Among the achievements of Bangladesh in the five decades of independence, the increase in crop production is the most significant. Since independence, the production of paddy in Bangladesh has more than tripled, wheat twice, vegetables five times and maize ten times. Bangladesh ranks fourth in the world in rice production and third in vegetable production.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Statistical Yearbook-2013, the amount of arable land in the world has increased at the highest rate in the world during 2000-2010. At the same time, Bangladesh ranks third in terms of annual growth rate of total vegetable production. However, the US Department of Agriculture’s ‘Food Grain: World Market and Trade-2021’ report shows that Bangladesh is the second largest importer of rice in the world.
According to the Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh is currently the fourth largest freshwater fish producer. First in the world in hilsa production. Fourth in the world in goat production. Seventh in mango production. Even though it is an old variety, the success of Bangladesh in total potato production is surprising. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bangladesh ranks eighth in potato production. Besides, the country ranks second in jute production.
Bangladeshi scientists are also doing well in inventing varieties of Asian crops. Apart from several varieties, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute has already revealed the secrets of jute life. So far, scientists at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRI) and the Bangladesh Atomic Agriculture Research Institute (BINA) have developed a variety of tolerant rice varieties in a total of 13 adverse environments.
Of these, nine varieties tolerant of salt, two varieties tolerant to drought and four varieties tolerant to flood have been developed without. In 2013, for the first time in the world, our agricultural researchers invented zinc-rich rice varieties. Bangladesh’s position in developing environmentally friendly rice varieties is also commendable.
In recent years, Bangladesh has shown signs of achieving domestic growth in its economy. In terms of per capita income, Bangladesh has overtaken India in South Asia. Bangladesh ranked sixth in the world in terms of high growth (real GDP) in 2018-19 fiscal year. [Source: World Economic Outlook Database, IMF, April 2020.] However, there are a few war-torn countries in the top ten. Such as South Sudan, Rwanda, Libya, Dominica, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Armenia, Tajikistan, Djibouti, Nepal.
According to the World Trade Organization’s World Trade Statistics Review-2021, Bangladesh was third in garment exports and second by 2020. Bangladesh ranks eighth-ninth in the world in terms of foreign exchange earnings. Two notable positions are manpower export and outsourcing. The country ranks eighth in both sectors. Bangladesh holds the top position in the world in ship breaking industry.
While doing well in some international indices, Bangladesh’s position in several other indices as a whole is not so good. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been publishing the Global Knowledge Index since 2016. Pre-university education, technical and vocational education and training, higher education, development and innovation, information and communication technology, economics and environment
There is no university in Bangladesh in the ranking of the top universities in the world, there is a continuous decline. According to the latest ranking by the UK-based organization QuakQuery Symonds (QS), Dhaka University ranks between 801 and 1000 in the list of 1,003 universities in the world. Dhaka University was also 601st in 2012.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh ranks 106th out of 117 countries in the world in the ‘Henley Passport Index-2021’ which determines the value of passports. Passport standards have been steadily declining since the 7th position in 2006.
