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"Higher agricultural productivity is an important component of the rural development strategy for raising farm income; reducing poverty and making Bangladeshi agriculture more competitive in the global market”, states a soon-to-be launched report by the World Bank titled “Revitalizing Agricultural Technology System in Bangladesh”. The study is based on extensive one-to-one and group consultations with various stakeholders, including researchers, scientists, extension specialists, NGOs, agro-processing enterprises, farmers and government officials.

Aided by the research of several national and international agricultural research institutions, Bangladesh achieved self-sufficiency in food, particularly rice - a major milestone in reducing poverty in the country. This was made possible by the ‘green revolution’ technology. The current agricultural technology system of Bangladesh, however, is unable to effectively generate, transfer and promote the use of modern technology to increase agricultural productivity and meet the changing needs of farmers. A dynamic agricultural technology system is vital to ensure national food security and reduce poverty in the face of declining agricultural land base and increasing population. However, the continuing recent trend in agricultural research and extension will have a detrimental impact on the agricultural sector. Among the barriers to an effective national agricultural technology system are low levels of government spending on agricultural research and the inability of agricultural research institutes to generate relevant modern agricultural technology.

One major constraint to higher agricultural productivity is the low level of government expenditure on agricultural research. At present, the expenditure is only about 0.2% of Agricultural GDP, compared to 0.6% for other developing countries and over 2% for developed countries. The following graph depicts this reducing trend:

Although aggregate spending on agricultural research and extension appears to have increased slightly, it is mostly due to an increase in spending on agricultural extension (ie, the transfer of technology to farmers).

The wide range of recommendations in the study include areas for institutional reforms of the national agricultural research and extension system, ways to increase funding and exploring opportunities for growth of commercial high value agricultural products (such as fruits, vegetables, fish and poultry).

As far as the national agriculture research system (NARS) is concerned, the World Bank has proposed the following reforms that will strengthen the system to address the emerging challenges in the global context. These are:

i)        Institutional Reforms for Enhanced System Efficiency

ii)       Augmenting Research Funding

iii)     Strengthening Research Management

Institutional Reforms for Enhanced System Efficiency: Two options have been proposed in the report to enact institutional changes for greater autonomy of NARS, sustainability of funding and enhance relevance of research. Each option has its own pros and cons and will be weighed by the government before implementation. The report also recommends the need to rationalize research institutes, stations and sub-stations.

Augmenting Research Funding: The report proposes increase of spending on agricultural research to 0.6% of Agricultural GDP. In addition, the report proposes the implementation of Competitive Grants Program (CGP) to finance short to medium term research as well as to diversify funding sources.

Strengthening Research Management: The study stresses on the need to prioritize agriculture research and re-evaluate existing research plans by taking into account government policies, particularly the PRSP. The study proposes that ministries should examine ways of enhancing access to new sciences (including information technology and biotechnology) crucial for achieving competitiveness in the global market.