Opportunities

EXPORT RELATED: ( No available data related to exporting )

The growth of a service market for agricultural machines is one of the most important
developments in Bangladeshi agricultural mechanization.
In recent time, closed and open drum threshers mainly powered by diesel engines and motors
became popular among the farmers due to its high capacity, loss saving, significant economic
performance. The threshers are being manufactured in local workshops.
While public sector research organizations have been innovating and modifying existing
machines, private sector are involved in modifying the machines imported mainly from China
and India. There are fifteen manufacturers producing and replicating a number of locally
designed machines.
Documents suggest that around 40,000 small and medium sized metal workshops around the
country have been supporting the sector by producing different non-precision machines
(weeder, threshers etc.), supplying spare parts as well as providing much needed repair and
maintenance services .
Others:
Shifting of Labor: There is 40 % labor shortage during peak harvesting period.
Appropriate rice transplanter yet not adopted at farmers level to tackle the huge labor crisis.
It is estimated that for paddy 2.2 per cent and 0.5 percent are lost during harvesting and
transportation, respectively. Total cost of production of dry season paddy in Bangladesh is US $
418.87/ha compared to US $ 336.28/ha in West Bengal, $ 253.17/ha in Punjab, 223.65/ha in
Thailand and $ 274.45/ha in Vietnam. The highest cost in Bangladesh is due to the high costs of
irrigation, fertilizer and human labor (Kabir et al. 2008).

Challenges

EXPORT RELATED:
About 94% of the power tillers in use were manufactured and imported from China, and tractors
mostly from India. n. At present, tractors are absolutely imported from India and PTs are
imported from China due to its low price. Price of Korean PT is three times more than PT
manufactured by China.
Others:
Farmers do not have accessible financing options, most banks require a huge collateral before
granting loan. Many rural people seek fund from social sources (family, friends etc.). The
availability and accessibility of finance is more in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) due to higher
presence of branches in village-levels, in contrast to mainstream Commercial Banks, which only
operate in Metropolitan locations. MFIs make the option of financing easier to the small-scale
farmers, by eradicating pre-condition of financial security or guarantee but the repayment of
the loan involves higher interest rates than banks.