The agricultural budget allocation for FY 2026-27 offers little to write home about. While it maintains a steady flow of resources and introduces minor tax adjustments to curb soaring food prices, it largely sticks to the status quo.
The usual provisions -- farm subsidies, credit waivers, fresh credit targets, and direct cash assistance via farmer cards -- are all intact. Yet, this traditional playbook begs a critical question: Why has agricultural growth remained stubbornly stagnant over the past few years?
Unlike the health and education sectors, agriculture saw no significant increase in its funding share within the national budget proposal placed in parliament earlier this month. Beyond the stagnant numbers, the budget lacks a transformative vision. It fails to unlock the true potential of a sector that could offer Bangladesh far more than just staple rice autarky.
Unlocking agricultural potential requires a fundamental shift in policy. Currently, the lion's share of Bangladesh’s agricultural spending is swallowed by recurrent subsidies -- primarily for fertilizer.
Conversely, long-term drivers of productivity and employment remain severely underfunded. These include agricultural research, extension services, market systems, food safety, water management, climate resilience, and the infrastructure needed to connect smallholders to high-value markets.
Policy planners seem to take it for granted that agriculture -- Bangladesh’s largest private sector, powered by the grueling labour of 18 million farming households -- will automatically thrive on routine budgetary support.
It is high time they reconsider. A sector that employs nearly half the national workforce and contributes over a tenth of the GDP demands an immediate, exhaustive review. Without it, we cannot tap into its unrealized potential.
Furthermore, a structural review is essential to answer critical socio economic paradoxes.
Why does a country with abundant human resources, particularly educated youth, suffer from acute farmhand shortages during peak harvesting seasons?
And why do so many jobless young Bangladeshis risk their lives in the Mediterranean to reach Europe when opportunities could be built at home?
Agriculture is also the backbone of female employment, absorbing roughly 58% of all working women. Historically, agricultural growth has been the most potent weapon against poverty in Bangladesh, accounting for 69% of total poverty reduction between 2005-2010, 28% from 2010-2016, and 46% between 2016-2022.
The last time Bangladesh conducted a comprehensive agriculture sector review was in the late 1980s. The subsequent policy reforms fueled a decades-long boom in productivity, providing immense relief to the national economy.
That momentum has run out. Current indicators show that the farm sector has plateaued and desperately needs a renewed policy push.
If we do not act, we will remain trapped in a cycle: Self-sufficient in rice, but entirely import-dependent for other essential cereals and non-cereal foods.
Annual fiscal budgets cannot solve structural stagnation. We need an immediate, holistic sector review to diagnose deep-seated inefficiencies and realign future funding.
The review must address several critical bottlenecks.
And so on and so forth.
Currently, land use in Bangladesh is unsustainably skewed toward low-productivity rice cultivation, choking off diversification.
Rice occupies about 72% of cultivated land and generates nearly 60% of total crop value. Meanwhile, high-value crops -- such as fruits, vegetables, and spices -- languish on less than 7% of cultivated land.
This is the direct result of a long-standing policy focus on rice self-sufficiency, propped up by fertilizer subsidies and public procurement.
While it successfully secured basic food security, it created a structural bias against nutrient-rich, high-value crops.
This bias has become incredibly costly.
Bangladesh's food import bill is ballooning as the country spends massive amounts of foreign exchange to import wheat, edible oil, and spices.
A sector review would provide the policy blueprint needed to safely transition select lands from rice to high-value, economically-lucrative crops.
The budget outlay for livestock and fisheries is equally discouraging. These high-potential subsectors deserve far better.
If Bangladesh can unlock its untapped dairy potential for example, it can substitute millions of dollars’ worth of imported milk products with homegrown alternatives.
In the fisheries sector, ilish alone contributes 10% of total fish production and accounts for 1% of the national GDP. While there has been plenty of rhetoric surrounding marine fisheries and the "blue economy" over the years, there has been very little progress in turning these resources into actual export revenues.
On the input side, while the budget addresses import taxes on certain fertilizers and pesticides, the seed sector requires much closer attention. Private sector-driven hybridization of rice and vegetable seeds triggered tremendous growth in the late 1990s; replicating that success requires deliberate policy backing today.
Shortcomings in the annual agricultural budget can easily be compensated for by long-term strategic policy shifts. Bangladesh must move away from its rigid, rice-centric land-use patterns, minimize existing yield gaps, and aggressively support the livestock and fisheries sectors.
Finally, the government must rationalize chemical fertilizer use and actively promote bio-pesticides and nano-pesticides to replace the hazardous, high-volume chemical imports currently degrading our soil.
Reaz Ahmad is Editor, Dhaka Tribune.
