new crops were introduced in the province during this period. These were tobacco, maize and probably indigo. Similarly, three new fruits, for example, cashew nut, pineapple and papaya were received from the west. Guava came later. So did sweet and ordinary potato. Thus, not only did Bengali peasants grow multiplicity of crops, but they were also prepared to accept new ones. Once again, contemporary accounts make it clear that great variety of fishes were abundantly available from rivers and their tributaries, including haors, beels, ponds and the sea.

Visiting the province in the fourteenth century, Ibn Batuta noted that the villagers living by the 'blue-river' paid half of their produce as land tax together with other imposts. Wang-ta-yuan, writing at about the same time, said that state demand during medieval times was one-fifth of the total produce. This apparent anomaly was possibly due to variations in revenue rates in different regions in accordance with the productivity of the soil and the nature of the crops. During the Sultanate period there were several rates ranging from one-fifth to one half of the produce. The standard rate at the time of akbar was one-third of the produce. This continued to be so during the rule of murshid quli khan. However, apart from land revenue there were other rural taxes. It has been suggested that at the all-India level these levies accounted for about 25 percent of the land revenue. Thus, judged by any standard, revenue rates were very high in medieval Bengal.

Revenue was levied at rates per unit of land or in lump sum covering entire villages. In some areas land revenue continued to be assessed on the basis of the number of ploughs used for tilling the land. Land revenue and other taxes were paid in cash. This means that the cultivators had to sell a considerable part of their agricultural produce. In other words, commodity production developed on a significant scale. The rural-urban exchange, which thus developed, had a special character in the sense that it was a one-way traffic. Rural areas sold cash and food crops to urban centres without buying anything substantial in return. This was so because all the non-agricultural goods, which the villagers needed, were produced in the villages. This is not to support the assumption (at one time popular) that every village in the medieval period was self-sufficient, but to emphasize the point that rural areas were by and large self-sufficient. Land revenue was collected with the help of a group of mostly hereditary intermediaries known as zamindars of different size and status, and officials known as amils. The system of giving pattas to the peasants was generally followed during the Sultani and Mughal period. In the Chandimangal of Kavikankan and Shivyana of Rameshvara Bhattacharya, the legendary raiyats are depicted as receiving pattas from Indra and Kalaketu respectively. Tenants were of two categories khudkasta and pahikasta. Early British administrators called tenants of the former category 'resident' cultivators. The latter category included peasants who came from other villages to cultivate land on temporary basis. They paid generally lower rate of rent than the khudkasta cultivators.

Farming methods and most agricultural tools and implements remained the same as in the ancient period. With regard to farming methods the only exception was in chittagong hill tracts. Here a method of shifting cultivation locally known as jhum is practised even today. The method of lifting water from wells did not improve. The Persian wheel, which was introduced in north India remained unknown in Bengal. The system of manuring seems to have been the same. Consequently, it is unlikely that yield rates of important crops was higher during the Mughal period than in the late nineteenth or twentieth century. It may be argued that yield rates could have been higher because more fertile lands were under cultivation during these times. But as against this it could also be argued that as land-man ratio was more favourable, less intensive method of cultivation was followed. However, a favourable land-man ratio meant that per capita production was larger in medieval Bengal. The cheapness of the agricultural produce, which so drew the attention of foreign travellers, may well be taken as the index of the abundance of agricultural produce during the medieval period.

Several important qualifications need to be made, however. Firstly, as is still the case today, agriculture was a 'gamble in the monsoon'. This means that production was affected sometimes by excessive rainfall and sometimes by drought. Little is known about the outbreak of famines, but it is likely that sometimes famine conditions prevailed in some parts of the province. Secondly, there was a certain degree of inequality among the cultivating classes. While a section of the rural families held such large holdings that these could not be operated with the help of family labour alone, others were denied access to land or held small holdings. This meant that a certain section of rural families earned their living as agricultural labourers. This is indicated by Vipradas who gave the picture of the Muslim peasantry of west Bengal. Thus, even though on average per capita production was higher, its distribution was unequal. Although agricultural produce was in abundant supply for the vast majority of the people engaged in this field, the overall standard of living does not seem to have been enviable. This is clear from the account of foreign travellers and the evidence available from local sources. Abul Fazl says that the common people of Bengal for the most part went naked, wearing only a cloth (lungi) about the loins. It is not convincing that this was dictated by climatic factors and social traditions, since the upper classes could be distinguished by the type and quality of the clothes they wore. Moreover, in those days cotton production and weaving was widespread in Bengal. It might then be suggested that cloth was more expensive relative to paddy. By and large people did not use shoes, and Moreland thinks that this was due to the high cost of leather. The bulk of the peasants lived in single-roomed houses made of mud with thatched roofs. The peasants' houses had hardly any furniture besides cots and bamboo mats. Utensils made of bell-metal or copper were expensive and were not generally used by the people. Thus despite the abundance of agricultural production there is little to indicate that the agriculturists enjoyed a high standard of living.

The agricultural sector of the Indian sub-continent experienced a marked expansion during British colonial rule. Total volume and value of agricultural production increased, mostly through the extension of cultivated area. What is more, as India changed her role from a supplier of industrial goods to a supplier of agricultural produce, and as the domestic market also expanded with the development of certain industries and urban centres, production for the market became a more important feature than in the past. This was so despite the fact that with the decline of traditional industries and the natural growth of population there was now increased pressure (of population) on the agricultural sector. The impact of the widening of market was felt first in Bengal because it was the first province to come under British rule.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century vast tracts of land in Bengal were cultivable wastes. An important factor behind this situation was the famine of 1770, which caused considerable depopulation in different parts of the province. But during the succeeding century or so crop acreage expanded fast and by the turn of the twentieth century it virtually reached its natural limits (there being little scope for further extension of cultivation). However, expansion was most concentrated in the territories that today constitute Bangladesh. Thus, the greater part of Chittagong and noakhali, most of the Meghna estuary including Tipperah, the whole of the barind tracts, Sundarbans, and the haor area of Northeast Bengal were brought under cultivation during the nineteenth century. Peasants of three districts of 24 Parganas, Khulna and Bakerganj participated in the reclamation of the Sundarbans area. The census statistics show a striking population growth in the new agricultural settlements. However, the new cultivation in these districts at the expense of the Sundarbans was in fact far larger than the size of population growth. The great fertility of the soil there made it possible for an individual raiyat to farm a much larger area than he did elsewhere. Moreover, a considerable part of the cultivation was done by non-resident raiyats who went back home after cultivating their lands there. Another field of reclamation in these districts was the fertile alluvial lands constantly brought into existence by the active rivers.

The largest scope for such reclamation was in Bakerganj. In Tipperah too vast areas of char (alluvial lands, formerly the habitation of pigs) were brought under cultivation. Apart from these new agricultural settlements in eastern Bengal as a whole, some individual districts there had their own particular regions of growth. In the Barind area the southern third of Dinajpur, the eastern half of Malda, the western half of Bogra and the northern quarter of Rajshahi reclamation was made possible by immigrant Santal labour. However, the pattern was different in certain parts of west and central Bengal. Here as a natural process a decay of the river system had been taking place over a long period of time.

This was now accelerated by the construction of railways and feeder roads to connect the railways with remote villages. This produced two adverse results: land productivity declined and the outbreak of malaria fever became frequent. This latter phenomenon led to a decline in population growth. In the circumstances crop acreage in districts like Nadia, Birbhum, Midnapore, Hoogly, and Jessore declined or remained stagnant in the latter half of the nineteenth century. However, though the performance in the two parts of the province- the moribund and active delta was different, the trend in Bengal as a whole was a positive one, since agricultural production increased in volume as also in value because of improvement in prices. It is unlikely that there was any significant improvement in the yield rate of crops in east Bengal districts during the nineteenth century.

The story told so far about crop production in the nineteenth century is based on impressionistic assessment of concerned officials, and population statistics drawn from decennial census reports, but not on any time-series data on cropped area and yield per acre. Such data were made available by the government only from 1891/92 onwards. The relevant publications are Estimates of Area and Yields of Principal Crops in India, Agricultural Statistics of India, Agricultural Statistics of Bengal and Season and Crop Reports. Much has been said about the quality of these statistics. However, most scholars are of the opinion that though it is difficult to estimate the volume of crop output with any degree of reliability on the basis of these data, it is possible to estimate the time-trend on the assumption that the margin of error remained more or less uniform over time.

