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Contribution of Sugarcane Research to National Economy
Findings of Agricultural Economics Research revealed that GDP contribution of sugarcane to the national economy was 0.74%. On an average, annual contribution of sugarcane to GDP ranges in Tk. 12-15 billion (1200-1500 crore). In the financial year 1999-2000, 69.09 hundred thousand MT of sugarcane was produced in the country and added value to national GDP came to Tk. 15.22 billion (1521.69 crore). Among them GDP earnings of Tk. 8.52 billion (852.00 crore, 0.41%) came from Gur, Tk. 3.69 billion (369.00 crore, 0.18%) came from sugar, Tk. 0.93 billion (92.60 crore, 0.05%) came from seed, Tk. 0.83 billion (82.90 crore, 0.04%) came from cattle feed and fuel, Tk. 0.69 billion (68.94 crore, 0.02%) came from by-product and Tk. 0.56 billion (56.25 crore, 0.02%) came from chewing & juice.
Sugarcane research has proved its importance and contribution to the national economy. Based on World Bank ARMP project research findings, the contribution of sugarcane research and extension investment was estimated as 16% internal rate of return (IRR), which is higher than that of the country's prime cash crop of jute. Findings of World Bank studies reported that with the development of high sugar varieties, the country was able to save foreign exchange of Tk. 4.0 billion (400 crore) during 1972-1997 which is the notable benefit of sugarcane research in Bangladesh.
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