Bangladesh boasts fertile alluvial soils, mangrove forests, tea plantations, and areas prone to both drought and flood conditions. Since its independence in 1970, Bangladesh’s institutions have partnered with several CGIAR centers—most notably IRRI, CIMMYT, IFPRI, and WorldFish—with particularly significant and extended collaborations.
Agricultural productivity has risen steadily, supporting a notable shift in employment from agriculture (61% of national employment in 2000 to 35% in 2023) toward manufacturing and services. Rice continues to dominate Bangladesh’s agriculture as the staple crop across its two major growing seasons—Boro and Aman—and a minor Aus season. At the same time, the country has experienced a four-fold growth in aquaculture production since 2000, a development often referred to as the Blue Revolution. Between 2004 and 2014, the rate of growth in hatcheries and feed mills far outpaced the growth in the number of aquaculture operations, signaling a shift toward modern inputs and intensified production.
Starting in 2022, SPIA began a stocktaking of CGIAR-related innovations in Bangladesh through desk research, interviews with focal points, and consultation workshops. The focus was on innovations introduced since 2000.
Identified innovations:
Despite these advancements, Bangladesh remains highly vulnerable to natural hazards, which are being intensified by climate change. The country ranks high in terms of susceptibility to projected temperature increases and sea level rise in the coming decades. The data used in this report were collected in early 2024, just before the major economic shock linked to the student protest movement that led to the ousting of the Hasina administration and the installation of a transitional government.
Note: In 2024, SPIA also commissioned and managed an additional (4th) round of the IFPRI-run Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS)—a nationally representative panel survey with prior rounds in 2011/12, 2015, and 2018/19.