Bangladesh is primarily an agrarian economy. Agriculture is the single leading producing division of economy since it comprises about 30% of the country’s GDP and employing around 60% of the total labor force. The performance of this sector has an irresistible impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment cohort, poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security.

 Meeting the nation’s food necessities remains the key-objective of the government and in recent years there has been considerable increase in grain production. However, due to calamities like flood, loss of food and cash crops is a chronic phenomenon which disrupts the continuing progress of the entire economy. Agricultural holdings in Bangladesh are commonly small. Through Cooperatives the use of modern machinery is progressively gaining popularity. Rice, Jute, Sugarcane, Potato, Pulses, Wheat, Tea and Tobacco are the principal crops. The crop sub-sector dominates the agriculture sector contributing about 72% of total production. Fisheries, livestock and forestry sub-sectors are 10.33%, 10.11% and 7.33% respectively.

Bangladesh is the major producer of World’s best Jute, which also branded as natural jute or raw jute. Rice being the staple food, its production is of major importance. Rice production stood at 20.3 million tons in 1996-97 fiscal years. Crop diversification program, credit, extension and research, and input allocation policies pursued by the government are yielding positive results. The country is now on the doorsill of attaining self-sufficiency in food grain production.

A plurality of Bangladeshis earns their living from agriculture. Although rice and jute are the primary crops, wheat is presumptuous greater importance. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh’s fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh’s labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production in spite of the often hostile weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilizers, and the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks. With 35.8 million metric tons produced in 2000, rice is Bangladesh’s main crop. National sales of the classes of insecticide used on rice, including granular carbofuran, synthetic pyrethroids, and malathion exceeded 13,000 tons of formulated product in 2003. The insecticides not only represent an environmental danger, but are a significant disbursement to poor rice farmers. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is functioning with various NGOs and international organizations to reduce insecticide use in rice.

In comparison to rice, wheat output in 1999 was 1.9 million metric tons. Population pressure continues to place a cruel burden on productive capacity, creating a food deficit, especially of wheat. Foreign support and commercial imports fill the gap. Underemployment remains a solemn problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh’s agricultural sector will be its ability to soak up additional manpower. Finding alternative sources of employment will continue to be a daunting problem for future governments, particularly with the rising numbers of landless peasants who already account for about half the rural labor force.