Name: Md.

Ali Armanur Rahman

Student ID: 0820086
ENG-106
Term Paper
Semester: Spring
Year: 2008
Date: 05-05-2008

Industrialization vs Agriculture

Although agriculture is one of the primary sources of our GDP, industrialization

should be our primary concern if we want to increase our GDP, which will lead to stability of
our economy. Bangladesh has a primarily agrarian economy. Agriculture is the single largest
producing sector of the economy since it comprises about 30% of the country's GDP and
employing around 60% of the total labor force.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Bangladesh) The performance of this sector has
an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation,
poverty alleviation, human resources development and food security. Fortunately for
Bangladesh, many new jobs - mostly for women - have been created by the country's
dynamic private ready-made garment industry, which grew at double-digit rates through most
of the 1990s. By the late 1990s, about 1.5 million people, mostly women, were employed in
the garments sector. During 2001-2002, export earnings from ready-made garments reached
$3,125 million, representing 52% of Bangladesh's total exports.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh) This data gives us reasons to believe
that the industrialization has come as a savior for Bangladesh’s fading economy.

The technology used in agriculture by our country is out-dated and ancient, thus it is
not as productive as it is expected and necessary. (Book: Bangladesh Economy) So industries
need to be established in order to overcome this lack of productivity. The unemployment
problem of our country cannot be resolved without establishment of industries as these
industries will provide new jobs for people. Also the industries will provide skillful and
efficient labor forces, where the agriculture sector does not produce enough skillful or
efficient workers. (Book: Bangladesh Economy)
 In this era of technology, there is no other way to compete in international market
other than industrialization. Be it the blooming IT sector, the usual garments industries, food
industries or other techno-based industries. Even agriculture cannot produce quality food
products without industrial support. Also improved and new products manufactured by
industries will play a big role in foreign trade. The ready-made garments contribute 52% of
Bangladesh’s total export where agriculture does not contribute even half of it.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh) So industrialization is a must if we
want to be an export-based country in order to bring foreign currency. The build up of
EPZs and the number of foreign investors there gives evidence of the power of
industrialization in bringing foreign currency. In comparison, the foreign investment in
agriculture sector in Bangladesh is nil. (Book: Bangladesh Economy) Also industrialization
will let us produce goods and services that were imported earlier from foreign countries, thus
it will lead to less import and the domestic currency will be preserved.

Industrialization will also help to aggravate our GDP, as a result poverty will be
reduced. In 2002, almost 20.5% of the GDP was contributed by agriculture and almost 26.7%
was contributed by industries and as a result GDP increased.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh) These results show us the
significance of industries in a nation’s progressive economy. Districts in Bangladesh with
higher share of manufacturing in GDP tend to have higher capita per income.
(http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2007/january/dhaka.htm) This data shows that poverty
can be reduced by extensive industrialization. If we look at the developed countries of the
world, we will find that their economy is more or less absolutely dependant on industries and
less on agriculture. So we can safely say that industrialization would lead us to economic
stability and self-dependency and self-sufficiency. (Book: Bangladesh Economy)

Moreover, the lack of arable lands is leading to lack of productivity of agriculture

which can be recovered if these lands are used for industrialization. Also industrialization
leads to urbanization which by itself is an economy boosting factor.

But we also have to keep the drawbacks of industrialization and advantages of

agriculture in mind. Industrialization is surely expanding in Bangladesh but in uneven
fashion. Some of the parts of the country are getting the benefits of industries where the
others are falling behind. Industrialization is to certain extents by-passing large parts of the
country as in 2000, two-thirds (65%) of the industries are distributed near only 4 districts of
64. (http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2007/january/dhaka.htm)

Bangladesh is an agro-based country. 65% (in 2000) of its people are involved in
agriculture where only 10% (in 1996) of the people are in industries.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh) So it is not possible to opt for
absolute industrialization ignoring agriculture. Also we have to look at our limitations, being
one of the developing countries industrialization is a very difficult objective due to our lack
of ability of such extensive capital investments. Also illiteracy is a big problem in the path of
industrialization. Most of the people involved in agriculture are best-fit for their occupation
as they are mostly illiterate and inefficient to work in most industries. So we actually do not
have enough labor to go for complete industrialization. An absolute industry-based economy
now will result in huge unemployment. Thus, sticking to agro-based economy might be the
optimum choice. (Book: Bangladesh Economy)

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 We have fewer lands in Bangladesh and most of them are agricultural, so building up
industries will occupy these lands and will result in food-deficiency. Also industrialization
will give the rein of our economy to the limited capitalists and industrialists who will be able
to control the economy on their own terms. So the difference between the rich and the poor
will become more obvious. Industrialization will also lead to pollution and will affect our
ecology system. It may also be the cause of health hazards for workers and people living
around industries. The urbanization around these industries will lead to destruction of arable
lands and over-crowding of people at particular places. Thus, will result in an unbalanced
social structure. (Personal Interview)

Due to our lack of raw materials production, industrialization may lead to more
import of raw materials from other countries. As a result we will be forced to increase our
import costs and our domestic currency will ‘leak out’ of the country. Also the expected
foreign investments can also be a burden as the domestic investors might get discouraged and
withdraw their investments from the market. So, our economy will then dangle on the foreign
investors and our economy will become dependant on other countries instead of becoming
self-dependant. (Personal Interview)

From the above paragraphs we can come to the conclusion that the welfare of our
economy is based on both agriculture and industries, but industrialization is a need of time.
So in order to balance our economy, we need to modernize our agriculture by making it
technology based and throwing away antique tools and bring the latest and efficient tools
instead. We also have to train the farmers and workers in the country so that they can be
more efficient and productive in agriculture as well as industries. Agro-based industries such
as jute mills can be established so that our agriculture becomes our pride instead of burden
and the results produced by this collaboration of agriculture and industry shall be an
economy booster. The agriculture sector can also be treated as an industry and the products
produced here can be improved and used for exports along with other industrial products.

The industrialization will ease the pressure on agriculture as the chief contributor in
GDP. Also if varieties in crops are brought in agriculture, it might help the industries to
produce new better products. Thus, our GDP will be helped on its way up. The land use can
also be controlled if half of the lands are given to agriculture and industries each. The less
arable lands can be used for industries where more arable lands can be used for agriculture.
Also the distribution of the industries should be uniform all over the nation and a similar
balance has to be maintained with agriculture too. Pollution measures should also be
undertaken to preserve our ecosystem. Although most of these things have to be controlled
and observed by the government, it is the duty of the people to oblige to these regulations.
Lastly, amount of foreign investments in industries has to be limited in order to encourage
local investments and investments in agriculture should be encouraged too.

Therefore, we can conclude, from the given data and information, that in order to
stabilize our economy, it is necessary to concentrate on rapid industrialization along with
improvements in agriculture sector, so that our GDP increases accordingly. We have to
modernize our agriculture, develop new industries, train employees, build agro-based
industries, improve products and increase exports, produce enough foods and products by
agriculture and industries to reduce import, control foreign investments, encourage local
investments, avoid by-passing of industrialization, use lands according to their arability, take
precautions against pollution and controlled urbanization. If we succeed doing these things

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then I firmly believe that we will move to one of the top 10 largest economic countries in no
time from our current 31st position. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh)

Bibliography/Worksites

1. Bangladesh Economy, Latest Edition.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh,
Date of Access: 05-05-2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Bangladesh,
Date of Access: 05-05-2008

3. http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2007/january/dhaka.htm,
Date of Access: 04-05-2008

4. Jahan, Nusrat (Personal Interview)