Agriculture-based households increase to 16.88 million: BBS

The number of agriculture-based households in the country has been increased to over 16.88 million while the cropping intensity has also been enhanced to 214, according to the report of the Agriculture Census-2019.

The report said the number of agriculture-based households in the rural areas is nearly 16.05 million while 833,000 in the urban areas. On the other hand, the cropping intensity in the rural areas is 214 while 207 in the urban areas.

The final report of the Agriculture Census-2019, published on Tuesday, showed that the number of agriculture-based households in the last Census in 2008 was 15.18 million while the cropping intensity was 173.

The final report of the latest agriculture Census was published at a function under the Agriculture (crops, fisheries and livestock) Census-2018 project.

Planning Minister MA Mannan spoke at the function as chief guest while State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam and Statistics and Informatics Division secretary Shahnaz Arefin spoke as special guests held at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in the capital city in afternoon.

Presided over by the BBS Director General Md. Motiar Rahman, project director Alauddin Al Azad made a power-point presentation on the findings of the Census.

The 5th Agriculture Census was conducted in the country from 9 June to 20 June, 2019. The previous four Agri Census were carried out in the country in 1977, in 1983-84, in 1996 and in 2008.

The latest Census report said that the number of total households in the country is over 35.55 million which was nearly 28.7 million as per the previous agriculture Census carried out in 2008.

The latest census showed that the total number of agriculture labour based on households in the country is 9.2 million while the fisheries-based household is nearly 1.22 million.

The latest census said that the total arable land in the country is 18.68 million acres which was nearly 19.1 million acres as per the previous agriculture Census in 2008.

Besides, the total barren land amounted to 244,000 acres which was 150,000 acres as per the previous census.

Speaking on the occasion, the planning minister suggested for conducting population and economic census in every alternate year. He also said that labour force survey should be conducted every year.

Mannan also stressed on enhancing the use of technology in all spheres of the operations of the BBS.

State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam underscored the need for conducting the agriculture census regularly so that the gap between one census to another census does not exceed the stipulated timeframe.

Shamsul Islam also said although agriculture now contributes to around 11.50 per cent of country’s GDP, but its contributions is enormous in terms of ensuring food security as country’s around 40 per cent of the workforce is being engaged in agriculture.

The state minister said Bangladesh was not affected largely during the pandemic while it was also the best performer in South Asian region due to the immediate announcement of the stimulus packages prioritising the agriculture sector.

He, however, said for conducting the agriculture census in every five years.

The latest agriculture census depicted that the total number of household chicken increased to over 199.40 million, ducks over 74.49 million, over cows 29.45 million, buffaloes 636,926 and goats nearly 19.45 million.

Besides, the latest census report said the land under Aush cultivation totaled nearly 2.46 million acres, under Aman cultivation totaled 11.97 million acres, under Boro cultivation totaled 11.06 million acres, under wheat cultivation totaled 820,000 acres, under Jute cultivation totaled 1.7 million acres, under potatoes cultivation totaled 1.10 million acres, under maize cultivation totaled nearly 1.08 million acres.

Apart from these, the number of tractors in the country increased to 178,000, power tillers increased to 355,000 while the crop harvesting machines to 916,000.

Earlier, the planning minister along with other guests unveiled the cover of the final report of the Agriculture Census-2019. Mannan also digitally inaugurated the Agriculture Directory Management System.