Country Context
Administrative units
In Bangladesh, the administrative hierarchy has historically been Last update: August 15, 2024
This page contains information about some of the data available in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE) for Bangladesh. This is not a comprehensive guide.
For information about using the filters and fields for specific domains in the FDE, see Choose a Data Domain.
Summary table
ISO 3166-1 codes | Alpha 2: BD, Alpha 3: BGD, Numeric: 50 |
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Administrative units | Divisions, districts, upazilas, unions |
Agricultural seasons | Kharif (Apr-Sep), Rabi (Oct-Mar), Boro (Dec-March) |
Major crops | Rice, jute, wheat, sugarcane, tea |
Country food security context
Statistical reporting units
Bangladesh usually uses administrative units as their statistical reporting units.
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Administrative (admin) units are the geographical areas into which a country is divided. FEWS NET uses the following terminology: National boundary = admin 0, First sub-national division = admin 1 (e.g., states in the United States), Second sub-national division = admin 2 (e.g., counties in the United States), and so on. |
Admin 1: Divisions.
Admin 2: Districts.
Admin 3: Upazlias.
Admin 4: Unions, the lowest administrative units.
Other admin units: Historically, the administrative hierarchy was defined by Divisions containing Regions containing Districts. The ‘Region’ administrative area is no longer used in Bangladesh, and where District-level information is available, we have not recorded the Region.
In general
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Data from 1982 – 2003 is reported by Region only, and not the more granular District.
In general, data Data from 2003 – 2016 is reported by District.
We have an outside understanding of the division-region definitions as they existed for the years 1982 - 2015, and have included the appropriate division for the reported data, even if the source table does not provide it.Variations in the spelling of administrative area names have been dropped, in favor of the most common spelling of the name.
Units of measure
All FEWS NET crop data are converted to metric tons and hectares.
1.01605 Bales = 5.60 MT
2.47105 Acre = 1 Hectare
1.01605 Maund = 27.22 MT
Crop Data
Context
Major Crops are defined as Aus Rice, Boro Rice, Aman Rice, Potato, Wheat, and Jute.
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Crop data
Explore our crop data.
View our documentation on using the Crop Domain.
Crop estimate data sources
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics: https://bbs.gov.bd/site/page/3e838eb6-30a2-4709-be85-40484b0c16c6/Yearbook-of-Agricultural-Statistics
Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture: https://moa.gov.bd/site/page/8ad8ae11-00e2-4a90-%208a5a-af2a8d4d8ca5/Crop-Situation
Copies of the original source documents can be located in our document management system.
Year and season definition
There are two main growing seasons in Bangladesh
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Kharif crops are grown in the spring or summer season and harvested in late summer or in early winter. (~July - Oct)
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Rabi crops are sown in winter and harvested in the spring or early summer. (~Oct - March)
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Kharif Season (Spring/Summer): Crops are planted, grown, and harvested from July to October.
Rabi Season (Winter): Crops are planted, grown, and harvested from October to March.
In addition,
Boro crops are sown from December to March of the following year.
A 'sub-season', pre-Kharif, is defined, but not used to report in these sources.A detailed crop calendar is provided
Annual season in the context of Bangladesh refers to the period from April to April. Crops reported under the annual season are those whose production occurred and is reported within that timeframe.
The
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year provided in the source refers to the time period from April to April.
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Example: 2015 refers to April 2015 to April 2016. |
Season | Start Date | End Date | Example |
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Annual | April 1 | March 31 | 2015 = April 1, 2015 - March 31, 2016 |
Kharif | July 1 | September 30 |
A note on Aus, Aman and Boro
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Kharif 2015 = July 1, 2015 - September 31, 2015 | |||
Rabi | October 1 | March 31, Year +1 | Rabi 2015 = October 1, 2015 - March 31, 2016 |
Boro | December 1 | May 31, Year +1 | Boro 2015 = December 1, 2015 - May 31, 2016 |
Primary crops
Major Crops are defined as Aus Rice, Boro Rice, Aman Rice, Potato, Wheat, and Jute.
Rice: Dominates agriculture, accounting for nearly 80% of the total cropped area. Among the top 5 producers globally.
Jute: A major export crop known as "golden fiber." Second-largest producer worldwide.
Wheat: Important cereal crop.
Sugarcane: Significant for the sugar industry.
Tea: Significant export crop. Among the top 10 producers globally.
Other Crops: Pulses, oilseeds, fruits (mango, jackfruit, bananas), vegetables, and spices.
Binnidana is a quinoa-type grain introduced recently in Bangladesh. It was first reported in the 2018-2019 crop reports and is a Rabi crop fetching good prices in the capital. For more information, you can refer to the following resources:
Aus, Aman, and Boro Rice
FEWS NET treats Aus, Aman, and Boro as the same crop (rice) , being cultivated under different production systems. Bangladeshi sources treat Aus, Aman, and Boro as different crops . In fact, the Aus, Aman, and Boro label is best understood as reflecting a mixture of season, crop variety, and production system. Bangladeshi sources report rice production in greater detail than we have recorded here, including more information on production system (broadcast vs transplant) and genetic varietiessystems.
Name | Season | Crop variety | Production system |
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Aus |
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| Broadcast |
Aman |
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| Broadcast and transplanted |
Boro |
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| Broadcast and transplanted; similar to transplanted aman Aman both in their method of cultivation and crop habit |
Methodology
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Crop estimation methodology
Survey method: Major crops are surveyed using direct observation of agricultural fields and facilities. All other crops are surveyed by interviewing farmers about recent planting/harvesting activity.
Surveyors used ~10Sampling locations: Approximately 10,000 sampling locations are used, visited 4 four times a year, to estimate agricultural data.
Crop calendar: Bangladesh has a well-defined crop calendar, and the surveyors report using the crop calendar surveyors use this to accurately capture each crops crop's production and area planted.
Yield calculation: When ‘Yields’ are provided by the Agricultural Yearbook sources, they are calculated through precise measurement of by precisely measuring a small subset of the sampling locations. When `Yields` Yields have not been provided in the source, we have calculated the yields , they are calculated based on reported area and production.
Crop varieties: In some cases, different crop variants were tracked in source documents, but only Total Crop figures were reported here. Source documents report source reporting provides additional information on local crop varieties, or crops distinguished by local planting practices. Not all of this crop information has been recorded by FEWS NET. Examples include Local, Pajam, Broadcast, and HYV (hybrid) for Aman Rice; Broadcast, Local, Transplanted, and HYV for Aus Rice; Local , and HYV and Hybrid for Boro Rice; Local, HYV, and Indian for Potato.
Data entry standards
NA: The crop was not grown this year.
NC: Data was not collected by the source for this crop in this year.
0: No area yield or quantity produced.
Data correction
Steps have been taken to identify and correct unintentional or obvious errors in the data, such as misalignments, typos, and misreported figures.