The market for vegetables, flowers and fruit is expanding. In July-March of FY2024-25, Bangladesh earned $55.6 million from vegetable exports and $39.1 million from fruit and flower exports over the same period.

Despite the potential, weaknesses in production structure and management leave Bangladesh far behind China, Thailand and Vietnam in exports from the sector. To raise exports, greater youth involvement in farming, public-private partnership and coordinated efforts are urgently needed.

These points were made in a presentation at the "Bangladesh Agriculture Conference 2025: Bangladesh's agricultural potential for global competitiveness and sustainable growth" at a hotel in Gulshan in the capital on Sunday (25 May). International consultancy LightCastle Partners and the international development organisation Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (SAF) jointly organised it.

Agriculture Secretary Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian was chief guest. Dr M A Sattar Mandal, former vice-chancellor and emeritus professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, spoke as a discussant. Other speakers included Md Saiful Alam, director general of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE); Dr Md Raju Ahmed, deputy secretary of the Smallholder Agricultural Competitiveness Project under the agricultural marketing department; Abu Noman Faruq Ahmed, professor at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University; Mohammed Monsur, general secretary of the Bangladesh Fruits Vegetables and Allied Products Exporters' Association; and other sector leaders.

The presentation, "Export potential, opportunities, challenges and branding strategy in Bangladesh's agriculture", was given by Shuvom Roy, lead of the growth and innovation department at LightCastle Partners. It said that overall, 20 to 44 percent of the vegetables Bangladesh produces are wasted each year, costing the country $2.4 billion a year.

Besides waste, exports are held back by long chains of intermediaries, low profits, shipment delays, too few cold stores, neglect of certification, and very high air freight premiums. Air freight premiums are 30-50 percent higher than sea freight, and weaknesses in the production structure mean 20-35 percent of fruit and vegetables spoil before export.

The conference was held to set out steps and recommendations for raising farm exports, and more than 100 representatives from various organisations took part.

The discussion was divided into three sessions, moderated by LightCastle Partners CEO Bijon Islam, SAF's director of programme development Md Abdur Rouf, and LightCastle Partners director Zahedul Amin respectively.

In his opening speech, Agriculture Secretary Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian set out the government's plans and stressed greater use of technology and inclusive farming. He said an "Agriculture Future Outlook Plan 2025" is being prepared as a strategic plan to take modern technology to the grassroots. A key part of it is the upcoming "Khamari app", which will give farmers crop management and real-time market information.

Dr M A Sattar Mandal said: "Our challenge is two-edged like scissors: on one side food production has risen for 1.5 crore more people, on the other fragmented farmland is holding back development." He called for tackling these structural problems through innovation.

In the second panel, a presentation on women's empowerment and youth involvement in developing agriculture recommended innovative models to increase finance for women and young people, public-private cooperation for entrepreneurship and market access, skills training for entrepreneurs, and highlighting young people's success stories.

In the third panel, speakers urged tackling food safety challenges in protein and milk production and in cold chain management, along with food safety policy, infrastructure including transport for marketing, and making use of emerging technologies such as AI.

The conference was told that Bangladesh earned $821.06 million from agriculture in July-March of FY2024-25, up 6.21 percent from $773.01 million in the same period a year earlier. The sector accounted for 2.21 percent of total exports in that period. Agriculture is Bangladesh's largest source of employment, providing 36.9 percent of the total labour force.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.