To proceed on the basis of the officially published statistics, the area under cultivation in some of the west and central Bengal districts declined or continued to decline. On the other hand, crop acreage marginally increased (especially through the extension of double cropping) in East Bengal districts. But the rate of increase was now so marginal that the overall pattern was one of stagnation. Among the individual crops, jute area recorded some expansion but the stagnation in paddy, which accounted for about 80 percent of the total crop acreage, determined the overall trend. According to the officially published statistics, food crop acreage expanded fast after 1941. This was attributed to the "Grow More Food" campaign launched by the government during these years. However, it seems that the success of this campaign was not as spectacular as claimed. What about the trends in yield rates? On the basis of the available data it appears that jute yield increased and so did the yield of sugarcane. But the yield rate of Aman paddy did not improve. This meant stagnation in the all-crop yield rate.

Stagnation in the all-crop yield rate and acreage, in turn, meant that all-crop output did not increase. This came about against a background of population growth of about one percent per annum. Per capita crop production was already low at the turn of the twentieth century because high population density meant that the average size of a holding was small (about four acres). Now the stagnation in crop production led to a further lowering of per capita output.

A Provincial Department of Agriculture was established in 1885. This Department took a number of steps for agricultural improvement. These included: (i) experiments with improved methods of cultivation through the establishment of experimental farms in Burdwan, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Shibpur and Rangpur, (ii) demonstration to the peasants of the improved methods through the appointment of demonstrators, (iii) dissemination of the results of experiments among the cultivators through publication of agricultural literature, (iv) supply to the peasants of better seeds grown in the farms, (v) provision for imparting training to the sons of the cultivators in the improved methods, and (vi) introduction of improved agricultural implements. But the impact of these efforts at the farm level was extremely limited. Consequently, the method of farming and agricultural tools and implements remained more or less the same as in medieval and ancient times.

Commercial fertiliser was unknown. Use of improved varieties of seeds made little progress. Towards the close of the 1930s, only six percent of the paddy area was sown with improved seeds. The irrigated area accounted for only a small part of the total cropped area and this was concentrated in certain districts of west Bengal. Meanwhile, the double-cropped area increased in East Bengal districts, but with a corresponding decline in fallow lands. Thus the causes for the stagnation in the yield per acre of the major crops are not far to seek.

As mentioned earlier, with the establishment of British rule agricultural production not only increased in terms of volume and value, it became more commercialised or market-oriented. This was not new, but commercialisation now became an important feature of the agrarian economy. Production for sale did not remain confined to the cash crops, for according to one estimate (Report on the Marketing of Rice in India), towards the close of the 1930s, 44 percent of the total rice output was marketed in Bengal. However, cash crop cultivation also increased. Most important in this respect was the expansion of jute acreage, especially in certain districts of east and north Bengal (Dhaka, Mymensingh and Rangpur).

At its height jute cultivation provided employment to more than 10 percent of the agricultural labour force, different groups of middlemen involved in jute trade, profits to the mill owners and export-firms in Calcutta, an industrial labour force of considerable size and, most important of all, contributed the bulk of the marketed surplus in the agricultural sector. According to one estimate, the proportion of total marketed surplus contributed by this crop ranged between 20 percent in 1920/21 and 64 percent in 1925/26, the average for the period 1920/21-1932/33 being 40 percent as against 34 percent in the case of rice.

Jute was an export crop, both in raw and manufactured form, and jute manufactures included gunny bags and gunny cloths used for packaging purposes. The basic impetus to increased jute production was provided by foreign demand. The first jute mill was established in Calcutta in 1855. During the next 50 years, thirty-four other jute mills were established. In 1900/01 the manufacturing capacity of these mills consisted of 315,000 spindles and 15340 looms. They employed over 110 thousand workers and consumed about 40 percent of the total crop. Meanwhile demand from Dundee mills increased and by 1896/97 jute acreage expanded to 1.6 million acres from a meagre 0.553 million acres in 1876/77. During the period 1920-47, jute acreage accounted for about 10 percent of the total cropped area. The highest point was reached during 1904/05-1907/08 when more than three million acres were sown with this crop. Jute acreage did not significantly decline even during the depression years when prices were very low. As rightly pointed out by two jute enquiry committees (Finlow Committee and Fawcus Committee), this was due to the absence of a profitable alternative crop.

Other cash crops grown in Bengal during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were tea, opium, indigo, sugarcane, tobacco and oilseeds. Tea, a plantation crop, was distinguishable from other cash crops in the sense that it was cultivated entirely with the help of wage labour (mostly drawn from tribal people). Tea was grown only in three districts Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Chittagong. Opium had, one distinctive feature: the exclusive control of the government over its production and sale. But its production was mostly confined to Patna and its neighbourhood. Indigo cultivation had an impressive growth rate. Once again, the main incentive was provided by increased foreign demand as a result of the decline in its supply from traditional sources such as western India, parts of North America and the West Indies. The East India Company had a stake in the expansion of indigo average. For after the decline in the export of cotton textiles from Bengal, the colonial government was badly in need of a profitable external commerce, mainly as a medium of remittance, and found in indigo a promising substitute.

However, an element of extra-economic coercion was present in planter's instruments for promoting indigo cultivation. This was because indigo cultivation was not profitable for the raiyats. Left to them they would not have cultivated the crop. Consequently, the system of indigo cultivation proved oppressive and in 1859/60 raiyats revolted against indigo cultivation. Unlike earlier instances of anti-indigo resistance, the Indigo Revolt of this year engulfed the whole of the indigo belt. As a result indigo cultivation declined drastically in Bengal. Sugarcane, another cash crop, was one of the few crops (others being tea and linseed) which registered some improvement in yields per acre. This was due to two factors. Firstly, during the 1930s more than half of the area under sugarcane was sown with improved varieties of seedlings. Secondly, the use of iron mill for crushing sugarcane increased. But all the cash crops (excluding jute) taken together did not account for even five percent of the total cropped area of the province.

The institutional framework of Bengal agriculture during British rule was provided by the permanent settlement introduced by Lord Charles cornwallis in 1793. Under this arrangement, zamindars were declared as the proprietors of land, the revenue payable by them to the government was fixed for all time to come. It was further provided that henceforth the proprietors would have no right to claim remission or suspension of revenue on account of any natural calamity and that if a proprietor failed to punctually pay the revenue within a stipulated date the whole or part of his zamiandari lands would be sold in auction. The strict execution of the Revenue Sale Law (popularly known as Sun-set Law) meant that many zamindaris were indeed sold in auction. A new set of people formerly engaged in trade and commerce and government and zamindari services became new zamindars. One objective behind the introduction of the Permanent Settlement was that as government demand on them would not be a variable one, the zamindars would invest capital for agricultural development. In other words, the expectation of Lord Cornwallis was that the magic touch of private property would inspire the zamindars to imitate their British counterparts. But this expectation was not fulfilled: neither the old zamindars nor the new ones took any initiative in investing capital in agriculture.

Many of the zamindars were not even ready to undertake the task of collecting rent from cultivating tenants or raiyats. Instead, they began shifting their landholding responsibilities to a class of perpetual rentiers, imposing on them the same terms and conditions as they themselves had agreed to fulfill under the Permanent Settlement. Tenurially, these rights stood between the zamindars and the raiyats, they were called madhyasatvas or intermediate property. Madhyasatva was as transferable and inheritable as zamindari svatva (right) was. Madhyastvas were broadly of two categories: pattani svatva and patitabad svatva. Pattani svatva was first invented by the Maharaja of Burdwan. He divided his vast estate into thousands of blocks, each of which was settled with an intermediary called pattanidar. The pattanidar created darpattanis (second grade) and dar-pattanidars, in turn, created se-pattani (third degree) and so on. This practice was followed by other zamindars. The Patitabad intermediary interests included those who were primarily responsible for the reclamation of wastelands in east Bengal districts. The zamindars created these intermediaries of various denominations and allowed them to invest capital in the reclamation of patit (cultivable waste) land in lieu of permanent rights in lands cleared.

Like pattani tenure, these patitabad tenures also developed multi-tiered structure with the local nomenclatures of talukdar, haoladar, nim-haoladar, gantidar, etc. However, it may be pointed out that only a certain part of the zamindari lands was affected by the growth of intermediaries. Secondly, the number of grades of intermediaries was never as high as the 50 grades suggested by the Indian Statutory Commission. The maximum was 12 in Bakerganj district. In other districts for which information is available, the number of grades was as follow: Dhaka (4), Jessore (6 or 7), Khulna (8), Bogra (10) and Mymensingh (3).

The zamindars or the original proprietors and the tenure-holders of all grades appropriated a large part of the agricultural surplus in the form of rent and a whole range of abwabs (illegal cesses). The volume of this surplus increased in two ways since 1793, the rate of rent was being enhanced, and additional lands were being brought under cultivation. But the state demand remained fixed. Some idea about the magnitude of this increase may be had from the fact that according to one estimate, in 1918/19 these proprietors and intermediaries intercepted as much as 76.7 percent of the gross rental of Rs 12.85 crores, paying only 2.99 crores to the state as land revenue. Incidentally, the Permanent Settlement envisaged that of the total amount collected as rent 90 percent would go to the treasury while zamindars would retain only 10 percent. Thriving on the gap between rent and revenue, proprietors and intermediaries formed the core of an expanding status group (known as Bhadralok) from which came the early generation of successful professionals in law, journalism, medicine, civil and the judicial services.

