11.33pc Bangladeshi households ‘absolutely landless’: BBS

The preliminary report of the sixth agricultural census 2019 on Sunday revealed that 11.33 per cent of the households do not possess any land.

Jafor Ahmed Khan, project director of agriculture (crops, fisheries and livestock) Census 2018, BBS, said out of total 3,55,33,180 households, 40,24,189 are ‘absolutely landless’, which means they do not own land. In the urban areas, 28.79 per cent households are landless. The percentage is 7.86 in rural areas.

“Dhaka division has the highest percentage (18.64%) of landless households followed by Sylhet and Khulna with 13.61 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively,” he said at the unveiling ceremony of the report at Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics auditorium in the capital.

The census was carried out throughout the country between 9 and 20 June 2019.

Jafor said they will publish the detailed report within the next one year.

According to the preliminary report, 46.61 per cent of the total is agriculture farm households. Among the rural and urban households, the share of agriculture household is 53.82 per cent and 10.46 per cent respectively. Besides, 4.52 per cent households have land under fisheries.

The preliminary report found 18,92,62,901 poultry in the country. Of them, 1,81,18,825 were in rural areas and 80,74,076 in urban areas. The number of cattle was put at 2,84,87,415 and goats at 1,92,87,413.

There are 7,18,411 buffaloes, 8,92,628 sheep, 18,92,62,901 chicken and 6,75,29,210 ducks in the country, according to the report.

Planning minister MA Mannan said the BBS is a very important institution.

“We want accurate data from BBS. So it has to be more technical and science-based institution,” he said, adding that BBS will work with all ministries concerned to obtain accurate information.

“There is no alternative to accurate data,” he said.

Agriculture contributes 13.31 per cent to the country’s GDP. Around 40 per cent people are directly and indirectly involved in this sector.

The census was conducted as per the guideline of World Programme for the Census of Agriculture-2020 (WCA 2020) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

BBS director general Mohammad Tajul Islam and its secretary of the statistics and information management department Sourendra Nath Chakraborty, agriculture ministry secretary Nasiruzzaman and fisheries and livestock ministry secretary Raisul Alam Mandal, among others, spoke.