About of Bangladesh

Bangladesh is located in southern Asia, in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, and covers a total area of 144 000 km². Administratively, the country is divided into 7 divisions, 64 districts and 490 upozilla and the capital city is, Dhaka.

The country is flat with some uplands in the northeast and southeast. A great plain lies almost at sea level along the southern part of the country and rises gradually towards the north. The land elevation in the plain varies from 0 to 90 m above sea level. The maximum elevation is 1 230 m above sea level at Keocradang in the Rangamati hill district. The geo-morphology of the country consists of a large portion of floodplains (79.1 percent), some terraces (8.3 percent) and hilly areas.

The total cultivable area is estimated at 8 774 000 ha, which is about 61 percent of the total area. In  1994, the total cultivated area amounted to 7 743 000 ha, of which 392 000 ha under permanent crops. Of the area cultivated under annual crops, about 19 percent  was  single  cropping,  59 percent  double  cropping  and  the  remaining 22 percent triple cropping. In 1994, due to double and triple cropping, the total area of crops amounted to about 13.5 million ha, giving an average intensity of 154 percent. Subsistence  farming  practices   characterize  agriculture  in  Bangladesh. Cereals, occupying nearly 11 million ha or 76 percent of the total area in 1994, are the most important annual crops, with rice alone representing more than 10 million ha. Other annual crops are pulses, oilseeds, jute and sugar cane. The average holding per farm household was 0.9 ha in 1983. Nearly 24 percent of farm households own less than 0.2 ha and another 46 percent own to 1.0ha.