But the landlords did not invest a part of this surplus for improvement of agriculture. Herein lay the greatest drawback of the Permanent Settlement for, it enabled landlords to appropriate agricultural surplus without themselves playing any part in creating this surplus. The patitabad tenures played a productive role to the extent that these promoted the reclamation process. But by the early twentieth century, when reclamation activities had come to a virtual close, these intermediaries, like those in the other category as well as the original proprietors, became parasites. The Bengal Land Revenue Commission (popularly known as Floud Commission) appointed in 1938 by the provincial government, recommended the abolition of the Permanent Settlement. However, this recommendation was not implemented during the remaining years of the British rule.

The rights of the raiyats were never properly defined under the rules of the Permanent Settlement. On the other hand, their position was made even more vulnerable by the regulations of 1799, 1812, 1822 and 1844. All these regulations enormously increased landlords' powers and subjected the peasantry to an increasing rent burden and to extreme insecurity in land rights. However, beginning from 1859 a series of legislative steps ware taken to improve the status of the tenants. As a result by 1938 raiyats were endowed virtually with all the rights of ownership inheritance, free transfer of land, security against eviction and enhancement of the rate of rent. Certain legal rights were granted even to the under-raiyats who held land under the raiyats.

Attempts were also made to grant certain rights to the bargadars or sharecroppers (their share of the produce being normally 50%) but predictably these attempts failed because of the opposition of the representatives of the rich peasants and landlords in the provincial legislature. Thus, by the close of British colonial rule, the tenurial system had become a very complex one. There was a group of rent-receiving zamindars and tenure-holders of different grades on the one hand, and 'owner' cultivators on the other. A tenure-holder of a certain grade was a landlord in relation to the tenure-holder immediately below him, but he was a tenant in relation to the zamindar or the tenure-holder above him, since as per law any one who received rent was a landlord while any one paying a rent was tenant. Similarly raiyats who received rent from the under-raiyats, strictly speaking, were also landlords. Again, though the landlords (ie, original zamindars and the intermediaries) primarily lived on their rental income, they also possessed a certain khas (demesne) land and had it cultivated with the help of sharecroppers and hired labour. The proportions of land, without any reference to the manner of their cultivation, under the possession of these different groups were as follow: landlords' khas land (20%), raiyats (72%) and under-raiyats (8%).

As in ancient and medieval times, the peasant mode of cultivation was the dominant pattern. According to an estimate by the Bengal Land Revenue Commission (1938), the proportion of land operated by the members of the cultivator's families was as high as 66 percent of the total. However, bargadars and agricultural labourers cultivated a significant part of the land. Once again, as per the findings of the Land Revenue Commission, 21 and 13 percent were operated respectively with the help of these two groups. In other words, there was considerable disparity in the distribution of agricultural land among different sections of rural families. On the one hand, there was a class of rich peasants who had more land than they could cultivate with the help of family labour. Such peasants therefore employed bargadars and/or hired labour. On the other hand, the size of holding 'owned' by the vast majority of the cultivators was so small that it could not provide employment to all the available labour. The same point is established by another set of findings of the Land Revenue Commission. Thus, while holdings above five acres in size accounted for only 25 percent of the total land in the province, holdings of less than two acres took up about two fifths (46 percent) of the total. Incidentally, the floud commission recommended that bargadars should get two-thirds instead of half the produce. A militant movement (known as Tebhaga) was launched in the closing years of the British rule for the implementation of this recommendation. But the movement failed to achieve its objective.

As mentioned earlier, the establishment of wider commercial intercourse with the outside world during the British rule marked the advent of cash economy in the rural areas on a much larger scale than in the past. The use of money assumed greater prominence even in areas or among sections of people, which remained relatively unaffected by the spread of commercialisation. However, as the credit agencies, which grew up in the changed circumstances almost exclusively, catered for the need of the export trade and domestic industries, the rural areas remained cut off from organised sources of finance.

Thus, with the functional mechanism of an economic structure remaining complete, a vacuum was created. This was filled by moneylenders who included mahajans, pathans, kabulis, merchants, landlords and rich peasants. The Co-operative Credit movement launched by the government in 1904 made limited progress, covering only a small section (10 percent in 1943) of the total agricultural borrowers. Thus moneylenders remained virtually the only source of credit. But most loans received from them were not used for directly productive purposes. Secondly, even when these were used for productive purposes, the expenditure was incurred for the purchase of traditional tools and implements and seeds, not for such inputs which would improve yield per acre over the existing level. Thirdly, the rate of interest charged by moneylenders was very high: 18 to 38 percent per annum on secured loans and much higher on unsecured loans. Indeed, from the turn of the twentieth century interest payments apparently began to exceed the total rental demand of the landlords. In any case, as a result of these three adverse factors a part of the borrowed money remained unpaid. A consequence was the problem of accumulation debt. According to the estimates of the Bengal Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee, the total volume of debts in 1929/30 was about 1000 million rupees. According to yet another estimate the volume of debts (without accumulated interest) stood at 960 million rupees in 1934.

As the worldwide economic crisis started in 1929 the problem of debts became very acute. For whereas agricultural prices nearly halved, the volume of debt remained at the same level. As a result, an urgent need was felt to provide relief to indebted agriculturists. (Incidentally, franchise was extended under the Government of India Act, 1935.) Accordingly, the Agriculturists Debtors Act was passed in 1936. Under this Act, Settlement Boards were set up in different parts of the province, especially in some East Bengal districts, to scale down the volume of debt to the repaying capacity of indebted families. By 1944 Debt Settlement Board reduced 50 crores of rural debts to 18 crores or rupees. Meanwhile, a Moneylender's Act was passed in 1940 to regulate the rates of interest changed by moneylenders and check malpractice of this group. But despite these efforts agricultural debts in the province stood at 150 million rupees in 1945.

The stagnation in all-crop output during the last phase of the British rule continued for about two decades after its termination during which Bangladesh constituted part of Pakistan. This was so despite the fact that the Permanent Settlement which, in the words of the Bengal Land Revenue Commission (1938) 'had stifled the enterprise and initiative of all classes of people' was abolished by the State Acquisition Act of 1950. Cultivators were given proprietary rights in the land they cultivated. Then in the mid-1960s the government of erstwhile Pakistan launched a programme for accelerating agricultural, especially foodgrain, production through the adoption of 'seed-water-fertiliser' technology. The programme received further impetus after the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent state in 1971. Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, the successor to East Pakistan Agricultural Development Corporation, was given the task of the procurement and distribution of irrigation pumps, fertilisers and improved varieties of seeds.

During the post-liberation period use of chemical fertilisers, the proportion of irrigation area and the rice land sown with improved varieties of seeds increased. At the same time, the volume of short, medium and long-term institutional credit provided especially by the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Bank (successor to the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan) also expanded. But despite these initiatives all-crop output during 1967/70-1985/88 improved by only 1.53 percent per year and foodgrain output by 1.89 percent as against a population growth rate of 2.48 percent. Wheat production, however, increased by 15.1 percent. But a much lower rate of growth in the production of rice (1.96%) slowed down the growth rate in total foodgrains output. Thus, the objective of achieving self-sufficiency in food production was not fulfilled. During the same period (1967-88) the production of pulses and oilseeds declined respectively by 1.72 and 0.72 percent. On the other hand, jute production marginally increased (by 0.15%).

The use of commercial fertiliser and improved varieties of seeds as well as the proportion of irrigation area have further increased in the last decade, but Bangladesh is yet to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. This is clear from the fact that the production of rice has remained at about the same level (18 m tons) between 1990/91-1993/94 and 1994/95-1997/98. Incidentally, as in the ancient, medieval and British period, crop production continues to be the most important sub-sector, accounting for 72 percent of the total in 1997/98. The shares of other sub-sectors are as follow: forestry (7 percent), livestock (10 percent), and fishery (11 percent). Within the crop production sub-sector, rice is still the most important crop (it occupies three-fourths of the total acreage). Meanwhile, Bangladesh agriculture has experienced changes in several other ways. Jute cultivation has declined in the recent past, the net cropped area having declined from 20,977 thousand acres in 1973/74 to 19,401 thousand acres in 1996/97, although the area sown more than once has increased from 8,447 thousand acres in 1973/74 to 14,688 thousand acres in 1996/97. Agriculture's contribution to GDP has declined from 60 percent in the pre-liberation days to about 30 percent in 1997/98.

