Bangladesh’s agriculture sector is facing a leadership vacuum as key positions across most of the 17 departments, agencies and research institutions under the Ministry of Agriculture remain occupied by officials serving in routine, acting or additional capacities.
The prolonged absence of permanent appointments is reportedly delaying long-term planning and important decisions, affecting food security, agricultural development and field-level extension activities.
Officials concerned said senior executives have been kept in acting or routine charge for periods ranging from three months to nearly two years. In several cases, officials are performing additional duties alongside their regular responsibilities, making it difficult to ensure effective institutional leadership and administrative efficiency.
Agriculture experts said more than five months have passed since the current government took office, while much of the 180-day short-term action plan for the agriculture sector has already elapsed. They believe appointing permanent heads at the beginning would have improved both institutional performance and staff morale.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the country’s largest agricultural extension agency, has been operating under routine or acting leadership since the political transition following the August 5, 2024 uprising. Three directors general served only in routine capacity before leaving office. The current DG, Md Abdur Rahim, was given routine charge on January 7 this year. He is also serving as director of the Plant Quarantine Wing.
Several other important DAE positions, including directors of the planning, project implementation and ICT, training, and field services wings, are also being run by officials in acting or additional capacities.
A similar situation exists in agricultural research institutions. The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), the country’s apex coordinating body for agricultural research, has been without a regular executive chairman for around nine months. Dr Md Abdus Salam has been serving in routine charge since October 30 last year while also holding his substantive position as member director of the Crops Division.
At the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Director General Dr Md Manzurul Kadir, appointed on June 17, has also been serving in routine capacity. Several directors and senior officials across BARI’s research, training, planning and evaluation and service wings are similarly working under routine arrangements.
The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) also remains affected by leadership uncertainty. Dr Aminul Islam was appointed director general on May 3 but the appointment was cancelled two days later following protests by employees. On July 15, agricultural scientist Dr Md Rafiqul Islam was given routine charge as DG.
Meanwhile, Dr Shariful Haque Bhuiyan has been serving as routine director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) for around 11 months. Several senior positions at its administration, research and training departments and regional sub-centres are also being handled by acting officials.
The Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) has been operating under a routine DG, Dr Nargis Akter, for nearly one year and nine months. Key technical and scientific positions at the institute are also being handled on an acting basis.
The Cotton Development Board is similarly being run under routine leadership, with Md Rezaul Amin serving as executive director in that capacity for around nine months. Officials at several regional offices are also carrying additional responsibilities.
Agriculture Secretary Dr Rafiqul E Mohamed attributed the prolonged leadership and promotion bottlenecks to problems inherited from the previous administration.
He said the situation did not emerge overnight and resulted from long-standing administrative mismanagement. According to him, many officials lacked the required two to three years of experience in their previous positions needed for promotion to higher posts.
He cited the example that an official must have at least two years of experience as a director to qualify for appointment as director general. As many officials do not meet such requirements, temporary responsibilities have been assigned based on seniority.
The secretary said the process of regularising appointments is ongoing and that acting arrangements would be withdrawn once officials meet the required qualifications under existing rules.
