In 1998 the World Bank granted Bangladesh a $32.4 million credit
to identify contaminated wells and develop alternative sources of safe drinking
water. UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other international
agencies joined efforts with the government to address the problem. About 30
percent of the wells tested have been contaminated to some degree by arsenic.
The health problems associated with arsenic poisoning are compounded by the
lack of access to health care in many rural communities.
Economy
First as part of British India and then of Pakistan, the area now constituting
Bangladesh suffered from chronic economic neglect. The region produced large
quantities of agricultural goods, including most of the world's jute, but
received little investment in such basic items as transportation facilities and
industrial plants. Much of the industrial investment, particularly in jute
manufacturing, was made by West Pakistani-owned firms. After Bangladesh gained
independence, the government took over most of the assets owned by West
Pakistanis. Today most of these firms remain government-owned; a program to
privatize them has made little progress. Bangladesh's vast reserves of natural
gas, many just recently discovered, hold great potential for the country's
future economic development. However, the government's reluctance to sanction
gas exports to India and its reputation for rampant corruption have tended to
discourage foreign investment. Foreign direct investment in Bangladesh has been
minor relative to most other countries in Asia. Bangladesh's gross domestic
product (GDP) was estimated at $56.6 billion in 2004. Agriculture contributed
21 percent of the GDP, industry (including manufacturing) contributed 27
percent, and services contributed 52 percent. In 2004 Bangladesh's budget
included $4.90 billion in expenditures and $5.58 billion in revenues.
Labor
The civilian labor force of Bangladesh was estimated in 2004 to include 62.4
million people. Agriculture (including fishing) employs 62 percent of the
workers, while 10 percent worked in industry and 24 percent in services.
Unemployment and underemployment are significant problems in the country.
Agriculture
Agriculture in Bangladesh consists mostly of subsistence farming on small
farms. Per-capita output tends to be low. Rice, of which two or three crops can
be grown each year, is the leading food crop in all areas and accounts for most
of the cultivated area. Some 40 million metric tons were harvested in 2005,
placing Bangladesh among the world's leading producers of rice. High-yielding
varieties of rice are cultivated as part of a government initiative to increase
the country's self-sufficiency in food grains. Other cereal crops, notably
wheat, have grown in importance since the 1980s, and the area of land under
wheat cultivation continues to increase. Pulses, an important source of protein
in most Bangladeshi diets, are also cultivated. Other crops include various
oilseeds (mainly for cooking oil), potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugarcane,
bananas, mangoes, and pineapples. The principal cash, or export, crop is jute
(a plant used to make burlap and twine), grown throughout the annually flooded
portions of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta; the amount of jute harvested in 2005
was about 801,000 metric tons. Tea, also a valuable cash crop, is grown almost
exclusively in the northeast, around Sylhet. Cattle and buffalo are numerous,
raised for dung (a source of fuel), hides (for leather), and meat.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector is made up principally of small-scale enterprises. The
chief manufactures of the country are jute products (such as cordage and
sacks), textiles, garments, processed food, beverages, tobacco items, and goods
made of wood, cane, or bamboo. Large-scale factories process jute and
sugarcane. Much of the nation's heavy industry
