Institution-building considerations programmes in Bangladesh In rural

The economy of Bangladesh is predominantly rural-based whereby the population constitutes 91 per cent of the total (wood:1994:292), the agricultural labour force accounts for 90.16 per cent of the total{Huq:1978:l67) and approximately 80 per cent are considered directly dependent on agriculture. But high concentration of land resulting in landlessness has increased the proportion of rural labour force. Especially the rural wage labourers grew by 42 per cent as compared to 27 per cent for the total labour force between 1961 and 1974 (Khan:1986:67).