PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF BANGLADESH AGRICULTURE, 1967-70 TO 1976-79: AN ANALYSIS BY COMPONENT ELEMENTS OF GROWTH

This paper examines the production performances of 15 major crops in Bangladesh during the period 1967-70 to 1976-79 using official data. It identifies the component elements of growth and measures their relative contributions to the growth in crop output. Three broad components of growth-area, productivity and their interaction are considered. The area component is analysed in terms of net area (rather than in gross area) and cropping pattern shifts and their interaction effects. This paper identifies ٬crop-push’ and 'area-push' shifts in cropping pattern, and the crop-push shift is analysed in terms of ٬substitution’ and ٬expansion’ effects. The yield element of the productivity component is further decomposed into ٬technology-spread’ and 'technology-neutral' yields and their interaction effects. The study reveals that the growth in total crop output at the national as well as divisional levels has been unsatisfactory over the period of study. A wide variation in the relative contributions of various component elements to the output growth of individual crops is also observed. Finally, some recommendations are made so that a better production performance of Bangladesh agriculture can be achieved