Home ›› 30 Nov 2021 ›› Front
Agribusiness holds massive investment potentials in Bangladesh’s economy as half a dozen of its sub-sectors will grow, ranging 25-75 per cent by 2026, experts said on Monday.
Industry insiders, agricultural economists and government officials made the projection at a seminar titled ‘Agribusiness: Growth by Nature’ on the second day of the International Investment Summit 2021 held in Dhaka.
“As agribusiness is growing very fast both in domestic and global market, there are huge opportunities to invest in the sector to grab the market share in the export markets. Some sub-sector of the agribusiness will grow up 75 per cent in the next five years,” said FH Ansarey, managing director and chief executive officer of ACI Agribusinesses, while presenting the keynote paper.
Bangladesh Poultry, fisheries, animal health, seed, farm mechanisation and jute sectors are more promising sectors to make a profit for the investor, said Ansarey.
The largest agriculture market in Bangladesh is the poultry industry, with a current market size of $7,144 million which will reach $9,590 million by 2026. The sector will experience 34.23 per cent growth in five years.
Farm mechanisation’s current market is worth $1.35 billion, which will reach $2.08 billion by 2026. The sector will see 54 per cent growth in the next five years. The machinery market will reach $1.05 billion, and the spare parts and services market will reach $1.03 billion by 2026 from the current market worth $0.60 billion.
The current seed market worth $500 million will reach $800 million by 2026. The sector will see 60 per cent growth in the next five years. Currently, 40 per cent of seeds are imported while domestic production meets 60 per cent of demand.
The fish feed market will experience 25 per cent growth in five years. The current fish feed market worth $928 million will increase to $1,160 million by 2026 with 5 per cent annual growth.
Bangladesh is meeting 40 per cent of global jute demand, which will increase more in the coming days. Bangladesh exports $1.2 billion to the worldwide market. Its export will reach $2.1 billion by 2026, with 15 per cent growth each year. In five years, the export will increase by 75 per cent. The global jute market is worth $3 billion.
Domestic and export of Bangladeshi agro-processed food are worth $3.5 billion, which will reach $3.8 billion by 2026. Local demand worth $2.8 billion will rise to $3 billion in this period.
However, the dairy feed market will reach $407 million by 2026 while the current dairy feed market is worth $344 million. The sector will increase by 18.31 per cent in the next five years.
Cash incentives, tax exemption
Bangladesh allows 100 per cent foreign direct investment and 100 per cent repatriation of dividends. Royalties, repatriation of dividends, and income is 100 per cent tax holiday in the economic zone and export processing zones, primarily for 10 years, including investment in the agro sector.
Bangladesh enjoys duty-free access to 52 countries under the generalised system of preference, duty-free access of 8,256 products to China. All these facilities made the Bangladeshi agro sector lucrative for investors. Moreover, the agricultural industry has been given priority in export policy 2018-21.
According to the paper presented at the summit, there are 20 per cent cash incentives on vegetables, seeds, potatoes, halal meat, fruits and processed agricultural exports; 15 per cent incentives in rice export; 7-20 per cent on jute products and stick carbon export; 2-10 per cent on shrimp and fish export; and an additional 4 per cent on agricultural products exporter of Special Economic Zone.
Demographic and geographic dividend, connectivity and infrastructure, investment-friendly policies and support created limitless investment opportunities in agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque was the chief guest in the session on the summit titled “Agribusiness: Growth by Nature” while Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PRAN-RFL Group, presided over it.
“Importance of agriculture in the economy will increase if we can emphasise the agro-processing sector,” Razzaque said.
“We achieved self-sufficiency in food production in 2015. Now our target is to achieve sufficiency in safe, quality and nutritious food. We are trying to increase farmers’ and the people’s income as low-income people cannot afford hygiene and nutritious food,” he said.
“We have an excellent investment climate. We have a lot of prospects for investment in agriculture. We need to harness it. We need educated and dedicated entrepreneurs,” the minister said.