From historical and current perspectives it must be pointed out that a major source of weakness for the entire economy and the agricultural sector in particular has been the absence of industrialisation efforts on a significant scale. Industrialisation efforts during British rule were virtually absent in the territories that today constitute Bangladesh. It remained weak during the Pakistan days. The pattern during post-1971 period has not been much different either. In a situation where net-cropped area is on the decline this absence of industrial development has meant increase (according to the findings of the census of Agriculture and Livestock) in the proportion of landless people from 17 percent in 1951 to 56.5 percent in 1983/84. The changing pattern of the distribution of the size of landholdings is also indicative of the increasing rate of pauperisation of peasant families in Bangladesh. The percentage of small farms has increased from 51.6 percent in 1960 to 79.9 percent in 1996. But the average size of a holding has declined from 1.11 acres to 0.9 acres during the same time. Most of the small farms are practically non-viable. On the other hand, both the proportions of medium and large holdings as well as the average size of these holdings have declined over the last 36 years. The Land Reforms Ordinance of 1984 reduced the ceiling for ownership of agricultural land to 60 standard bighas per family from 100 bighas in 1972. According to 1996 Agricultural Census, holdings of 15 acres and above account for only 0.4 percent of the total land of the country. This means that even if all the land above the stipulated ceiling is acquired by the government (this will be an extremely difficult task) the land thus available for re-distribution among the non-viable farms will be too insignificant. Therein lies the crux of the problem facing Bangladesh agriculture and, indeed, the whole economy. [M Mufakharul Islam]

Bibliography  Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India 1526-1707, Bombay, 1963; Mufakharul Islam, Bengal Agriculture, 1920-26: A Quantitative Study, Cambridge, 1978; Kamrunnesa Islam, Aspects of Economic History of Bengal, Dhaka, 1984; Sugata Bose, Agrarian Bengal: Economy Social Structure and Politics, 1919-1947, Cambridge, 1986; Mosharraf Hossain, Agriculture in Bangladesh: Performance, Problems and Prospects, Dhaka, 1991.

Agricultural land The total land area of Bangladesh is about 14.4 million ha, of which about 66.6% is available for cultivation. Depending on the flooding depth, the land is categorized as highland (20%), medium highland (35%), medium lowland (20%), lowland (8%) and very lowland (1%). Based on physical environment which are relevant to land use, the land is divided into 30 agroecological zones and 88 sub-regions.

All land areas are not suitable for all types of crops. Seasonally flooded land is suitable for rice cultivation but the use of HYVs is limited to areas with relatively shallow flood depth during the kharif season. Deep flooding for long periods limits land use to a single low yielding, deep-water rice crop. Most upland crops are grown in well-drained land. Boro is planted in poorly drained soils throughout the dry (rabi) season where irrigation can be provided and where no flooding will occur before the harvest of the crop.

Agricultural land use in coastal areas is limited to wet season cropping because of high dry season soil salinity and lack of suitable quality irrigation water. Cropping intensities, therefore, are low in coastal areas. Intensive cropping with HYVs is commonly practiced under high to medium highland with assured good quality irrigation water. Total cropped area is about 13.4 million ha, with more than 170% cropping intensities. Areas under single, double, and triple cropping are 3.5, 3.7 and 0.99 million ha, respectively. Rice alone covers about 80% of the total cropped area, of which HYV's share is about 50%.

Agricultural land is fragmented into small pieces because of the large number of farm holdings. Total number of farm holdings is about 19 million; the average size of a holding is about 0.5 ha. In form, each holding consists of a few pieces of land which generally range from 0.1-0.2 ha. [Nurul Islam Bhuiyan]

Agricultural biodiversity Biological resources that are used in the agricultural programmes of a region. The general agroecological variations of Bangladesh range from below sea level-basins to small hills flanked by the large hills of the Indian subcontinent. The landmass of the country is mostly of delta formations. People of the area have come from various socio-ecological positions of the sub-continent as well as from other continents of the world. People over the centuries have been cultivating, preserving, and using more than 1364 plant species coming from both endemic and exotic origins, for about 85 diverse uses. There are about 175 species of medicinal herbs. Ethnic groups, distributed in different areas, have been involved, over centuries, in collecting and preserving the highly rich biodiversity to meet their needs. Many varieties of rice, jute, sugarcane, cotton, linseed, mustard, cucumber, beans, gourds, banana, mango, bel, brinjal, dewa, berry, haritaki, amlaki, bahera, ginger, turmeric, etc have also been selected and raised by the people who have been living in this area for about 8-10 thousand years. Females cultivate a fairly large number of flora in their homesteads and cultivated lands to meet their needs. Many families as professions practice herbal medication.

The biodiversity in rice is high. There were about 10,000 varieties in the country. By 1974, the recorded number of collection of rice plant genetic resource was about 7439. Of these, only 63 are rice, 18 were developed through hybridization, while the rest received simple pure line selection. At present, out of pure line selections only 22 are in use by farmers, and there are 37 modern varieties. In the Sundarbans and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, three wild species of rice have been identified. The low basin areas of Gopalganj and Sythet are considered to be the centre of origin of the deepwater rice varieties. Also many other rice varieties have originated from the land races selected from different areas of the country. Today, many of the indigenous rice varieties have been lost due to the introduction of HYVs mainly for economic considerations.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is now the second staple food crop of the country. Except for one indigenous strain all the plant genetic resources (15,730) of common wheat have been introduced to the region, and locally developed a few breeding lines. This indicates how the introduction of a species in a geographical area can have a positive impact when its domestication can lead to increased production and diversity.

Most minor cereals are of endemic nature. There are a small number of foxtail millets, proso millets, and others. In case of jute there are 958 accessions of Corchorus capsularis. The species Corchorus olitorius was imported. These foreign plant genetic resources have put pressure on the tree cotton species of Bangladeshi origins, which have almost been eroded.

Most oilseed crops have been selected and developed out of the land races available in this part of the world. There are 10 annual crop species having more than 1200 plant genetic resource (PGR), many of which produce oils and fats of different nature. mustard and rapeseed are two important groups and are covered by Brassica campestris and B. juncea of both endemic and exotic origins. About 500 PGR of the species that are available are being used for development of newer varieties. In addition to these, B. napus, B. carinata and B. nigra were introduced to Bangladesh during the early 1970s. groundnut (420), soybean (145), and sesame (132) are the three other species that have high PGR under collection and utilization. Soybeans of American types were introduced to Bangladesh during the early 1970s. American soybean has large variations even from its original PGR of China. Wild indigenous soybean PGR are to be found in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. There are numerous tree species that produce fats and oils, including the recently introduced oil palm.

In case of pulses, including important food legumes, there has been considerable selection from amongst the natural variants available in this part of the world. Collection records indicate that out of 7099 PGR, 3463 are of local origin from 8 species. The rest were imported; many of them have been found to perform well and have been adapted to this system of production. The species where more exotic materials have been introduced are lentil, chickpea, mungbean, and black gram.

Bangladesh is close to the centre of origin of sugarcane which in its travel route to India and Pakistan has yielded many genetic resources. A total of 459 Saccharum officinarum and 26 S. spontaneum PGR have been recorded by the bangladesh sugarcane research institute alone. There are no other important sugar crops, although some PGR of sugar beet is available. A large quantity of date palm sugar in the form of molasses or 'Gur' is produced every year. There are about 24 species of PGR that provide nectars to bees for production of honey. A large volume of honey is produced every year and used as a substitute for sugar.

There are 33 common fruit species with high number of PGR. The highly diverse species are mango, pomelo, guava and jackfruit. In total 463 variants of these species have been recorded in different institutes and orchards. The minor fruits usually come from 54 species that have 298 variants, of which 207 are of local origin. There are 52 species of fruit trees in the country that are wild in nature. There are three types of PGR that produce vegetables from roots and tubers (11 species), leaves (8 species), and fruits (20 species). These 39 species have more than 1000 PGR, indicating that the variation is high due to selections of materials in different niches of agroecological zones that depend on the choice of the selectors and the consumers. For example, each of the brinjal, tomato, radish, bottle gourd, water melon, sweet gourd, country bean, stem amaranth and other vegetables has at least 5-6 commercial varieties.

