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Bangladesh leaves 56 per cent of agricultural land below productivity trajectory while only 1.2 per cent catches up desired level of production with the highest output, although the country meets food deficit with imports.
An official survey shows such stark paradox in farmland productivity and food insecurity in many agro-households across the country.
The country's 44.37 per cent of farmlands are at the desired and acceptable level of productivity while 55.63 per cent are still under unsustainable level in terms of their annual output value per hectare, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) survey divulges.
The report on its findings, published Monday, further shows the agricultural lands in the urban areas are on the highest level of un-productivity, accounting for 65.48 per cent, compared to the rural areas (54.78 per cent).
Meanwhile, the wage structures among the agricultural workers "are still in a shambles as 39.88 per cent of them don't get paid even at the level of country standard", the BBS report reads.
The nation's statistical agency conducted the 'Productive and Sustainable Agriculture Survey 2025' with samples taken from 15,600 agricultural households and 722 farms across the country.
The BBS survey unveils that the lands in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Mymensingh divisions are "in a better position in productivity and risk-mitigation factors" compared to the rest of the divisions across Bangladesh.
In the above-mentioned category, the sustainability rates in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Mymensingh divisions are 78.96 per cent, 85.55 per cent, 69.54 per cent and 70.95 per cent respectively-higher than the national average of 69.16 per cent.
According to the survey, Bangladesh's farmers are very much bent on utilising pesticides and fertilisers.
It shows 43.05-percent farmers still use fertilisers without maintaining proper guideline while 48.63 per cent use pesticides in more than a desired level.
The farmers in Mymensingh division use the highest level of fertilisers at 64.05 per cent while Rangpur runs high on pesticide usages at a 63.78-percent rate.
On the other hand, the farmers in Rajshahi and Chittagong divisions use the lowest doses of pesticides at 35.82 per cent and 35.18 per cent.
The rate of fertiliser use is lower in Rangpur and Sylhet divisions (32.79 per cent and 30.53 per cent).
According to the findings, 28.95 per cent of farmers are still not maintaining agro-biodiversity-supportive practices as they produce only one crop in the same land every year.
"A total of 18.34 per cent of agricultural lands still do not get water supply properly as the country's irrigation system still fails to cover them," says the report.
In terms of soil degradation, 27.25 per cent of the agricultural households belong to those lands where more than 50-percent agricultural soils are degrading annually.
On the food-security scale, the BBS shows an overwhelming 81.11 per cent of agro-households have mild food insecurity, 17.72-percent HHs have "acceptable food insecurity" and 1.17-percent HHs are in severe food insecurity.
The country had to import 4.93 million metric tonnes of food-grains under public and private sectors in the financial year 2022-23 to feed the people who do not have enough.
The report-launching ceremony was addressed by Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Aleya Akter, its Additional Secretary Masud Rana Chowdhury, Agriculture Ministry Additional Secretary Mahbubul Haque Patwary and BBS Project Director Md Rafiqul Islam. BBS Director- General Mizanur Rahman chaired the function.
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