ABSTRACT
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in agriculture and the overall economy over the last four decades. Gross domestic product (GDP) has increased by about 20 times and agricultural GDP by five times. The number of persons engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries has increased from 16.4 million in 1983/84 to 25.7 million in 2010. Although the absolute value of agriculture has been increasing over time, its share is declining with the expansion of non-agriculture sectors (manufacturing and services) in both urban and rural areas. The share of agriculture in GDP declined to 15.1 percent in 2013/14 from 58.4 percent in 1973/74. The share of employment in agriculture declined to 47.3 percent of total employment in the country in 2010 from 51.7 percent in 2002/03. The labor-absorption capacity of the agriculture sector has weakened with the decline in per capita land availability. In spite of these new realities, agriculture is still very important in Bangladesh. With continued increase in population and rise in per capita income, demand for food and other agricultural commodities has been growing.
