Impact of Subsidy for Sugar Industry in Bangladesh

Subsidy in agriculture is an important issue and is an instrument of fiscal policy of the government. The developed countries are providing huge amount of subsidy to agriculture whereas the developing countries are restricted in many ways particularly under WTO regulation. In 2001 the government of Bangladesh again decided to provide subsidy on agriculture including sugarcane after the withdrawal of subsidy in1992. Sugar industry is the most important agro-based industry in Bangladesh. This industry is passing its crisis period due to huge amount of losses every year. Poor sugarcane farmers are not able to apply proper doses of input due to higher input price which results in low sugarcane yield. Policy makers are interested to know whether subsidy has made any positive impact on sugar industry or not. And how this programme can be made more effective? This book tried to answer /examine this question using empirical data from 15 sugar mills and came up with some important findings about the impact of subsidy in this sector. This book will be very useful for planners, policy makers and researchers as well.