Farmer-friendly regulations needed

According to the World Bank report titled "Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2019" (EBA), Bangladesh has one of the least favourable regulatory frameworks for farmers. The country ranked 75th out of 101 countries and it scored 44.47 points on a scale of 1–100. This is unfortunate, because we are highly dependent on agriculture to ensure food security, poverty reduction and job creation. The report is based on eight indicators: supplying seeds, registering fertiliser, securing water, registering machinery, sustaining livestock, protecting plant health, trading food, and accessing finance. The EBA indicators assess whether governments are making it easier or harder for farmers to operate their businesses and provide a tangible measure of progress and identify regulatory obstacles to market integration and entrepreneurship.  

What the report tells us is that countries that have scored highest are also the ones that have regulations that cater to their farmers; that there is always room to improve laws, regulations and simplify bureaucratic processes that affect local farmers. It was pointed out in the report that Bangladesh has done much to improve its seed certification capacity by enacting a new seed act. However, the country did not do so well in other areas like supplying seed (18.52 points), registering fertiliser (47.08 points), securing water (20 points), etc.—all of which tells us that much work remains to be done which can help improve agricultural productivity.

Regulatory reforms need to be expedited to remove bureaucratic obstacles that stifle business processes, especially since agriculture continues to employ approximately 41 percent of the labour force and plays a pivotal role in poverty alleviation. It is imperative to support farmers by introducing policy measures that will help them with access to inputs like seed, fertiliser, animal feed, veterinary medicinal products and water, promote access to finance, and facilitate market transactions.