DEMOGRAPHIC PRESSURE, TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND WELFARE - THE CASEOF THE AGRICULTURE OF BANGLADESH

In the early years of its introduction, the HYV technology was widely regarded as a technical breakthrough that would bring about rapid agra rian progress and a revolutionary improvement in the standard of livin g of the farm population. Three decades later the promise of the new t echnology remains unfulfilled This article argues that the adoption of the HYV technology in the agriculture of Bangladesh was determined ma inly by an acute demographic pressure. Since the non-agricultural sect ors did not expand sufficiently rapidly, there was a tremendous pressu re on agriculture to accommodate the additional workforce. The imperat ive to employ a larger workforce and feed a rising population forced t he farmers to adopt the labour-intensive, land-augmenting HYV technolo gy. The welfare of the farmers did not show any secular increase with the switch to the new technology.