AGRICULTURE OF BANGLADESH
Submitted to:
Asiquer Rahman
Submitted by:
Yakub Iqbal 2449 Rasel Mahmud 2464 Mahsinozzaman Shuva 2450 Mustafizur Rahman 2451 Nabila Munmun 2447 Shammi Akter 2418
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Submission Date: June 3, 2010
INTRODUCTION:
Agriculture remains the most important sector of Bangladeshi economy, contributing 19.6 percent to the national GDP and providing employment for 63 percent of the population. Agriculture in Bangladesh is heavily dependent on the weather, and the entire harvest can be wiped out in a matter of hours when cyclones hit the country. According to the World Bank, the total arable land in Bangladesh is 61.2 percent of the total land area (down from 68.3 percent in 1980). Farms are usually very small due to heavily increasing population, unwieldy land ownership, and inheritance regulations. The 3 main crops—rice, jute, and tea—have dominated agricultural exports for decades, although the rice is grown almost entirely for domestic consumption, while jute and tea are the main export earners. In addition to these products, Bangladeshi farmers produce sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, and various fruits and vegetables (sweet potatoes, bananas, pineapples, etc.) for the domestic market.
Tropical rainforest is important for maintaining the ecological balance in Bangladesh, and forestry contributes 1.9 percent to the GDP (1999-2000). The forest covers around 17 percent of the country's territory, or 2.5 million hectares (6.18 million acres). The timber is used by the construction industry as a source of building materials, by the printing industry as a source of materials to produce paper, and in the agricultural sector as a source of firewood. Commercial logging is limited to around 6.1 million cubic feet, and the government plans to plant more trees within the next 15 years.
Fishing is another