CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 2008 Structure of Agricultural Holdings and Livestock Population ...

711 Pages·2013·3.18 MB·English

National Series

Volume-1

CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 2008
Structure of Agricultural Holdings & Livestock Population

BANGLADESH BUREAU OF STATISTICS
CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 2008

Structure of Agricultural Holdings
and
Livestock Population

Volume-1

November, 2010

BANGLADESH BUREAU OF STATISTICS
STATISTICS DIVISION, MINISTRY OF PLANNING
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
DHAKA, BANGLADESH
MESSAGE

The economic progress of Bangladesh is mainly dependent on development of the agriculture sector
which contributes around 21 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment
to around 48 percent of total labour force. The recent world wide disarray in food supply has only reemphasized
the need for building a more dependable food security system with increased productivity. The government has
been pursuing a range of development projects and programmes in the agriculture sector in order to achieve
defined national agriculture policy goals of the country.

Timely and realistic statistics for the agriculture sector have, therefore, remained inextricably linked to
the root of our economic development initiatives and achievements. Agriculture census, one of the largest
statistical operations of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), is the basic source of information relating to
structure and nature of agricultural activities of the country.

It is gratifying to note that BBS for the first time has successfully conducted the census of agriculture
with complete counts of both rural and urban areas simultaneously. I hope that the data presented in this
publication would be very useful for policy formulation and planning to maintain sustainable development of the
agriculture sector. Apart from providing small area statistics up to mauza level in the zila series of publications,
this census report will provide basis for a sampling frame to be used for subsequent surveys for strengthening
further the current agriculture statistics system.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Ms. Riti Ibrahim, Secretary, Statistics Division and other
officers of the Ministry for their policy support to the programme of census. I appreciate very much their
valuable contribution in making the agriculture census a success.

I would also like to congratulate Mr. Md. Shahjahan Ali Mollah, Director General, BBS, Mr. Jafor Ahmed
Khan, Project Director and all officers and staff of BBS for successfully concluding the census operation.
I convey a note of appreciation too to all of them for their earnest effort in bringing out this national report in
time.

Dhaka, Air Vice Marshal (Rtd.) A K Khandker (BU)
November, 2010 Minister for Planning
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
FOREWORD

Agriculture is the single most dominant sector of the country. It has significant impact on all vital plans
and programmes of economic growth, employment generation, poverty alleviation, and food security. Timely
and reliable statistics on structure and performance of the agriculture sector are, therefore, indispensable for
pragmatic agricultural development planning and policy formulation.

Agriculture census is the principal tool for providing comprehensive statistics about structural
parameters of the agriculture sector. The government, therefore, accorded a high priority for conducting a full
count census both in rural and urban areas of the country simultaneously.

The census aimed at making available for all households the basic data in such detail as household
group, agriculture land ownership, tenancy, land use, cropping pattern, irrigation, livestock & poultry, and farm
employment on 100 percent full count basis. Also, the census aim was to supplement full count data by
conducting a sample survey of farm holdings designed for generating comprehensive agriculture statistics in
much greater detail.

I am very happy that BBS has quite successfully conducted the census despite various constraints. I
take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Md. Shahjahan Ali Mollah, Director General, BBS,
Mr. Jafor Ahmed Khan, Project Director and his colleagues for their incessant endeavour to carry out the
census as programmed. I appreciate the assistance provided by FAO regarding Agriculture Census 2008.

I hope that the report will be useful to researchers, planners, and policy makers in formulating effective
programmes and policies for agricultural development of the country.

Dhaka, Riti Ibrahim
November, 2010 Secretary
Statistics Division
Ministry of Planning
PREFACE

Due to rapid growth of population, decreasing trend in availability of cultivable land, and changes in
socio-economic patterns, some substantial changes have taken place in agriculture sector over the past few
years. Considering the importance of agriculture in our national economy, the government has decided to
conduct agriculture census for the first time on full count basis both in rural and urban areas of the country
simultaneously.

The data collection scheme of the census was carried out in two phases: (i) full count with a short
questionnaire in the first phase, and (ii) a sample survey with a long questionnaire in the second phase.

In order to compile as quickly as possible the large volumes of data sets of the census, a centralized
processing system was developed and adopted. Under the system manual editing, data capture through
manual keying into computer, computer editing, and tabulations were systematically linked in order to get
error- free final results of the census. It is hoped that the census information and data as available would be
able to fill up data gaps that persisted for long as a barrier to clear understanding of current and overall
situations of the agriculture sector.

Although BBS made all-out efforts for carrying out the census as efficiently as possible, it might be that
few lapses have occurred in carrying out the census. However, since this is the first endeavour to cover the
entire urban and rural domains of the country concurrently, we hope that the users will appreciate our sincere
effort made in meeting this new challenge. Any suggestions or comments for further improving the census data
base and also its presentation will be highly appreciated and acknowledged with thanks.

I am grateful to Ms. Riti Ibrahim, Secretary, Statistics Division, for her constant support and guidance to
the programme of successful implementation of census plan.

I express my special gratitude to members of the technical committee and other participants for their
valuable contributions to the census. I am also grateful to media personnel, local government bodies, and
general public as a whole for their support in conducting the census.

I would like to thank all those who have been associated with different tasks of the census and have
eventually succeeded in bringing out this publication in time. Finally, I wish to thank Mr. Jafor Ahmed Khan,
Project Director and other members of BBS, for their hard works that led to successful implementations all
activities of the census. My special thanks to Mr. Abdul Baten, consultant of agriculture census project, for
rendering valuable advice. I thank also Mr.S.M Shahjahan, EX.-Deputy Director, BBS for preparing the
manuscript of this report.

