Experts blame increased production cost, reduction of farmland and slow pace of automation Eiahia Nakib In order to ensure food security for a growing population, the government has set a target to double the rice productivity by 2030 as compared to 2015. Despite taking different initiatives, the production cannot be enhanced as expected. Even worse, the growth rate of rice has now gone down below the annual rate of population increase.
According to information detailed in ‘Sample Vital Statistics – 2023’ compiled by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the rate of natural increase (RNI) of population in the country in 2023 was 1.33 percent. This was 1.
4 percent in 2022. As per the census, the average population growth rate was 1.12 percent.
But, analyzing the data of Agriculture Ministry, it was found that growth of rice production in last three fiscal years was below 1 percent. For the slow pace of growth in rice production, experts put the blame on reduction of cultivable land and non-inclusion of new workforce in the agriculture sector. They are of the opinion that structural changes are taking place rapidly in the agriculture sector.
Arable land is declining. People are leaning to other crops due to production cost increase and absence of the right price of paddy. And, the pace of automation in agriculture is being slowed down owing to the instability with respect to exchange rate of dollar.
Due to this volatility, people are not being able to take the advantage .