The opinion article "Making Crop Insurance a Reality" of this esteemed daily on May 11, 2026 rightly highlighted the growing vulnerability of agriculture due to climate change and natural calamities. The concern is genuine and timely. Floods, droughts, cyclones, salinity intrusion, pest attacks and unpredictable weather are increasingly threatening food production and rural livelihoods. In a country like Bangladesh, where agriculture still supports millions of families, any discussion on farmers' protection deserves serious attention.
However, while appreciating the intention behind promoting crop insurance, there remains another side of the debate which deserves equal consideration. Crop insurance may not necessarily be the most effective or sustainable solution for our agricultural reality. Rather, overdependence on insurance could gradually weaken the spirit of resilience, innovation and responsibility among farmers.
Agriculture has always been an uncertain profession, but in the haor belt it becomes far more risky, challenging, and unpredictable, where a single flash flood can undo an entire season's effort within hours. Farmers battle not only natural disasters but also fluctuating market prices, rising production costs, shortage of quality inputs, dependency on imported hybrid seeds, lack of technical knowledge and inadequate storage and marketing facilities. Despite all these adversities, our farmers continue to produce food with extraordinary perseverance. The strength of our agriculture lies not merely in financial compensation but in the determination and adaptability of the farming community itself.
The haor ecosystem of Bangladesh is topographically distinct from other agricultural regions. These vast bowl-shaped wetlands remain submerged for a large part of the year and become cultivable only in the dry season. This unique landscape creates a single-crop dependency, mainly on Boro rice, making the entire system highly vulnerable. Historically, flash floods are a recurring and almost predictable phenomenon in haor areas. Sudden upstream rainfall in the hills can inundate fields just before harvest, often within hours, leaving farmers with little or no time to save their crops. As a result, agriculture in haor regions is not just difficult-it is inherently uncertain. Farming here seems like as a "chance crop system". Even after months of careful cultivation, there is no guarantee of harvest. A single untimely flood can erase an entire season's effort, investment, and hope. This constant risk has shaped the mindset and practices of haor farmers, who cultivate with resilience despite knowing the odds.
Introducing crop insurance on a large scale may create unintended consequences. Once compensation becomes assured, a section of farmers may become less attentive towards proper farm management, risk mitigation practices and crop diversification. The tendency to rely on insurance benefits rather than preventive measures could gradually reduce productivity and accountability in farming practices. In many countries, insurance schemes have also suffered from false claims, corruption, delayed settlement and administrative complexities.
Moreover, implementing crop insurance in a developing agricultural economy is not simple. Most farmers in Bangladesh are smallholders cultivating fragmented lands. Assessing actual crop damage accurately across millions of farms would require huge administrative capacity, transparent monitoring and strong institutional integrity. Without these, insurance programmes may become financially unsustainable and vulnerable to misuse.
Instead of prioritising insurance, greater emphasis should be placed on strengthening the agricultural foundation itself. Investment in climate-resilient agriculture, improved irrigation systems, research on stress-tolerant seed varieties, farmer training, digital weather forecasting and easy access to quality inputs can reduce risks more effectively than post-disaster compensation. Strengthening agricultural extension services and ensuring fair market prices would empower farmers to withstand shocks with dignity and self-reliance. The government may also consider expanding emergency rehabilitation funds and direct disaster recovery assistance for genuinely affected farmers rather than introducing a nationwide insurance dependency culture. Timely subsidies, low-interest agricultural loans and community-based support systems can often provide faster and more practical relief.
A more practical alternative to crop insurance is a rapid, government-led emergency support system that responds immediately after disasters and helps farmers restart production without delay. After any major calamity-flood, flash flood, cyclone or drought-the priority should be quick assessment of real crop loss through local agricultural offices, union-level committees and extension workers. Institutions like the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) already have field presence down to the grassroots, which makes them better suited for swift verification and targeted response than a complex insurance mechanism. Based on verified damage, the government can provide emergency incentive assistance in the form of quality seeds, fertilisers, irrigation support, and limited cash grants. This support should be timely and sufficient so that farmers can prepare for the next cropping season without falling into debt or distress sales. In vulnerable regions such as the haor areas-where a single flash flood can wipe out an entire Boro harvest, this kind of immediate input support is far more effective than delayed insurance payouts. Such an approach ensures three key advantages. First, it maintains farmers' motivation and accountability, as support is secured to recovery rather than compensation claims. Second, it reduces administrative complexity and the risk of misuse associated with insurance schemes. Third, it strengthens the existing agricultural support system by making it more responsive and field-oriented. In essence, timely rehabilitation support, not post-loss compensation dependency, can better protect both farmers and national food security-especially in high-risk ecosystems like the haor belt.
The future of agriculture should not solely depend on compensation after loss, but on building the capacity to prevent and withstand those losses. Farmers need empowerment more than entitlement. The remarkable progress of Bangladesh's agriculture over the decades was achieved not through insurance protection, but through the hard work, resilience and adaptation of its farmers under persistent uncertainty.
Therefore, while crop insurance may appear attractive in theory, its long-term implications and practical limitations must be carefully evaluated before considering it as a universal remedy for agricultural vulnerability. Sustainable agriculture will emerge not from dependency, but from resilience, innovation and collective responsibility.
Md. Refatul Hossain, former Additional Director, DAE and Senior Consultant, Agronochain Ltd. refatdae87@gmail.com