An IFPRI working paper drawing upon a BIDS-IFPRI research.

Wahiduddin Mahmud, Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Sajjad Zohir

This study is aimed at outlining the policies and issues of crop diversification that are likely to influence the growth and sustainabi 1 ity of agri cultura 1 product i on in Bangl adesh. Crop agri culture currently accounts for more than one-fourth of the gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices and nearly 60 percent of the commodity production in the economy. The crop sector is dominated by rice, which alone now accounts for nearly 70 percent of the gross farm revenue from crop production. For the nearly two decades under review (1973-90), the growth in crop agri culture has been predomi nantl y 1 ed by foodgra ins, mostly rice. As the country now appears to be approaching self-sufficiency in rice, questions have been raised about the sustainability of rice-led agricultural growth (see, for example, World Bank 1991). The success in accelerating rice production may have thus brought new challenges and opportunities to make agriculture more efficient and more flexible. It is in this context that the issue of crop diversification needs to be addressed as part of the broader agricultural development strategy.