Regional Markets

3 Cases
Photo: ©FAO/Giampiero Diana / FAO
3.6 Quality seeds improve livelihoods in
Bangladesh
Aftab Alam Khan and Amirul Islam
Introduction
In Bangladesh, agriculture accounts for 23% of GDP, and about 75% of the total population
are engaged directly or indirectly in agricultural activities (BSGDMA 2007).
Rice is by far the most important staple grain in the country, and planted on 77% of
arable land (IRRI 2013). In 2010, total production of rice topped 50 million tons, but
even this record breaking harvest still could not fully meet local demand. An additional
650 tons of milled rice had to be imported (FAOSTAT 2013a, 2013b). Major factors
that hold back rice production include the lack of good quality local seeds, high input
and seed prices, the low quality and inadequate supply of agricultural inputs as well as
natural disasters. Improving the cultivation of this key commodity would both provide
food security for vulnerable sectors of the population and help improve the national
account balance. Rice seed quality and availability was singled out as the major bottleneck
to reaching this goal. In the following, we will examine which activities are
undertaken to improve the livelihoods of people through the provision of good quality
seeds in several districts in Bangladesh.
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