BARI has a long historical background of its own. The emergence of the Institute in its present form has occurred through a number of changes starting from simply a sub-ordinate status under the Department of Land Records in the then Bengal. On the recommendation of the Famine Commission in 1880, the Bengal Department of Agriculture was established as a sub-ordinate part of the Department of Land Records in the then Bengal. In 1906, Lord Curzon, the then Vice Roy of India had granted separate status to the Bengal Department of Agriculture and in the same year, a nuclear agricultural research laboratory under this department was established at Tejgaon, Dhaka. In 1908, an experimental station what has become known as Dhaka Farm was established on an area of 161.20 hectares of land. This Dhaka Farm was the predecessor of BARI and some other research institutes. Establishment of Dhaka Farm offered a good scope for conducting research in the field. In 1947, Bengal Department of Agriculture was renamed as East Pakistan Department of Agriculture. The two constituent divisions of the department were Research and Extension. In 1962, there was a severe blow to agriculture research when the land of Dhaka Farm was acquired for establishing Second Capital (today called Sher-e-Bangla Nagar). In 1968, two separate directorates were established - one was Directorate of Agriculture (Extension and Management) and the other was Directorate of Agriculture (Research and Education).The Directorate of Agriculture (Research and Education) was mostly concerned with research. This Directorate as well was responsible for the management of Bangladesh Agricultural Institute (BAI) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. Later in eighties and nineties, two other agricultural colleges, one in Patuakhali and the other in Dinajpur, were established. These two agricultural colleges were also administered by BARI until these became universities. In 1971, the former provincial organization took on national responsibilities.