There are at least 17 species that produce variable types of spices and 21 more species, which produce food colours of various types. In only 9 species that produce spices and food colours, there are 303 PGR, many of which need to be preserved for future use. The species diversity of floricultural plants in this country is quite high. There are 22, 26, 81, 18, 217, 396, 15 and 24 species of ornamentals, orchids, conservatory plants, aquatic plants, rose, arboratum and microflora (77 family and 253 genera), cactus and rocky, and wall plants respectively. In fact, as many as 781 species and varieties of diverse PGR belong to this group. Many of these species are indigenous; while some were imported. Most of the roses and cactus, and a good number of orchids, ornamentals, and conservatory PGR are of exotic nature.

tea is one of the most important cash crops of the country. The PGR records of this crop show that local collections of clones are 246, and introduced varieties amount to 28. The bangladesh tea research institute has been maintaining only 28 local and 17 exotic clones for commercial exploitation. Coffee has three species but is not a commercial crop in this country. In Bangladesh, the PGR of conventional forest species have spread over to the social and agroforestry systems due to high limitations of the forest land areas and low man-land ratio. Therefore, species diversity of trees usually grown in forests can be seen all over the country. In recent years there has been extra emphasis on the plantations of trees in homesteads, public places and crop fields. The recorded information on tree species is variable. Twenty-four species produce timbers that are used mostly for furniture. Tree species used for making agricultural equipment; boats, trawlers and ships; paper pulp and paper are 24, 52, and 30 respectively. It has been observed that many species are used for bridge construction, railway sleepers, carts and carriages, transports, electric poles, piling and jetty constructions. There are numerous homestead tree species that the people of Bangladesh use for different purposes and many of these can be used for more than one purpose. [Lutfur Rahman]

Production of major crops Bangladesh is endowed with a climate favourable for the cultivation of a wide variety of both tropical and temperate crops. Though nearly 100 different kinds of crops are presently grown in Bangladesh, rice is the principal one which grows in all the three crop growing seasons of the year and covers about 79 percent of the total cropped area of about 13.4 million ha. High yielding varieties cover more than 50 percent of the total rice area. Other important crops are wheat, jute, potato, oilseeds, pulses, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, fruits, and vegetables. Crops in Bangladesh are grown both under rainfed and irrigated conditions. However, rainfed agriculture is dominant, since nearly 70 percent of the net sown area is dependent upon rain as a source of water for crop production. Traditional practices, local varieties, and low levels of inputs and management are associated with rainfed agriculture. Productivity in general is low, and year to year fluctuation in production is large. Both moisture deficiency and excesses of rain contribute to instability in agricultural production.

Irrigated agriculture is usually associated with improved technologies like HYV's, high fertiliser doses, and improved management practices. Consequently, the productivity of irrigated agriculture is high, and more or less stable with an assured water supply.

Table 1 Area and production of the major crops (Average of 3 years: 1997/1998)

Crops

Area

(000 ha)

Production

(000 m ton)

10263.05

18862

804.53

1803

1157.02

20731

136.38

1553

577.50

175.23

7379

683.93

519

561.70

483

143.67

317

32.78

36

Source Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics of Bangladesh, 1993

According to the crop statistics of 1994/95 as published in BBS, 1997, total cropped area, total production including vegetables, fruits, and other minor crops and their total values were about 13.4 million ha, 34 m tons, and Taka 250 billion respectively. [Nurul Islam Bhiuyan]

Cropping pattern A spatial and temporal arrangement of crops within a cropping year, largely determined by physical, biological, and socio-economic factors. There are three cropping seasons (Rabi, Kharif-I or Pre-Kharif, and Kharif-II) during a year in Bangladesh. Since rice is the major crop, it dominates the cropping patterns of Bangladesh. Depending on the land type, soil characteristics, and water availability, rice cropping may be single, double, or triple. In general, double or triple rice cropping is practised in high land areas. In medium lowlands, mixed cropping of Aus and broadcast Aman is a common practice, while in deeply flooded lands, single cropping of broadcast Aman (deepwater rice) in Kharif, or Boro in Rabi, is the common practice. Non-rice crops are generally grown as a sequential or intercrop with rice. Most non-rice crops are dryland crops, although some crops like jute (Deshi type), millets (Kaon), and sugarcane can tolerate some degree of submergence at later stages of growth. Jute is grown in the Kharif-I season, competes with Boro Aus for land, and is considered a substitute crop for Boro Aus in cropping patterns. The dry (Rabi) season crops included in cropping patterns may be early, middle, or late, depending upon land types, recessions of floods, and dates of harvests of the preceding crops.

In rainfed-dryland areas, growing of drought-tolerant, short-duration crop species has been an important feature. Although high crop yields have been difficult to obtain, traditional cropping patterns usually exhibit a high degree of stability. Another important feature is the extensive use of mixed cropping and intercropping of annual crops. These practices provide farmers with opportunities for harvesting diverse crops from the same land, increasing total land productivity, and maintaining and improving soil fertility through the use of legumes. Boro, Aus, jute, maize, barley, and chickpea are the most important rainfed dryland crops. When more than two crops are included in the pattern, mixed cropping, intercropping, or relay cropping are practised.

A large number of cropping patterns are generally practised in Bangladesh, depending on the crop production environment which is greatly influenced by land type, soil texture, flooding regimes, rainfall (amount and distribution) and resource base of the farmers. Some dominant cropping patterns under variable crop production environments are as follows:

Farmers for better use of soil resources, although not always executed as planned, follow crop rotations, to some extent. Generally deep-rooted crops (jute) are grown after shallow rooted crops (rice). [Nurul Islam Bhuiyan]

Agricultural labour The mainstream of rural working class rendering physical labour to carry out various agricultural activities growing crops, rearing livestock and poultry, looking after fisheries or raising trees. Before British rule in India there was no organised agricultural labour market and no provision of wage labour in agriculture. Landlords then usually distributed their land to sharecroppers (bargadars). Sometimes they themselves cultivated a part of their land with the help of slaves, perennial labourers (on annual contract), or hired labourers paid in kind and also by free board and lodging. Sharecroppers and small cultivators engaged family members and, in addition, had to adopt the practice of labour exchange (locally known as badla, gantu, etc) on the principle of strict reciprocity. Slavery was abolished through enacting a law in 1843. Exchange of labour was more prevalent till the early 1900s, when increased landlessness and introduction of cash economy replaced the system of exchange by hiring on payment. From this time, labour was paid in kind, at least partially, and the system is still in practice in rural areas.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, out of 56.0 million civilian labour force of Bangladesh, in 1995/96, 34.5 million (63.2%) were engaged in agriculture. Of the total agricultural labour force, 18% were paid day-labourers. The rest comprised the cultivators themselves and unpaid family workers. There was a remarkable increase in the number of agricultural labour force in 1990/91 (33.3 million) and 1995/96 (34.3 million), compared to 1985/86 (17.5 million). This increase was due to change in agricultural activities, which encompassed operations like animal husbandry, poultry, threshing, boiling, drying and husking crops and processing and preserving food. The rural women usually carry out these agricultural activities. Children constitute a substantial part of agricultural labour. About 1.6 million working children (63% of the employed child labour) were engaged in agriculture in Bangladesh during 1995/96. With the increase in the population of the country, the total number of agricultural labourers is increasing, but the rate of employment in the agricultural sector compared to that in the non-agricultural sector is decreasing. In 1989, 73.8% of the total manpower were employed in agriculture but the figure came down to 63.2% in 1995/96, while for non-agricultural sector it increased from 26.2% to 36.8%. Since the scope for non-agricultural employment was limited in the past and the rate of literacy in the country was poor, agriculture was burdened with a huge illiterate and unskilled manpower. With the expansion of education and urbanization at present, the scenario is being gradually changed.

The land tenure system introduced during the British rule rapidly increased the number of landless people, who in most cases ultimately turned into agricultural day-labourers. Forced by repeated famines, British rulers took a number of steps for the development of agriculture, but all the efforts targeted the landed cultivators, not the landless day-labourers. About 26% of the rural households subsisted on labour as their only or principal occupation, while another 13% took it as a secondary source of income. Thus, 13 million rural Bengalis were fully or partially dependent on wage labour. In 1900, about 6,00,000 rural people (7% of the total rural population) of Bengal had labour as the primary occupation. By the early 1970s, this had increased twelve folds to about 7,200,000 people (27%). The Master Survey of Agriculture (1965/66) conducted by the government of East Pakistan disclosed that 25% of the cultivators earned wages for their labour, while three-fifths of these wage-earning cultivators were landless. The common trend was that of an increase of waged agricultural labourers. There were also regional differences in wage and mobility of the labourers.

