Improving the Production Potential of Agrarian Communities in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh

14 Pages·2017·2.15 MB·English

by  Aaron Shew

The World’s Largest Open Access Agricultural & Applied Economics Digital Library

This document is discoverable and free to researchers across the
globe due to the work of AgEcon Search.

Help ensure our sustainability.

Give to AgE con Search

AgEcon Search
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu
[email protected]

Papers downloaded from AgEcon Search may be used for non-commercial purposes and personal study only.
No other use, including posting to another Internet site, is permitted without permission from the copyright
owner (not AgEcon Search), or as allowed under the provisions of Fair Use, U.S. Copyright Act, Title 17 U.S.C.
Invited presentation at the 2018 Southern Agricultural

Economics Association Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018,

Jacksonville, Florida

Copyright 2018 by Author(s). All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this

document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice

appears on all such copies.
Potential Economic and Food Security Impacts of Sustainable
Intensification of Polder Agriculture in Coastal Bangladesh
Aaron M. Shew
Doctoral Candidate
University of Arkansas (UofA)
Manoranjan Mondal, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
Sudhir Yadav, IRRI
Krishna Jagadish S.V., Kansas State University (KSU)
Humnath Bhandari, IRRI
L. Lanier Nalley, UofA
©2018 by A. Shew, M. Mondal, S. Yadav, S.V.K. Jagadish, H. Bhandari, and L.L. Nalley
All Rights Reserved
Sustainable Agricultural Intensification
SAI is a framework for evaluating the nexus of human-environmental relationships and “wicked
problems” in agricultural systems and a platform for improving their short- and long-term
productivity (Lipper et al. 2014, Reardon et al. 1999, Tilman et al. 2011).
Researchers and development practitioners are using SI to address the particularly wicked problem
of improving the livelihoods of agrarian communities in the context of poverty and food insecurity
(Clay et al. 1998; Garnett et al. 2013; Godfray & Garnett 2014; Lipper et al. 2014; Robinson et al.
2015), multi-scalar environmental changes (Campbell et al. 2014; Mueller et al. 2012; Van Nguyen
2009), and a uniquely engineered ‘polder’ system for water and land management (Gain et al. 2017;
Rawson 2011).
Controversy over “system” dominance, i.e., social versus economic versus natural, as in the rhetoric
surrounding sustainability in general, and also over definitions of extensification and intensification.
USAID SIIL Polder Project
Complex Human-Environmental Dynamics in GBMD
Climate change—monsoonal variability and sea-level rise
Low agricultural productivity—generally one season
(aman) of traditional rice followed by small vegetable and
lentil gardens
Increasing food demand and decreasing arable land
36 million people in Coastal Bangladesh
8 million subsistence farmers live in Polders—embanked
deltaic islands
Agrarian Adaptation: Drivers and Constraints
SAI: A framework for farm-level analysis
Environmental/Bio-physical Crop Suitability
Water depth constrains crop/rice variety suitability during the monsoon season.
Soil salinity and water-logging constrain crop suitability during the rabi season.
Economic and Socio-cultural Context
Farmers’ participation in water governance committees impacts their (lack of) willingness-to
adopt new technologies.
Water governance could be improved to optimize sub-polder, “sluice-shed” agricultural
production.
NEED MORE THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIO-CULTURAL SITUATION AND
PERCEPTIONS OF IMPROVED TECHNOLOGIES BEFORE THE ABOVE ISSUES CAN BE
INVESTIGATED.
Farmer Surveys and SAI Themes for Analysis
• Survey was designed by IRRI, USAID, and research practitioners who have worked
in the region for more than a decade.
• 1025 farmers surveyed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
• ~40 villages in 3 polders covering approximately 175 sq km
• SAI themes included:
• Demographics
• Agricultural practices/management/land use
• Perceptions of improved technologies
• Food security
The primary aim of this study is to characterize current practices and investigate
potential avenues for SAI based on farmers’ food security situation and perceptions
of improved technologies.
Potential Avenues for SAI
• Within season:
• High Yielding Variety (HYV) rice, submergence tolerant HYV
• Rice-fish systems
• Second season:
• Plant HYV crops during the boro season such as legumes, sunflowers, sesame, wheat, or a
short season rice
• Aquaculture-poultry systems
• All around:
• Adopt more efficient forms of mechanization
• Improve access to and use of inputs
Demographics of Survey Respondents
Land Ownership Status