Bangladesh has long been considered one of the world’s poorest countries, with 17.6% of the
population living below the lower poverty line (HIES, 2010), the threshold used to distinguish
the extreme poor from the poor. However, in recent years the country has achieved good
economic growth, and the incidence of poverty was reduced by 36% between 2000 and 2010.
The trend can partly be attributed to the pro-poor strategy of the Government, which has focused
on economic growth, the promotion of human development and the provision of social safety
nets (IDB, 2011). Consequently, the country is now classified as a lower middle income,
according to the World Bank (2015).
The rural poor are historically extremely reliant on the agricultural sector. As the country has
become richer, there has been a gradual sectoral shift from farm to non-farm activities, and
labour has been employed elsewhere. For example, many poor women in particular have made
successful livelihoods in the ready-made garments sector. Despite this, the reliance of the rural
poor on agriculture remains high. In 2013, it was estimated that the agricultural sector
accommodates 47.5% of the total workforce of Bangladesh and its GDP is around 18%
(Unnayan Onneshan, 2013). With such a high proportion of the population reliant on agriculture
and land-related activities, landholding plays a vital role in the fight against poverty. Strong
inequalities in land ownership are a significant driving factor of poverty and extreme poverty.
Landlessness remains a reliable and strong indicator of extreme poverty.
As Bangladesh becomes a Middle Income Country (MIC), the question of rural employment
becomes central. With the right policies and supportive investments at local, national, and global
levels, agriculture offers new opportunities to hundreds of millions of rural poor to move out of
poverty (World Bank, 2008). However, the World Bank notes that policies have often failed to
utilize agriculture to achieve development, as rapid population growth, declining farm size,