Three types of labour relations have co-existed in rural Bengal: casual day-labour, annual contract labour and seasonal labour. Casual day-labour is the shortest contract and varies from half a day (or one 'bela') to several days (usually one hat period that is the period between two 'hat' days). Casual employment provides labourers with the greatest freedom and also with the greatest insecurity. Day-labourers benefit from wage hikes in the busy season but also have to suffer starvation during the slack season. Annual contract labourers stay at the employers' house and get cash wage and also food and clothing. Young boys begin with just food and clothing. In some cases, annual contract labourers are bonded with some kind of debtal slavery and work for the employers to repay their debt. Seasonal labourers are engaged for 2 to 4 months during the winter season, usually for harvesting crops. They migrate from one region to another. They receive wages in the form of food and paddy or cash. The paddy component is often a share of the crop harvested and varies between one-twelfth and one-fifth. In the past, working conditions for waged labourers were almost uniform throughout Bengal, although there were regional difference in wage levels and modes of wage payment. In most places the greater part of the wage was paid in cash, although a mid-day meal of rice and side dishes was provided by the employers. A morning snack of puffed rice or water soaked rice (panta bhat), betel leaf and nut, and green coconut was also provided. Women were paid less, usually in kind, and the amount was one-tenth of the production as a husker or thresher. Santals, bauris and other tribal women were the most hard working labourers.

The wage of agricultural labour throughout Bengal declined during 1880 to 1980. Wages were standardised with rice in amounts varying between 2 sher (1 sher=0.9 kg) in West Bengal and 9 sher in East Bengal. The wage level has significantly increased during recent years. This is mainly due to increased job opportunities with the introduction of improved labour intensive agricultural practices and with mass-scale migration of agricultural labourers to urban areas in quest of higher income opportunities. Food for Work, Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programmes, land reforms, creation of cluster villages in khaslands (common), distribution of easy loans, and promotion of income oriented activities by the government and NGOs are now helping agricultural labourers to improve their conditions.

Agricultural credit The financial support received by the farmers as loans from institutional and non-institutional sources to meet the expenses of various agricultural activities. Farmers require funding support also to recover losses due to failure of crops due to natural calamities (floods, droughts, cyclones, tidal bores or river erosion) and damage due to insect pests and diseases. This support is provided by institutions like banks, NGOs, traditional moneylenders (mahajans, beparis, rich farmers) or friends and relatives. Indebtedness of peasants in Bengal has long been a phenomenon caused by shortage of cash funds in paying the land revenue or in meeting additional tax levies. Extra expenses incurred in observance of rites of marriage and bereavement or in prosecuting disputes also cause indebtedness.

The practice of farmers receiving credit from mahajans existed even in Vedic India (2000 BC to 1150 AD). The Arthasastra of Kautilya provides an elaborate account of the ancient moneylending system. References to moneylending are also found in the writing of Manu. The idea of formal banking was first spread in the subcontinent by Muslim traders from Baghdad during the Abbaside period. The growing trade of Bengal and the resultant increase in the circulation of money during the Mughal period led to the development of banking. In cooperation with the mahajans, the Mughals established the Hindustan Bank in 1700. This was the first banking institution set up in the subcontinent. The farmers who were at a remove from trade and commerce-oriented banking were left with informal sources like moneylenders, village merchants (mahajans) and shopkeepers who charged interest at exorbitant rates and had emerged as the wealthy section of the society.

During the Sultanate and Mughal periods, rulers granted lower revenue rates and provided agricultural credit to farmers. Widely known as Taccavi, such loans enabled poor peasants to buy seed, bullocks, agricultural tools and implements, and enabled them to boost production by bringing new land under cultivation through reclamation. The Permanent Settlement introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793 was also aimed at solving credit problems in agriculture. It was hoped that zamindars who were granted proprietary rights on zamindari lands would be induced to invest capital for agricultural development. The British rulers took initiatives for the development of formal banking in the subcontinent to reduce dependence on non-institutional moneylenders.

The newly developed credit agencies served the trade and commerce of urban areas exclusively. Thus such organised sources of finance did not reach villages, which came under immense cash economy at that time. The 'Cooperative Credit Movement' launched by the British rulers in 1904 covered a small section of agricultural borrowers. Merchants-moneylenders used to make double profit from the debtor farmers, who not only had to pay regular interest but also had to sell their produce to the creditors. This type of obligation kept the growers away from competitive markets and deprived them from getting the proper price. In some parts of Bengal, especially in Dhaka, landlords were also involved in the moneylending business, posing a serious threat to the stability of agricultural system. Landlords-cum-moneylenders could exert two fold pressure on the debtor-peasants by dictating the terms of credit and at the same time by making them pay rents and debts. Rich peasants were usually found giving paddy loans for both consumption and seeds which the borrower-cultivators had to repay after harvests. Such loans could be repaid in terms of cash or in kind on the basis of the real value of the grain borrowed.

There were a good number of alien moneylenders like Kabulis and Marwaris, who had taken up this profession with great success. With the emergence of new credit agencies, these expatriate sources of credit gradually disappeared during the 1930s. In many parts of Bengal there were organised moneylenders on banias who formed a community by caste. Among the bania community, Sahas and Suvarna Vaniks were the most influential sections who even grabbed the lands of the raiyats through moneylending.

Exploitation by moneylenders climaxed in the Great Depression of 1928, when drastic fall of prices of agricultural produces like rice and jute reduced the income of the farmers as well as the availability of credit. The rich moneylenders availed the opportunity and grabbed the lands of the indebted cultivators. A considerable amount of land was transferred in this way from cultivating farmers to non-cultivating groups, which ultimately affected total agricultural output. 'The Bengal Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee Report' revealed that the total volume of outstanding debts of the indebted farmers of Bengal in 1929/30 was about 1000 million rupees. The Bengal Board of Economic Enquiry found out that 77% families of Bengal in 1934 were indebted. The indebted peasants started launching movements in many places. Communist leaders often played leading roles in these demonstrations. As interest and usury were strictly prohibited in Islam, sometimes these movements turned into communal conflicts. There were clashes in many places between Muslims and mahajans who were mostly Hindu by religion, though some Muslims also used to practice lending under the dadni system.

Various surveys conducted following 'The Great Depression' advocated a number of measures to free cultivators from the vicious cycle of indebtedness. Meanwhile, the Government of India Act of 1935 extended the franchise to farmers, which added a new dimension to the prevailing political environment in Bengal. The political parties focused on the mounting problem of indebtedness and used their campaigns for winning popular votes. Under political pressure, the Legislative Council enacted the Bengal Agricultural Debtors Act in 1935 that prescribed establishment of Debt Settlement Boards in every union consisting of local leaders. But these boards were not able to work properly because most of the debts were covered by usufructuary mortgage.

The government amended the Bengal Tenancy Act in 1938 for better functioning of the Debt Settlement Boards and declared all mortgages as void. According to the amended Act, the owner would get his land back after 15 years as most of the net debt (principal) as well as the interest would be cleared off. The Bengal Moneylending Act of 1933 was also amended in 1940 to regulate the rates of interest charged by moneylenders. Though operations of the Settlement Boards had temporarily eased the stifled situation, the amended act ultimately blocked agricultural production due to lack of credit since moneylenders suspicious of recovery were not ready to continue their lending business. Legislative measures were imposed without opening up any alternative channel of finance to meet the demand of the cultivators. As the creditors were not interested in mortgage, the farmers had to sell their land to manage cash money. Frequent transfer of lands resulted in the fragmentation and subdivision of lands and ultimately landlesness. The activities of the Debt Settlement Boards were finally winded up in 1945.

Between 1947 and 1971, a network of institutional banking developed in East Pakistan with 36 scheduled banks, many of which provided agricultural credit facilities. A specialised bank on agricultural credit called The Pakistan Agricultural Development Bank was established in 1961. Some other local participatory rural credit mechanisms including the Comilla Cooperative Model (1959) emerged during this period and played a pioneering role in the distribution of agricultural credit on easy terms.

After independence, the government attempted to reinforce the national economy by mobilising more resources as agricultural credit to meet the increasing need of farmers. More branches of nationalised banks and agencies were set up in rural areas. Thus specialised banks like the bangladesh krishi bank (BKB), rajshahi krishi unnayan bank (RAKUB), Bangladesh Cooperative Bank, four commercial banks (the sonali bank, janata bank, agrani bank and rupali bank), and the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) were used to meet the needs of farmers. These banks and the BRDB had disbursed about Tk 30.06 billion and 28.51 billion throughout the country in fiscal year 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 respectively.

Branches of BKB and RAKUB that deal with more than 60% of the government allocated agricultural credit are now being set up in every union of the country. Short, mid and long-term credit are being granted to the farmers to help them in various activities such as growing seasonal crops, buying bullock or agricultural machinery, or establishing poultry or dairy farms. Some special programmes are also being undertaken for landless and marginal farmers and rural women. In the year 1999/2000, a total of Tk 1.23 billion was disbursed as collateral free microcredit to finance 17 such special programmes. All the programmes aim at alleviating poverty, and cover 25% of the total agricultural credit distributed by the government, while crop production claims 60%. The Rate of interest for loans under these programmes ranges from 10 to 15%.