Dhaka, Md. Shahjahan Ali Mollah
November, 2010 (Additional Secretary)
Director General
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
Contents

Item Page No.
Message .................................................................................................................................................... iii
Foreword ................................................................................................................................................... v
Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... vii
Bangladesh Map ….................................................................................................................................... xi
Acronyms …..…………………………………………………………………………….................................... xiii
Key findings of different agriculture censuses …….......................……………….….................................. xv-xvi
Explanatory notes on some specific data of key findings and also of national tables ............................... xvii-xviii
Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 1-2

Part-I : Census Background and Operation
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 5-10
Scope, Objectives, and Methodology ........................................................................................................ 11-12
Pre-census Operation ………………………......................…………………………...................................... 13-14
Field Operation Management .................................…………………..………………….............................. 15-16
Data Processing …………………………………………………………….....................…............................. 17-18

Part-II : Concepts and Definitions
Concepts and Definitions ............................................................................................................. 21-28

Part-III : Census Tables
Notes on Tables ........................................................................................................................... 31-34
Selected Agriculture Statistics by Division and District/ Zila …….............................................................. 37-48

Detailed Tables
Table 1 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size ………..…............................................ 51-59
Table 2 : Crop area (acre) of farm holdings classified by area size .......................................................... 60-70
Table 3 : Population in dwelling units and population engaged in agricultural work by sex and age group 71
Table 4 : Population engaged in agricultural work classified by area size of holdings ............................. 72-73
Table 5 : Population of agriculture labour households and number engaged in agricultural work classified
by age group and area size …………………………………………………………………………… 74-75
Table 6 : Land ownership of holdings classified by area size and type …….……….................................. 76-77
Table 6A : Average area per holding classified by number of members ……………………....................... 78-80
Table 7 : Land ownership of holdings classified by operated area …….……………................................ 81
Table 8 : Operated, homestead, crop area, and irrigation classified by tenancy and farm size................ 82-83
Table 9 : Land ownership of holdings classified by homestead and farm & other lands ......................... 84
Table 10 : Tenancy status and practices of holdings classified by farm size …….….…….....................… 85-86
Table 11 : Tenancy status of male & female headed holdings classified by selected characteristics …… 87-88
Table 12 : Area irrigated under different sources by farm size classification of holdings ………................ 89-90
ix
Contents

Item Page No.
Table 13: Area irrigated under different sources classified by tenancy of holdings ……….............……….…. 91
Table 14: Livestock and poultry population of holdings by type and size …... ……………….......................... 92-96
Table 15: Cattle heads in groups and buffalo heads of holdings classified by tenancy and farm type & size 97-98
Table 16 : Goat heads in groups and sheep heads of holdings classified by tenancy and farm type & size 99-100
Table 17 : Fowls in bird groups of holdings classified by tenancy and farm type & size ………..….............. 101-102
Table 18 : Ducks in bird groups of holdings classified by tenancy and farm type & size …………................ 103-104
Table 19 : Pigeons in bird groups of holdings classified by tenancy and farm type & size ........................... 105-106
Table 20 : Holdings reporting herd and flock populations of the cross bred classified by tenancy and farm
type & size …………………………………………………………………………………………….…. 107-108
Table 21 : Livestock and poultry of agriculture labour households classified by tenancy and farm type & size 109-110
Table 22 : Livestock & poultry and agriculture equipment of holdings by land ownership status .................. 111-113
Table 23 : Holdings reporting deaths of livestock and poultry by causes ………..…….................................. 114-115
Table 24 : Borrower holdings and their average loan amounts (Tk.) from institutional & non-institutional
sources classified by category of loan ......................................................................................... 116
Table 25 : Type and size of holdings classified by farm equipment ownership and tenancy .......................... 117-124

Division and District/Zila Tables

Table D1 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size for Barisal division ………....……..……. 127-154
Table D2 : Crop area of farm holdings classified by area size for Barisal division ………………...…............. 155-182
Table D3 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size for Chittagong division …………..…….. 183-230
Table D4 : Crop area of farm holdings classified by area size for Chittagong division …………................... 231-278
Table D5 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size for Dhaka division ………………......….. 279-350
Table D6 : Crop area of farm holdings classified by area size for Dhaka division ……………................…… 351-422
Table D7 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size for Khulna division ……………………… 423-466
Table D8 : Crop area of farm holdings classified by area size for Khulna division ………………..…............. 467-510
Table D9 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size for Rajshahi division ….………………... 511-577
Table D10 : Crop area of farm holdings classified by area size for Rajshahi division ……….……................ 578-645
Table D11 : Basic characteristics of holdings classified by area size for Sylhet division …….……..………... 646-665
Table D12 : Crop area of farm holdings classified by area size for Sylhet division …………….................... 666-685

ANNEXURE
Annexure-i : Agricultural Census Act No. XLI of 1958 (as amended in 1983) ............................................ 689-691
Annexure-ii : Calendar of Activities of Agriculture Census 2008 ………………………………...................... 692
Annexure-iii : Questionnaire ……………….………………………………………………..........................……. 693-694
Annexure-iv : Tally Sheet ………………..………………………………………………............................……. 695-696
Annexure-v : List of Temporary Crops ……………………….....................……............................................ 697-698
Annexure-vi : Steering Committee of Agriculture Census-2008 699
Annexure-vii : Technical Committee of Agriculture Census 2008 ……………………………......................... 700
Annexure-viii Editorial Committee of Agriculture Census 2008 ………………………………........................ 701
Annexure- ix : Validation and Inconsistency Checking Committee of Agriculture Census 2008 ..……………… 702
Annexure- x : List of References ………………………………………………………………………………….. 703
Annexure- xi : Personnel Engaged in Preparation of this Report …...…………………….........................….. 704

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