Department of Agricultural Marketing
Profile
- Head
- S.M. Arif Pasha
- Role
- Director General
- Annual budget
- —
- Staff
- —
- Established
- 1982
- Legal basis
- Agricultural Marketing Act, 2018 (Bangladesh Gazette); the department traces origins to the Marketing Department founded in 1935 in East Bengal (British Raj); formally reorganised as the Directorate of Agricultural Marketing in 1954 under East Pakistan's Agriculture, Co-operation and Relief Department; designated the Department of Agricultural Marketing in 1982 on recommendation of the Organisational Setup Committee chaired by Brigadier General Enamul Haque Khan
DAM is in a leadership transition following appointment of new Director General S.M. Arif Pasha on 26 April 2026 (previously Additional Secretary, Ministry of Land); in the preceding 90 days the department exercised its Agricultural Marketing Act, 2018 price-fixing authority to set three-tier price schedules for 29 essential commodities, published retail market comparison data showing broad post-Uprising price declines across 20 agricultural products, and its market intelligence infrastructure tracked the farmgate-to-retail spread during Ramadan 2026 preparation -- documenting a 200-275% margin on vegetables like aubergine that informed government policy on open-market sales and import ramp-up; the online daily price reporting system at market.dam.gov.bd remains the primary real-time market intelligence platform for Bangladesh's agricultural supply chain.
Recent activity
- 2026-04-26 appointment S.M. Arif Pasha, formerly Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Land, appointed Director General of the Department of Agricultural Marketing by the Ministry of Public Administration; appointment was part of a batch of eight new DG-level postings across government departments including the Directorate General of Food, Bureau of Non-Formal Education, Wage Earners' Welfare Board, and Department of Environment. ↗↗
- 2026-03-17 regulation DAM exercised its price-setting authority under Section 4(Jha) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, 2018 to publish official three-tier (farmgate, wholesale, retail) price schedules for 29 essential agricultural commodities -- including pulses (lentil, mung bean, black gram, chickpea, grass pea), protein items (broiler chicken, beef, goat meat, catfish, pangas fish, eggs), vegetables (potato, eggplant, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, beans, green chili, dry chili, sweet pumpkin), spices (ginger, garlic), and select fruits and processed items (banana, gram flour, dates, flattened rice) -- aimed at curbing seasonal price spikes; retail price of coarse lentil fixed at Tk 105.50/kg, egg at Tk 10.49/piece, broiler chicken at Tk 175.30/kg, potato at Tk 28.55/kg. ↗
- 2026-02-18 other DAM's daily price monitoring system documented persistent supply-chain structural weaknesses ahead of Ramadan 2026: farmgate-to-retail spread on aubergine recorded at Tk 40/kg (farmgate) vs Tk 120-150/kg (retail), a 200-275% markup attributed to multi-layer intermediation; government cited DAM data when reporting that essential commodity imports were 40% above prior-year levels in preparation for Ramadan demand; monitoring covered sugar, edible oil, chickpeas, lentils, dates, onions, and key vegetables. ↗
- 2026-01-14 statement DAM released retail price comparison data showing that 20 essential agricultural commodities recorded lower prices in January 2026 relative to pre-July 2024 Uprising levels: potato fell 58% (Tk 60 to Tk 25/kg), imported ginger 40% (Tk 300 to Tk 180/kg), locally-produced garlic 45% (Tk 220 to Tk 120/kg), raw sugar 22% (Tk 135 to Tk 105/kg), mung dal 23% (Tk 150 to Tk 115/kg), and coarse lentils 10% (Tk 110 to Tk 100/kg); the release also showed eggs at Tk 10/piece (down from Tk 12.10) and broiler chicken at Tk 170/kg (down from Tk 180/kg). ↗
Provenance & notes
Established_year set to 1982, the year the organization was formally designated 'Department of Agricultural Marketing' by the Government of Bangladesh on recommendation of the Enamul Haque Khan committee -- consistent with Wikipedia and dam.pabna.gov.bd history pages. The 1935 origin in British Bengal and 1954 Directorate-level reorganization are noted in legal_basis but the modern department dates from 1982. Current DG S.M. Arif Pasha confirmed appointed 26 April 2026 per BSS News (bssnews.net/others/381688), which lists him explicitly as posted to 'Department of Agricultural Marketing'; Dhaka Tribune corroborates the same batch appointment covering 15 institutions. His prior posting (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Land) confirmed by BSS News. staff_count is null: no sanctioned or actual staff figure is publicly disclosed on dam.gov.bd or in any verified secondary source. annual_budget_bdt is null: DAM's budget is embedded in the Ministry of Agriculture allocation; no separate line item could be verified in public FY2025-26 budget documents. The 29-commodity price schedule is authorised under Section 4(Jha) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, 2018, confirmed by BD Public News citing the original gazette notification; the Ramadan 2026 price-monitoring role is documented by Bangladesh Pratidin (18 February 2026) and BSS News (14 January 2026); both are cross-verified. The Daily Star price-monitoring article (thedailystar.net/health/food/price-essentials/news/government-sets-prices-29-food-items-3567506) returned HTTP 403 and could not be directly fetched; the substantive price data is independently confirmed via BD Public News and BSS News.
Sources
- https://dam.gov.bd/?L=E
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Agricultural_Marketing
- https://dam.pabna.gov.bd/en/site/page/e9Ve-%E0%A6%8F%E0%A6%95-%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%87
- http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/upload/act/2022-01-31-10-49-54-57.The-Agricultural-Marketing-Act,-2018.pdf
- https://market.dam.gov.bd/market_daily_price_report?L=E
- https://market.dam.gov.bd/price_graphical_report?L=E
- https://www.bssnews.net/others/381688
- https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/408698/govt-appoints-new-heads-to-15-institutions
- https://bdpublicnews.com/news/official-price-list-for-29-essential-agricultural-products-in-bangladesh/
- https://en.bd-pratidin.com/economy/2026/02/18/57243
- https://www.bssnews.net/news-flash/351025