Though a good portion of the agricultural loan earmarked by the government remain undistributed every year (Tk 2.64 billion and 4.79 billion in 1998/99 and 1999/2000, respectively), many needy farmers are not able to avail of loans because of clumsy procedures and the collateral problem. Moreover, damage of crops due to natural calamities and irresponsible use of credit sometimes make debtor peasants bankrupt. As a result the non-repayment of agricultural credit (Tk 65.25 billion on 30 June 2000) has emerged as a great national problem.

Established in 1983, grameen bank began a non-conventional microcredit programme to provide collateral-free loans to the impoverished. The borrowers are required to join the bank in self-formed groups of five. If a member fails to repay a loan, all members risk having their line of credit suspended or reduced. Group members provide one another with mutual assistance and advice to ensure individual repayment. Although, Grameen Bank charges a rate of interest higher than other banks, it has emerged as a successful model of rural development, incorporating agriculture and other income generating activities and subsiding the usual problem of loan defaults. Under the micro-credit programmes of the Grameen Bank its clients, mostly women, are getting involved in small businesses like rearing poultry or dairy cattle, pisciculture, horticulture or cottage industries, and are becoming self-reliant. Many other NGOs have also undertaken similar microcredit programme. Grameen Bank and three prominent NGOs, brac, asa and proshika had distributed Tk 39.15 billion in 1999/2000 and recovered an outstanding loan of Tk 39.43 billion during the same year. Loans outstanding on the balance of these organisations totaled Tk 2.5 billion in June 2000.

Private banks, both local and foreign, are also now granting agricultural credit. Total loans disbursed by local private banks during 1994/95 was Tk 518.70 million. The amount rose to 2.5 billion in 1999/2000. The figures on agricultural loan provided by foreign banks were Tk 441.20 million in 1998/99 and Tk 3.71 billion in 1999/2000. In addition, professional cooperative associations granted loan to members out of their own savings. These cooperatives are Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank, Union Multipurpose Co-operative Societies, Fishermen Co-operative Societies, Sugarcane Growers Co-operative Societies, Agricultural Co-operative Societies (Dept.), Agricultural Co-operative Societies (BRDB), Milk Co-operative Societies, Landless Farmer Co-operative Societies, Khamar (Farm) Co-operative Societies, Oil Producer Co-operative Societies, Pan (Betel leaf) Cultivator Co-operative Societies, and Groundnut Co-operative Societies. The loans disbursed by these cooperatives to their 5.22 million members amounted to about Tk 9.8 billion in 1996/97.

Formulated in 1999, the National Agricultural Policy has attached due emphasis to the availability of institutional agricultural credit in time, to activating national, district, upazila and union level committees, and to simplifying the credit disbursement system. Banks and financial institutions have been asked to maintain a balance between simplification strategy and credit recovery and to ensure recovery of the disbursed credit.

Agricultural marketing The mechanism to reach agricultural products, inputs and services to target groups, including producers, consumers and intermediaries. A huge number of people are engaged in the marketing of agricultural products like rice, jute, vegetables, fruits, cattle, milk, poultry, eggs and fish. The history of agricultural marketing is as old as agriculture. Exchange of commodities had been prevalent in Bengal's agrarian society but the reinforcement of cash economy during British rule made agricultural marketing easier and eliminated many of the problems of conversion. As peasants are very responsive to the fluctuations of market prices of crops, the cropping patterns of an area depend to a great extent on the marketing of crops. From time immemorial, farmers were found shifting their priorities regarding selection of crops and in assessing their comparative profitability. Cotton was a promising crop of Bengal during the seventeenth and eighteenth century because Bengal at that time was one of the world's major exporters of textiles. But cotton started losing its market with a decline in textile exports since the early nineteenth century and cotton production came down to a very low level towards the mid-nineteenth century.

Indigo was another produce to emerge with a significant potential at one point but failed to hold the market for long. Cultivation of indigo declined since the 1850s, when, the native crop jute began capturing market to become a major cash crop of Bengal. Jute is still a major crop of Bangladesh involving large number of people in its marketing and manufacturing, but it is not as profitable produce now as it was in the past. The British rulers, in view of its strained relation with China, encouraged the cultivation of two import substitution crops, tea and opium during the first half of nineteenth century. Though tea has continued to be profitable since then, opium was replaced by profitable alternatives like oilseeds, cereals and potato just after the sepoy revolt (1857). Sugarcane was a profitable crop for a long time but was threatened by the rapid growth of the sugar industry in Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century.

As most farm families in Bangladesh own very limited land, they grow just enough crops to meet their own needs. About 53% households of the country having 0.05-2.49 acres of land produce at the subsistence level. Major contributors in the supply of agricultural produce in the market are the medium (2.5-7.49 acres) and large (7.50 acres and above) farmers, who are only 11.7% and 1.7% of the farming community respectively. The institutional network to deal with marketing of even major commodities such as rice, jute, cotton, sugarcane and tea is not adequate in the country. The Department of Food, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, sugar mills and the Cotton Board maintain their own purchase centres. But most agricultural produces reach consumers through various types of middlemen. The Department of Agricultural Marketing, a government agency, has the responsibility of ensuring fair prices of agricultural commodities for both buyers and consumers. The department has a total manpower of 375 and advises the government in this regard. The agricultural produces exported from Bangladesh include prawns and shrimps, tea, raw jute, vegetables, and spices. The country received $133 million from exports of these items during 1998/99. Agriculture based manufactured commodities like jute goods, raw hides and skins, leather and leather manufacture, and frozen foods also constitute a good portion of the country's export trade.

In its agricultural policy announced in 1999, the government of Bangladesh came up with various strategies for the development of agricultural marketing. Emphasis was laid on establishing a proper marketing network to facilitate timely marketing of farm produce. The policy also identified certain steps to reduce the control of middlemen and to ensure fair prices of crops for both growers and consumers. The agricultural policy, first of its kind in the country, had pleaded for the development of agricultural industries that was neglected during the periods under British and Pakistan rule.

To the British, Bengal was just a supplier of raw materials as well as a readymade market for their manufactured goods. The commercial value of an agricultural commodity at one time, therefore, varied depending on its usefulness to the British manufacturers. The Pakistani rulers took initiative for the agriculture based industrialization but those industries were set up to serve the interest of urban groups, and not farmers. At that time, compulsory procurement of rice at below market prices and imposition of excessive taxes on the export of jute was bitterly criticized. The East Pakistan Agricultural Development Corporation (now bangladesh agricultural development corporation/BADC), established during the 1960s, played a pioneering role in the distribution of agricultural inputs. Seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and agricultural machinery procured under government control were distributed to district and thana level licensed dealers who delivered these items to the farmers at a government-determined price while their income was established as a pre-fixed commission. These policies of marketing of agricultural produces as well as inputs were changed drastically after the independence. During the last three decades, the government winded up control and shifted to an open market economy and encouraged private initiatives in the procurement and distribution of agricultural inputs and food grains. Export led industries are now being favoured to compete in the international market. To support local entrepreneurs, the government is encouraging imports of various inputs and equipment relating to poultry and dairy industries, but not milk and other dairy products. [M Saifullah]

Agricultural policy A set of pre-decided principles to be followed through planned and systematic manipulation of natural resources like soil and water for the sustained development of agriculture. Agriculture was the main source of government income in Bengal from the ancient period but the rulers of ancient, medieval, and the British periods paid very little attention to the development of agriculture. Agriculture in Bengal got an institutional framework with the introduction of the permanent settlement during British rule. Under the permanent settlement zamindars became proprietors of the land against payment of a fixed annual amount of land tax on a regular basis. The law barred zamindars from appealing for remission or suspension of taxes on the ground of any natural calamity and stipulated that in the case of a zamindar's failure to pay the tax in due time, his estate would be sold in auctions. The Permanent Settlement was designed to enhance agricultural output with the help and supervision of zamindars. This objective, however, was rarely fulfilled.

Repeated famines and an acute shortfall of income from land revenue ultimately forced the British government to form a number of commissions and committees, which forwarded various recommendations for the development of Bengal's agriculture. These included abolition of the permanent settlement, scaling down the volume of debts to the repaying capacities of the indebted families, allowing sharecroppers to retain two-thirds of their produce, building up necessary infrastructure for agricultural education, research, training and extension, launching co-operative movement, etc. A number of important organisations and institutions were established as a result of the implementation of some of these recommendations. Among these are the Cooperative Credit Movement (1904), Department of Agriculture (1906), Agricultural Research Laboratory (1908), Debt Settlement Board (1936) and Bengal Agricultural Institute (1938).

