Journal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Vol. 34, No. 1, 59-70, 2010
ENERGY INTENSITY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN RELATION TO
AGRICULTURE – BANGLADESH PERSPECTIVE
SHAIKH KHOSRUZZAMAN1, M. ALI ASGAR2, K. M. REZAUR RAHMAN3 AND
SHAWKAT AKBAR3
Institute of Natural Sciences, National University, Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh
ABSTRACT
Results of the energy intensity and overall energetic efficiency show that total energy output
increased from 69.87 to 82.08 GJha-1, with increasing commercial energy input from 17.94 to 27.10
GJha-1 during 1990 to 2005. The corresponding increase in energy intensity was 45.67 to 54.47
MJ/US$(2000). Energetic efficiency, calculated as the ratio of total output to input for different
crops, using weight factor, decreased from 3.97 to 3.03. The energetic efficiency declines with
increasing energy input, and the result indicates that input energy increases faster compared to
energy output. The mechanization index increased from 64 to 78%. However, the main goal being
maximization of the output per unit agricultural land, the estimated change in efficiency with
increasing input can play an important role in choosing the appropriate input for optimum output.
Key words: Energy intensity, Productivity, Agriculture
INTRODUCTION
The economic activity of Bangladesh is heavily dependent on agriculture in respect
of employment, where 48% of the human labor is involved. This particular sector
contributes only 12.929 billion US$ (2000), which is about 21% of total GDP of 2008.
This discrepancy in respect of output per person engaged in agriculture is mainly due to
the backwardness in energy use in this sector considering the total energy use, its form
and efficiency.
Energy intensity is a measure of efficiency of a nation’s economy. It is usually
calculated as unit of energy needed to produce per unit of GDP. The energy intensity in
agriculture sector is calculated in three ways. In the first case, we considered the
combined contribution of all sub-sectors of agriculture such as crops and horticulture,
fishery, livestock and forestry taking into account only the commercial energy used such
as petroleum, electricity. In the second case, only the crops and horticulture sub-sectors
have been considered. In the third case only the crops and horticulture sub-sectors, taking
into account all kinds of energy such as muscle power, mechanical power, chemical and
bio-fertilizer energy and all other forms of final commercial energy used in irrigation
have been considered.
