More than half of Bangladesh's agri land economically unsustainable: BBS survey

Nearly 56% of Bangladesh's agricultural land is classified as unsustainable in terms of 'farm output value per hectare,' which suggests over a half of the country's farm land is not yielding optimal economic returns, says a Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) survey.

Of over 44% farm land classified as productive and sustainable, only a paltry 1.20% land has achieved the 'desired' level of sustainability while 43.17% is rated 'acceptable' in terms of sustainable productivity.

This means more efforts are still required to bring a vast portion of the country's agricultural land under sustainable farming– from land ownership, farm output, net farm income to use of fertilisers, pesticides and water and soil degradation.

'The Productive and Sustainable Agriculture Survey 2025' is the first of its kind conducted by BBS in January-March period to measure what proportion of the country's farm land area is used for sustainable and productive farming– a key component of UN's sustainable development goal (SDG)-2 that projects zero hunger through productive and resilience agriculture.

The BBS survey findings released today (30 June) speak of serious implications for food output, farmers' livelihoods and rural development, despite some encouraging aspects such as very low food insecurity, higher-than-national average farm wages in some regions, while nearly 82% of farm land has access to irrigation systems.

The survey finds 'food insecurity experience scale' as the 'most amazing and encouraging' sub-indicator, as 98.83% agriculture households did not face any dire experience of food shortage or crisis in the last one year.

About 89% of farming households enjoy permanent ownership and secure tenure rights to their farm land, says the survey which measured economic, environmental and social sustainability of farm land.

But soil degradation remains a growing concern as 72.75% of agricultural land is controlled by households with at least half of their land degraded, indicating an urgent need for soil conservation strategies, according to the survey.

Households that control the country's 73% farm land said at least a half of their farmland is facing soil degradation, according to the survey. 

"This appears to be a threat to the decline in soil standard of the country's agricultural land and long-term productivity. Here comes the necessity of proper soil management in the sustainable agriculture strategy," says the survey.    

The report was unveiled on Monday at the BBS conference room in Agargaon. Rafiqul Islam, director of BBS's project on Sustainable Agricultural Statistics (TechIS), presented the main report.

Joining the discussion, Professor Dr Amirul Islam of Bangladesh Agricultural University said this survey, for the first time, has brought to light crucial data on sustainable agricultural land in Bangladesh. 

"There is significant scope for action in many areas. We now need to focus on several key issues. The indicators where we are lagging behind must be prioritised through government policy. At the same time, responsibilities need to be clearly distributed among the various ministries and agencies of the government," he said.

About 79% of agricultural land was deemed profitable for at least one year during the 2022–2024 period. This suggests that while productivity may be lacking in some areas, many farms are still managing to turn a profit over time– an encouraging sign for economic resilience, says the survey.

With a sustainability rate of 56.95%, just over half of landholders follow at least two of eight recommended nutrient management practices, while 51.37% of agricultural land met sustainability criteria based on safe pesticide use and mitigation measures.

Agro-biodiversity supportive practices were found on a little over 71% of land where farming activities take care of ecosystem, species, and genetic diversity, the BBS survey claims.

At the event, Additional Secretary of the agriculture ministry, Mahbubul Haque Patwary, said that many initiatives have already been launched in the agriculture sector. "The survey has helped identify which indicators now need more focus. However, we are performing well in several areas– for example, water availability. That said, we need to make stronger efforts in fertiliser and pesticide management," he noted.

Aleya Akter, secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division, said, "One important takeaway from the survey is that agriculture cannot focus solely on profit; environmental factors must also be taken into consideration."