The Permanent Settlement was abolished by the State Acquisition Act of 1950 during the Pakistan Period when cultivators were given proprietary rights on the land they cultivated. The Pakistan government, however, paid little attention to agriculture largely, because an urban groups dominated in the policy formulating bodies and the economic policy formulation was dominated by the import-substituting industrialisation paradigm. The East Pakistan Agricultural Development Corporation (now BADC) and the East Pakistan Agricultural Bank (Now Bangladesh Krishi Bank, BKB) were established during the early 1960's with the mandate of subsiding distribution of inputs (seed, fertiliser, pesticide, agricultural machinery, etc) and providing credit to farmers at concessional rates. The Comilla approach also emerged as an acclaimed model of integrated rural development. These newly established institutions played a vital role in boosting agricultural production through the adoption of the seed-water-fertiliser technology launched by the government during the mid-1960s. But, compulsory procurement of rice at below market prices and imposition of excessive taxes on the export of raw jute frustrated growers considerably.

Agricultural inputs policy The policy of supplying agricultural inputs to farmers at highly subsidised rates continued in Bangladesh during the first few years after independence. The government however, soon adopted a policy of gradually shifting to laissez-faire economy and curtailed the monopoly of BADC. Between 1971 and 1981 the use of fertiliser (kg/ha) in the country increased from 11.0 to 30.9; land under the mechanized method of irrigation rose from 3.8% to 11%; and cultivated area covered the high yielding varieties of rice and wheat grew from 2.5% to 22.7%. The price subsidy provided by the government for all fertilisers was 68% in 1973/74 but decreased to 47% in 1979/80 and was fully withdrawn after 1980. But following an acute crisis of urea in 1994/95, the government intervened in open market operations and allowed BADC to distribute fertiliser through select dealers. The government also provided a fixed price support for fertilisers. At the same time, the government policy of lifting restrictions and taxes (fully and partially) from import of irrigation machinery proved very conducive to the expansion of irrigation.

Policy changes also included allowing private sector participation in minor irrigation, withdrawal of restrictions on imports of wheat and rice by private traders, and innovations in open tendering for government procurement of rice. Disbursement of micro-credit, rescheduling of agricultural loans of indebted farmers, remission of land taxes for holdings up to 25 bighas, crop diversification programmes and special programmes for disaster-stricken farmers were other major steps adopted to boost agricultural production. These policy measures appear to have had a positive contribution in improving the food situation in Bangladesh. As a result foodgrain production in the country increased to 24.3 million m tons in 1999/2000, matching the annual consumption requirement of its 130 million population.

The government of Bangladesh announced a National Agriculture Policy in April 1999. The overall objective of the policy was to attain self-reliance in crop production. It outlined the strategy for development of crop agriculture, the dominant sub-sector that gives three-fourths of the contribution of agriculture to the country's GDP and about one-fourth of its aggregate GDP. At present, paddy covers about 75% of the cultivated area in Bangladesh. Such a single-crop dominated production system is not acceptable from the economic, environmental, or nutritional point of view. The new agriculture policy has, therefore, stressed crop diversification programmes for improving the nutritional status in the country. The National Agriculture Policy also aimed at improving seed distribution programme of BADC and ensuring fulfilment of at least 10% of the total demand by BADC supplies. In the light of the prevailing seed rules, the private sector will continue to retain opportunities for production, import and marketing of seeds side by side with the public sector. The already introduced seed buffer stock system will continue to ensure normal supply of seeds of major crops at the time of natural calamities.

According to the National Agricultural Policy, distribution of fertilisers in the private sector will continue, but the public sector will import fertilisers, if necessary, to ensure its supply and availability in time. Use of balanced fertilisers in order to maintain proper soil quality has also been highlighted. Moreover, efforts will be made to increase irrigated area and reduce irrigation cost by promoting appropriate technology. The policy also expressed its commitment to the mechanization of agriculture as well as to providing credit facilities for the purpose. To ensure environment-friendly and sustainable agriculture, integrated pest management (IPM) will be the main policy for controlling pests and diseases. Farmers will be motivated to use mechanical, cultural and biological methods in controlling pests. Use of any chemical pesticide harmful to the environment will be discouraged and eventually banned. To ensure fair prices for both growers and consumers, the marketing system will be improved. Agro-processing and agro-based industries will be encouraged. Efforts will be made to increase the export of agricultural commodities. The Agricultural policy also focussed on a two-dimensional agricultural research management programme: one with low cost appropriate technologies for small, marginal, and medium farmers, including women, with a view to resolving their identified problems and the other, utilizing applied research resulting form adoption of advanced research methodology. As envisaged by the policy, the government will take necessary steps to update the agricultural system in the light of the agreement on agriculture under WTO, SAFTA and other international treaties, while, at the same time protecting the national interest.

Livestock development policy Formulated in 1992, the livestock development policy, the first of its kind, is being followed by the government for the development of the livestock sub-sector which contributes 6.5% of GDP. It has proposed various steps for the extension of poultry and animal husbandry as a means of self-employment as well as income-generation in rural areas. With a view to ensuring sufficient supply of protein diet, the livestock policy has laid emphasis on attaining self-reliance in the production of milk, meat and egg within the shortest possible time. The strategies that have been underscored in the policy to achieve the objectives are importing high yielding breeds, improving local breeds through cross breeding, encouraging small-scale diary and poultry farms, imparting training and providing all necessary inputs, including credit. In line with the policy, exporting milk and other dairy products are being discouraged while imports of various inputs and equipment relating to poultry and dairy industries are being encouraged to support local entrepreneurs. As indicated in the policy, the Department of Livestock Services, through its field level offices, is implementing various programmes like artificial insemination, vaccination, treatment, feed and fodder production and training. Other governmental agencies, NGOs, people's representatives, and religious leaders have also been engaged in these programmes. The policy has also given priority to the expansion of education and research in related fields.

The national fisheries policy Announced in 1998, this policy stressed scientific management of water bodies that include 1.4 million ponds and a large number of other seasonal submerged areas covering nearly 4.86 million ha and the 225 km long coastal area of the Bay of Bengal. Pointing out the potentiality of fisheries as a source of animal protein as well as in rural employment and poverty alleviation, the comprehensive policy has laid emphasis on the availability of inputs like fish fries, feed and credit. Any private initiative in this regard, working in tandem with government efforts, has been encouraged in the policy. The Department of Fisheries, in cooperation with local governmental organisations and NGOs, will train people in pisciculture. Pisciculture demonstration farms will also be set up throughout the country to motivate them. Open water bodies and paddy fields will be brought under pisciculture during the monsoons. Various acts have been enacted for the development of fish resources including imposing restrictions on fishing with current nets, catching fish fries, and egg bearing fishes, and acquisition of fallow ponds. The National Fisheries Policy has also assured support for the development of an export- oriented shrimp industry and semi-intensive shrimp culture without disturbing the mangrove environment.

National forest policy This was formulated in Bangladesh for the first time in 1979 and amended in 1994 to keep pace with the changed situation. A major objective of the National Forest Policy 1994 is to combat environmental degradation following rapid destruction of forest areas which is, at present, actually 5-6% of the total area of the country only, although official statistics claim it as 12-14% by including denuded and degraded forests. The amended forest policy has stressed an all-out effort to increase forest areas to 20% of the land area of the country by 2015. As the minimum forest areas required for the sound ecology of the country cannot be met by the rehabilitation of denuded and degraded forest lands, the forest policy has attempted to spread plantation programmes throughout the country by launching a massive social movement. In addition to regular afforestation programmes, waves approaches like social forestry and agroforesty will also be undertaken. Emphasis has also been given to planting various fast-growing species. Moreover, a green belt is being developed in coastal areas of the country to save people from natural disasters like tidal bores and floods. Plantation is also going on in the fallow lands around public, private and social institutions, roadsides and sides of railway and embankments. According to the policy, social and public organisations and NGOs as well as the participation of the people has to be ensured in these programmes. The involvement of the people will be on a profit-sharing basis and these programmes will not only grow and protect trees but also help employment and income generation. Priority has also been given on developing state-owned reserved and protected forests for maintaining biodiversity. [Abu Abdullah and M Saifullah]

Agricultural education and research

Education Agricultural education constitutes an important element of the agricultural research and development process. Bangladesh has benefited from early and strong educational resources, beginning with the founding of the Bengal Agricultural Institute at Dhaka in 1938. At that time it was the only college for higher education in agriculture in the province of Bengal and was established on the recommendation of the Royal Agriculture Commission. It had a concurrent status as the Faculty of Agriculture of the Dhaka University. However, the Bangladesh Agricultural Institute (BAI) is at present affiliated with the bangladesh agricultural university (BAU) and gives degrees in Agriculture covering only crops.

Agricultural education, particularly higher agricultural education, has gone through on evolutionary process. BAI used to give degrees in two parts: BSc (Agriculture) degree of two years, covering only the basic sciences, and BAg degree of two years, covering the applied sciences. Later, a 3-year BAg degree was introduced in 1945. Finally, a 4-year BSc (Ag) course was introduced after BAI was affiliated w