Organization Profile

About Organization: Background The economy of Bangladesh is predominantly agricultural. About 80 percent of the total population live in rural areas and are directly or indirectly engaged in a wide range of agricultural activities. The agricultural sector contributes around 29 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product and generates employment for 63 percent of the total labour force. With the rapid increase in population and high pressure on land it was not possible to achieve increased productivity of agriculture through traditional farming systems. To achieve farmer's prosperity, alleviate poverty, ensure self reliance in rural communities on sustainable basis, and meet the challenges of the future, a mechanism was needed to systematically coordinate and organize facilities and resources in agricultural research. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) was established in 1973 by the Presidential Order No. 32 to provide systematic approach to plan, evaluate, coordinate and conduct national agricultural research program in order to accelerate food production including fish and livestock and labour productivity. The continuing reorganization of research institutions led to further restructuring of the agricultural research system in 1976. The parliamentary act in 1996 empower BARC with a wider responsibility of planning, priority setting, coordination, monitoring, reviewing and evaluation of research programs and human resource development of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) institutes. This wider responsibility was deemed necessary to improve the effectiveness of resources allocated to the agricultural research community. In order to strengthen BARC's role for effective co-ordination of NARS, BARC Act, 2012 was approved by the parliament in March 2012. The BARC Act, 2012 empowers BARC to allocate research resource in order to co-ordinate agricultural research program. Chronology of the Consolidation of Agricultural Research Agricultural Research Laboratory (1908)