Bangladesh needs to prioritise agricultural marketing and labour productivity while agricultural productivity needs a raise as it is one of the best proven ways to hasten structural transformation.
The observation emerged from a policy dialogues titled “Bangladesh’s Agriculture and Structural Transformation” convened by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in association with the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme (DEGRP) on Thursday, 20 February 2014 to discuss challenges and solutions for economic transformation and growth.
The dialogue held at 3:00 pm at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka brought together international experts and national policy makers to discuss how agriculture contributes to economic transformation in Bangladesh.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director, CPD delivered the introductory speech at the dialogue chaired by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, CPD.
Keynote Presenter Dr Stephen Wiggins, Research Fellow, Agricultural Development and Policy, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), UK argued against common misperceptions such as ‘agricultural productivity is stagnant, and is difficult to raise‘. He rather stressed that almost all developments were preceded by agricultural revolution and agricultural productivity can, in fact, grow faster than the manufacturing sector.
Resources”
- Agriculture & Structural Transformation
Dr Stephen Wiggins, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) - Backdrop of the event
Chief Guest Mr A H M Mustafa Kamal, MP, Hon’ble Minister for Planning, Government of Bangladesh shed light into some of the measures taken by the government along with future plans in this regard.
Distinguished Discussants Dr Quazi Shahabuddin, Professorial Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dhaka and Dr Sajjad Zohir, Research Director, Economic Research Group (ERG), Dhaka reflected over Bangladesh’s developments and lapses in the area of agriculture in reaching the anticipated agricultural productivity required for structural transformation.
Special Guest, Dr M Osman Farruk, Former Education Minister for Bangladesh, said that Bangladesh has already made a number of structural transformations from its previous status as an agriculture-based economy. He observed that GDP growth is not the only means to transition into middle-income country as there are other factors to consider, including Gini co-efficient, export growth etc for a country like Bangladesh. He stressed upon developing knowledge-based economy; macroeconomic interventions to produce higher value crops for higher value in market; and producing researchers and scientists for a quantum shift in Bangladesh economy.
During the open session, discussants shared perspectives on recent developments in Bangladesh’s agriculture as well as policy perspectives on contemporary issues such as digitisation of land management; producing disaster-resilient crops to resolve challenges for the farmers; need of technology for structural transformation; agricultural marketing to facilitate production and harvesting; adjusting prices according to international markets and raising productivity by cutting the unit cost down etc.
The open discussion was addressed by Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, an eminent economist and Advisor to Former Caretaker Government; Dr Shamsul Alam. Member, General Economics Division (GED). Planning Commission; Professor Dr Md Rafiqul Hoque, Vice-Chancellor, Bangladesh Agricultural University; Dr Momtaz Uddin Ahmed and Dr M M Akash, Professors of Economics, University of Dhaka, among others.
The event welcomed rigorous open discussion and was widely attended by journalists from print and electronic media.
