Evolution of agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh: The case of tractors for land preparation

In Bangladesh, mechanization—particularly tractor use for land preparation—has grown, despite the country’s having one of the smallest average farm sizes in the region and a historically large rural labor force. The early period of this growth, up to the mid-2000s, was led by technological factors that significantly raised the demand for intensive farm power for land preparation. Economic transformation, including rising real wages, played a greater role in the expansion of mechanization following the mid-2000s. Recently, mechanization has become increasingly associated with growth of nonfarm income-earning activities, and household survey data show that it is increasingly substituted for labor. A considerable part of the growth of tractor use for land preparation during the last three decades has been led by the private sector, whereas the government has engaged in relatively few direct interventions in mechanization. These patterns of mechanization growth in Bangladesh have important implications for other countries that have yet to go through this process.