Agriculture not main income source of farmers

Agriculture is not the main source of income of farmers in Bangladesh, - a country with agriculture as its economic base, according to a government study. 

Major part of income of families of the farmers now comes from non-agro sectors, while their earning from agriculture sector amounts to only 38 percent. 

The rest 62 percent of their income comes from service, industry, trade, various types of rents, remittance, sale of labour in non-agro sector, and transport business.  

The findings have been published in a report on the Agriculture and Rural Statistics 2018, unveiled on Sunday by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).  

Speaking on this, Dr. Shamsul Alam, a member of the General Economic Division of the Planning Commission and former president of the Agricultural Economists Association, said that presently just 13 percent of the families of the farmers are fully dependent on agriculture. 

“The dependence on agriculture has come down as majority members of the farmer families are engages in various other works,” he said. 

The report added that the average annual income of families of the farmers that are dependent on agriculture stands at Tk 2, 02724. 

The farming families in Rangpur earn the highest from the agriculture sector. 

Their income from agriculture stands at Tk 92, 522, which is Tk15, 000 higher than the income of the farmers in other parts of the country.  

However, the farmers in Rangpur, who have less income from non-agro sector, earn less comparing to farmers in other areas.  

The farmers in Chattogram earn the highest (Tk 1, 63, 798) from the non-agro sector.