Bangladesh - Agricultural land (sq. km)

The value for Agricultural land (sq. km) in Bangladesh was 92,023 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 104,430 in 1989 and a minimum value of 90,990 in 2014.

Definition: Agricultural land refers to the share of land area that is arable, under permanent crops, and under permanent pastures. Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded. Land under permanent crops is land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, and rubber. This category includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, but excludes land under trees grown for wood or timber. Permanent pasture is land used for five or more years for forage, including natural and cultivated crops.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also:

Year Value
1961 94,800
1962 94,770
1963 94,800
1964 95,200
1965 96,370
1966 96,500
1967 96,950
1968 96,690
1969 96,750
1970 96,970
1971 96,950
1972 99,910
1973 99,890
1974 99,890
1975 100,040
1976 99,980
1977 99,910
1978 99,870
1979 99,830
1980 99,870
1981 99,810
1982 99,780
1983 99,640
1984 100,600
1985 100,270
1986 100,410
1987 101,150
1988 104,270
1989 104,430
1990 103,860
1991 103,200
1992 95,490
1993 94,460
1994 93,580
1995 93,740
1996 93,270
1997 93,650
1998 94,340
1999 94,860
2000 94,000
2001 94,030
2002 93,530
2003 93,280
2004 93,230
2005 93,110
2006 92,800
2007 92,660
2008 92,530
2009 92,460
2010 92,410
2011 91,280
2012 91,200
2013 91,080
2014 90,990
2015 91,622
2016 91,942
2017 91,873
2018 92,023

Development Relevance: Agricultural land covers more than one-third of the world's land area. In many industrialized countries, agricultural land is subject to zoning regulations. In the context of zoning, agricultural land (or more properly agriculturally zoned land) refers to plots that may be used for agricultural activities, regardless of the physical type or quality of land. FAO's agricultural land data contains a wide range of information on variables that are significant for understanding the structure of a country's agricultural sector; making economic plans and policies for food security; and deriving environmental indicators, including those related to investment in agriculture and data on gross crop area and net crop area which are useful for policy formulation and monitoring. Agriculture is still a major sector in many economies, and agricultural activities provide developing countries with food and revenue. But agricultural activities also can degrade natural resources. Poor farming practices can cause soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. Efforts to increase productivity by using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and intensive irrigation have environmental costs and health impacts. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers can alter the chemistry of soil. Pesticide poisoning is common in developing countries. And salinization of irrigated land diminishes soil fertility. Thus, inappropriate use of inputs for agricultural production has far-reaching effects. There is no single correct mix of inputs to the agricultural land, as it is dependent on local climate, land quality, and economic development; appropriate levels and application rates vary by country and over time and depend on the type of crops, the climate and soils, and the production process used.

Limitations and Exceptions: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible. Thus, data on agricultural land in different climates may not be comparable. For example, permanent pastures are quite different in nature and intensity in African countries and dry Middle Eastern countries. Data on agricultural employment, in particular, should be used with caution. In many countries much agricultural employment is informal and unrecorded, including substantial work performed by women and children. To address some of these concerns, this indicator is heavily footnoted in the database in sources, definition, and coverage. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Agricultural land constitutes only a part of any country's total area, which can include areas not suitable for agriculture, such as forests, mountains, and inland water bodies. Three components of the agricultural land are a) arable land - land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow, b) permanent pasture - land used for five or more years for forage, including natural and cultivated crops, and c) and under permanent crops - land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, and rubber; land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines is included, but land under trees grown for wood or timber is not. Agricultural land is also sometimes classified as irrigated and non-irrigated land. In arid and semi-arid countries agriculture is often confined to irrigated land, with very little farming possible in non-irrigated areas. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded from arable land. Data on agricultural land are valuable for conducting studies on a various perspectives concerning agricultural production, food security and for deriving cropping intensity among others uses. Agricultural land indicator, along with land-use indicators, can also elucidate the environmental sustainability of countries' agricultural practices.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Land use