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Household Biomass Fuel Energy Situation of a Forest Rich District of Bangladesh

Jerin Akhter
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

M. Millat-e-Mustafa
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

Niaz Ahmed Khan
Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331 , Bangladesh.

M. Shafiul Alam
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

An exploratory survey to assess the household fuel energy situation of Cox's Bazar- a forest rich district of Bangladesh was carried out over a period of 3 months from April to June 1987. A multistage simple random sampling technique was adopted to select the study area. Based on the annual income farmers were categorized into rich, medium and poor and 30 respondents, 10 from each category were selected randomly for the study. Wood, branches of trees and crop residues were the biomass fuel energy used by the respondents. Market, home gardens, nearly forests and neighbors were the sources of biomass fuel energy identified. Farmers opined that biomass fuel energy situation is becoming critical day by day and all category households experienced fuel shortage with varying degree. However, types of biomass fuel energy used, fuel shortage and it's adjustment mechanism and users' preferences among various fuelwood• species depended largely on the socio-economic status of the household as well as on the availability of, and accessibility to the supply sources.

Keywords: Household, Biomass, Fuel energy, Foresrst.

Location: Kalatali village of Cox 's Bazar

Start Date: 00-04-1997

End Date: 00-06-1997

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Performance, Social status

Objectives:

To study the present status of household biomass fuel energy situation of a forest rich district of Bangladesh and its trend.

Methodology:

A systematic biomass energy status survey of the household of Kalatali village of Cox's Bazar was carried out over a period of three months from April to June, 1997. While designing the research schemes, the 64 administrative districts of Bangladesh were arranged in descending order on the basis of the area of forest lands under their respective territory. The first five districts with relatively larger areas of forest lands were chosen purposively for the sampling. A multistage random sampling method was then applied to locate the village and household for the study with districts (Cox's Bazar) as the primary sampling unit and the villages (Kalatali) as the ultimate sampling unit. The total number of households in the village Kalatali was obtained from the district census published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. A preliminary socio-economic survey, administering a pre-tested questionnaire, was then conducted in order to categorize farmers of the village Kalatali into the following three socio-economic groups: rich (with an annual income more than Tk. 60,000.00), medium (with an annual income between Tk. 36,000.00 to Tk. 60,000.00) and poor (with an annual income less than Tk. 36,000.00). Thirty households, ten from each category, were then selected randomly for the Household Biomass 57 study. Income was used as a basis of stratification because of the fact that it is a critical variable in any economic study related to fuel wood use. Moreover, access to different fuel and use of fuel was largely determined by the respect household's income. The female heads of households involved in cooking and fuel management of the house were the respondents of the study. However, help from other members of the households was sought when felt necessary. 'A check list' with open ended questions was used to collect data. On each topic the respondent was free to express her/his own views. New avenues of questioning were pursued as the interview developed. After the interview a paired raning exercise was also conducted. This was to find out the respondents' preferences of different fuel wood species. The important attributes of ranking the species were explored through subsequent questioning.

Source of Information: Bangladesh Journal of Agriculture, Vol: 24 (1), PP: 55-65, 1999, ISSN: 0253-5408

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1.

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Increased depletion of tree resources in a forest rich area of Bangladesh is evident from the distances traveled by the people for collecting fuel wood over the last 15 years. This also reflects the severity of shortage of biomass fuel in forest poor areas of the country. It may be noted that in Bangladesh, there are 32 districts in the country where no government forests exist. To bridge the gap in supply and demand of energy requirement, prospect of using non biomass fuel should be explored as substitute. Therefore, increased research on biomass and non-biomass fuels in relation to the broader socio-economy is the need of the time.

Knowledge Management: Journal