A file photo shows labourers husking paddy at a village on the outskirts of Dhaka. The contribution of the agriculture sector to the growth of the country’s gross domestic product continued to decrease in the current fiscal year because of the drop in production. — New Age photo

The contribution of the agriculture sector to the growth of the country’s gross domestic product continued to decrease in the current fiscal year because of the drop in production.
According to the Bangladesh Economic Survey, contribution of agriculture to GDP growth declined further to 19.29 per cent in FY2011-2012 from 20.01 per cent in FY2010-2011.
The contribution of agriculture to GDP growth was 33.07 per cent in 1980-81, and has been declining almost every year. In 2000-2001 the sector’s contribution was 25.03 per cent and in 2005-2006 21.29 per cent.
The survey, which was prepared by the finance ministry, showed the current financial year’s agricultural growth based on the provisional data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
It showed that agricultural growth in the current fiscal year declined to 2.53 per cent from 5.13 per cent in FY2010-2011.
According to the survey, agricultural growth was 3.14 per cent in 2000-2001 and it increased to 5.24 per cent in 2009-2010 before descending to the current level.
BBS officials last month said that the overall GDP growth of the country would be decreased to 6.32 per cent this fiscal year from 6.71 per cent last fiscal year because of the declining trend in agricultural contribution and agricultural growth.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue, in an analysis on Bangladesh’s macro-economy, said that decomposition of the GDP growth rates of FY11 and FY12 show that of the 6.3 per cent overall growth (FY12), only 0.5 per cent will be contributed by the agriculture sector. The contribution was 1.0 per cent in FY2010-11.
The fall in the agriculture sector’s contribution to the GDP was more than the overall decline in the GDP growth (0.4 per cent).
The CPD, however, said that the growth in the agriculture sector may be revised upward once this financial year ends in June, in view of higher than expected production of Boro rice.
Finance minister AMA Muhith also opposed the BBS’s estimate of agricultural growth, saying that its report was prepared before the harvest of Boro.
Farmers’ leaders, however, said that the agricultural growth this year would be lower than last year as the acreage of different crops was not increased as expected in the outgoing fiscal year.
‘Farmers were frustrated this year as they incurred losses after producing bumper crops in the last two years. They did not get fair prices for their produce,’ said Bangladesh Krishok Samity’s general secretary, Sajjad Zahir Chandan, on Monday.
The contribution of the industrial sector in the GDP, however, continued to increase in the current fiscal year.
The sector’s contribution grew to 31.26 per cent in FY 2011-2012 from 30.38 per cent in FY 2010-2011.
The contribution of the service sector in the GDP declined slightly to 49.45 per cent in FY 12 from 49.60 per cent in FY 11.