Over half of Bangladesh’s food producers earn under Tk 34,000 a year, far below the national average, exposing deep inequality in agriculture and raising alarms for food security and SDG targets.

Over half of Bangladesh’s food producers – the backbone of the country’s food supply – earn less than Tk 34,000 a year, according to a new Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics survey. The figure, roughly Tk 2,800 a month, stands in stark contrast to the national average income of food producers and highlights a structural imbalance that experts warn could undermine both rural livelihoods and long-term food security.

The Income and Productivity of Small-Scale Food Producers Survey 2025 found that small-scale producers account for 53.65 per cent of all food producers while large-scale producers make up 46.35 per cent. Yet the income gap is enormous. Small producers average only Tk 33,639 annually. Large-scale producers earn Tk 129,956. The overall national average of Tk 78,286 sits far closer to the large-producer figure, masking the reality faced by the majority.

Defining the Small-Scale Producer

The survey, covering 12,879 households across all eight divisions and five sectors – temporary crops, permanent crops, forestry, livestock and aquaculture – defines small-scale producers as those in the bottom 40 per cent nationally on three simultaneous measures: land area, livestock holdings and annual agricultural revenue. These households operate an average of just 33.5 decimals of land, compared with 123.5 decimals for large-scale producers.

The survey was designed to establish Bangladesh’s baseline for two United Nations Sustainable Development Goal indicators: SDG 2.3.1 (agricultural productivity per labour day) and SDG 2.3.2 (average annual income of small-scale food producers). Both track progress toward Target 2.3, which calls for doubling the productivity and incomes of small-scale producers by 2030. It is the second such survey under the BBS Sustainable Agriculture Statistics Project, conducted with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Livestock Dominates Meagre Earnings

For small-scale producers, livestock is by far the main income source, contributing Tk 28,421 or 84.5 per cent of total earnings. Aquaculture follows at Tk 12,670, forestry at Tk 10,892, temporary crops at Tk 4,591 and permanent crops at a mere Tk 2,331. Experts note that livestock, encompassing both larger animals and poultry, generates household employment and supports family nutrition, yet the overall returns remain too low to create investable surplus.

Productivity figures reinforce the disparity. Small-scale producers generate Tk 1,494 in net value per labour day, against Tk 2,301 for large-scale producers and a national average of Tk 1,868. Interestingly, small producers outperform large ones in permanent crops (Tk 9,182 versus Tk 4,603) and forestry (Tk 6,518 versus Tk 4,656). Large producers lead in aquaculture and temporary crops.

Regional differences are pronounced. Small-scale producers in Rajshahi recorded the highest average annual income at Tk 44,707, while those in Sylhet earned the lowest at Tk 24,636. Sylhet was also the only division where large-scale producers formed the majority. Chattogram and Rangpur had the highest shares of small-scale farmers.

Female-headed households, which make up 10.7 per cent of small-scale producers (versus 4.7 per cent of large-scale ones), earn even less: Tk 27,901 on average compared with Tk 34,359 for male-headed small-scale households.

Putting Tk 34,000 in Perspective

Tk 34,000 a year is not an official poverty line. Bangladesh’s national upper poverty line in 2022 stood at approximately Tk 3,832 per person per month, or roughly Tk 46,000 a year per person. For a typical rural household of four or five members, the household-level threshold is substantially higher. Recent estimates by the Power and Participation Research Centre put the adjusted upper poverty line near Tk 4,333 per person per month in 2025.

National per capita income has risen above US$3,000 (around Tk 368,000) in the latest provisional figures. Against that backdrop, an annual agricultural income of Tk 33,639 places most small-scale producers well below sustainable living standards and leaves little margin for investment, education or health shocks. Recent analyses indicate poverty rates have risen again after earlier gains, with some surveys placing the upper poverty incidence near 28 per cent amid inflation and weaker job creation.

Experts Call for Fair Prices and Technology

Mohammad Yunus, research director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, observed that the trend toward smaller landholdings is difficult to reverse as people leave agriculture for other work. Economic development has reduced poverty by creating alternative income sources, he said, but agriculture itself must remain viable. “For agriculture to remain sustainable, farmers must receive fair prices for their products.” He stressed the need to introduce technology to raise productivity and ensure returns comparable to other sectors so that farmers stay engaged. If they continue to leave, urban populations will also suffer, he warned.

Yunus outlined three requirements for food security: fair prices that keep farmers committed to production; reform of the market system to curb the large gap between farm-gate and retail prices caused by middlemen and syndicates; and higher productivity so farmers can earn profits while food remains affordable for consumers.

MA Sattar Mandal, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, noted that the heavy reliance on livestock reflects high labour participation in that sector among small households and its dual role in employment and nutrition. Low incomes, however, leave no surplus for investment, locking productivity at low levels.

Broader Stakes for Food Security and the Economy

Agriculture continues to employ a large share of the workforce and remains central to rural poverty reduction. Earlier World Bank assessments showed rural areas outpacing urban ones in poverty decline between 2016 and 2022, partly thanks to agricultural growth. Yet the latest BBS findings reveal that the majority of those who produce the nation’s food capture only a small share of the value.

Without decisive action on prices, market efficiency and technology access, the income and productivity targets under SDG 2.3 will remain distant, Mandal warns. 

Yunus says, “The survey establishes a clear baseline. Closing the gap between contribution and reward for the country’s small-scale food producers is now a matter of both equity and national food security.”