Dynamics of Rural Growth in Bangladesh: Sustaining Poverty Reduction

Abstract

This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved.

Too small to be beautiful? The farm size and productivity relationship in Bangladesh

“…Research Institute (IFPRI) estimates, Gautam and Faruqee (2016) note that agricultural TFP in Bangladesh grew at an average annual rate of about 2.7 percent between 1995 and 2011. 5 During this period, Bangladesh was among the better performers in the world, comparable to China and better than the star performers in East Asia (Figure 2).…”

“…This partial or unconditional land productivity measure was supplanted by conditional productivity, an approach that controls for other factors using a production function (see Barrett et al 2010;Gaurav and Mishra, 2015;and Yamauchi, 2016). While conceptually superior to a partial productivity Source: Gautam and Faruqee 20161995-11 2005-11 BGD 1995-11 BGD 2005-11 Figure 2: Agriculture Total Factor Productivity Growth: Bangladesh and Selected Countries, 1995-2011 5 measure, a standard production function specification ignores the relationship between farm size and technical efficiency, which may or may not be in the same direction on the production frontier (Kagin et al,201h6). More worrisome is the potential bias in parameter estimates by ignoring unobserved farm heterogeneity or other variables correlated with technical efficiency, which may lead to an erroneous conclusion on the IR.…”

Agricultural Microcredit for Tenant Farmers: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Bangladesh

“…About 70% of the total population of Bangladesh lives in rural areas where agriculture is the primary source of employment and income (Gautam and Faruqee 2016). Tenant farmers who rent land make up a large part of the farming system.…”

Bangladesh Poverty Assessment

“…The sector's growth in recent years was affected by negative weather shocks in 2012-13, which substantially reduced its overall growth rate. In addition, the moderation in real prices since 2010 has led to a slowing of growth in crops (Gautam and Faruqee 2016). The slowdown in agricultural growth also reflects a decreased growth rate in rice production, from 5.1 percent per year between 2005-2010 to 1.2 percent during 2010-2016.…”