Title: The determinants of agricultural growth in Bangladesh

Authors: Mohammad Abdul Munim Joarder

Addresses: Department of Economics, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh

Abstract: This paper makes an attempt to contribute to the literature of agricultural productivity in Bangladesh since 1961. The econometric results suggest that rapid adoption of green revolution technology, electricity consumption, literacy and credit have had a positive effect on agricultural productivity, whereas real exchange rate and weather have had negative effects. Effective access to agricultural credit programmes for the rural poor through efficient management system is a pro-poor strategy to generate income and alleviate poverty in Bangladesh. Price stability, as during the mid-1990s, has contributed to agricultural growth in Bangladesh. The negative impact of the agricultural labour force on agricultural value-added can be mitigated by opening up off-farm jobs in rural areas, or by setting up small-scale rural industrialisation through agro-based industry which will absorb the surplus labour. Agricultural product diversification is a necessary condition to minimise the heavy reliance on rice and to raise agricultural value-added.

Keywords: agricultural growth; green revolution; deregulation; HYV; high-yielding varieties; technological diffusion; procurement prices; terms of trade; Mundlak Cobb–Douglas production function; off-farm jobs; Bangladesh; agriculture; rural poor; poverty; rural areas; electricity consumption; literacy; agricultural credit; agricultural productivity; real exchange rate; weather; product diversification.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2011.040023

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2011 Vol.3 No.3, pp.313 - 335

Published online: 22 Apr 2015 *

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