Overcoming structural, management challenges crucial for agricultural export growth

To unlock the full potential of agricultural sector, speakers at the Bangladesh Agro Conclave 2025 stressed the need for increased youth engagement, stronger public-private partnerships, and coordinated policy and investment initiatives.

The event, titled "Bangladesh Agro Conclave 2025: Unlocking Bangladesh's Agri-Potential for Global Competitiveness and Sustainable Growth," was held ‍at a hotel in Gulshan on Sunday. 

It was jointly organised by international consultancy Lightcastle Partners and the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (SAF), a global development organisation.

Bangladesh's market for vegetables, fruits, and flowers is growing steadily. In the first nine months of FY2024–25 (July–March), the country earned $55.6 million from vegetable exports and $39.1 million from fruit and flower exports. 

Despite the momentum, Bangladesh remains far behind regional peers such as China, Thailand, and Vietnam in agri-exports—primarily due to structural inefficiencies and weak management systems in production.

At the event, the keynote presentation, "Unlocking Bangladesh's Agricultural Export Potential: Opportunities, Challenges & the Case for Brand Building," was delivered by Shubham Roy, Lead, Growth and Innovation at Lightcastle Partners. 

Based on secondary analysis, he revealed that around 20–40% of vegetables produced in Bangladesh are wasted annually, resulting in an estimated $2.4 billion in financial losses. For fruits and vegetables, 20–35% are lost before export due to inefficiencies in the supply chain.

Other barriers to export growth highlighted in the presentation included multiple layers of intermediaries that dilute farmer profits, delays in shipments and weakened traceability, limited cold storage and warehousing infrastructure, lack of attention to quality certification, high air freight costs—30–50% higher than sea freight.

Agriculture sector experts, policymakers, and exporters attended the conference. 

Chief guest Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, highlighted the government's commitment to inclusive and technology-driven agriculture. 

He announced that the government is finalizing the 'Agriculture Future Outlook Plan 2025', aimed at scaling modern technology to the grassroots. 

A key initiative under this plan is the 'Khamari App', designed to provide farmers with real-time crop management tools and market information.

M A Sattar Mandal, emeritus professor and former vice chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, stressed the dual challenge of increasing food production for an additional 15 million people, while overcoming the constraints posed by fragmented agricultural land. He emphasised the need for innovation-led solutions to structural bottlenecks.

The event featured three panel discussions— session 1 on charting the path towards global export market, moderated by Bijon Islam, CEO of LightCastle Partners; session 2 on empowering women and youth in agri-food enterprise development was moderated by Md Abdur Rouf, director, Programme Development, SAF, and the final session on food safety, traceability, and cold chain management was, moderated by Zahedul Amin, managing director, Lightcastle Partners.

The second panel highlighted the importance of women's empowerment and youth participation in agriculture. It recommended developing innovative financing models for women and youth, encouraging entrepreneurship through public-private collaboration, investing in skills training, and promoting youth success stories to inspire broader participation

The third session focused on food security and cold chain gaps in protein and dairy sectors. Discussions emphasized the need for infrastructure improvements, enhanced food security policies, and the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI to modernize agricultural systems.

It was shared that Bangladesh earned $821.06 million from agricultural exports in the July–March period of FY2024–25—a 6.21% increase from $773.01 million in the same period the previous year. The agriculture sector accounted for 2.21% of total exports during this period.

Notably, agriculture remains the largest employment sector in Bangladesh, engaging 36.9% of the national labor force. Experts agreed that unlocking its full export potential will require an integrated approach—rooted in innovation, inclusivity, and systemic reform.