Ensuring food security of a large population with limited resources is now the great concern of Bangladesh.  Land is inadequate here, but growth rate of population is comparatively very high. Its population is 148.63 million and the density of population is over 1000 per kilometer.[1] Moreover the high growth rate of population severely affects the economy of the country while the growth rate ranged from 2.5 (in 1974) to 1.5 (in 2001).[2]

The food security of the people is always dependent on the agriculture sector. Its economy has been grown up based on agriculture. More than half of the population has direct or indirect dependence on agriculture for their livelihood. 48% of the total labor force (+15 labor force) is directly involved in agriculture. Though the contribution of agriculture in GDP is reducing day by day due to the emergence of other sectors of economy, especially tertiary sector, agriculture is still a major sector that is contributing a large proportion.[3] Not only that, this sector has indirect contribution to the overall growth of GDP as many services like whole sale and retail trade, hotel and restaurant, transport and communication are strongly supported by agriculture.[4] Many secondary activities are being enhanced by it. Agro based input industries like fertilizer industry, agricultural machine and tools factory,  pesticide industry etc. as well as output industries like rice mill, jute mill, sugar mill, poultry feed industry, spice industry, juice industry etc. are being grown by a significant number as a result of direct enhancement of agriculture. So importance of agriculture has not reduced, but playing important roles in the country’s economy.

In tropical monsoon climate, the distribution of rainfall is not uniform throughout the year and water is regarded as the most important single determinant of the tropical agriculture.[5] Since Bangladesh is within the zone of tropical monsoon climate, the variability of rain is the most significant concern of agriculture. Agriculture of Bangladesh was mainly rain fed and was depended on rain since groundwater was introduced here. Because of insufficient rain or no rain in dry seasons and uncertainty of rain in other seasons, crop diversification was at minimum level. When groundwater was broadly introduced to our agriculture in eighties of the last century, crop diversification process especially cropping intensity was accelerated.          

     [1] An estimation of mid-2009.

     [2] Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Statistical Pocket Book of Bangladesh, 1974-2001(Dhaka: BBS, 1974-2001).

     [3] Md. J B Moral, “Agro-Ecology, Foodgrain Production and Poverty: Evidencefrom Four Villages in North West Bangladesh,” The Journal of Geo-Environment 5, No.4  (2005): 44.

  [4]  M A L Mondal, “Feeding the Fifteen Crores,” Sub-editorial, The Daily Star, (Dhaka) 8 April 2010

     [5] B. W. Hodder, Economic Development in the tropics ( London: Methuen and co. Ltd., 1973, 44.