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Impacts of Rice-prawn Farming System on Farm Productivity, Food Security and Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh: a Case Study in Khulna District

Basanta Kumar Barmon
Dept. of Economics, East West University, Jahurul Islam City, Aftabnagar, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The present study was undertaken to assess the impacts of rice-prawn gher (RPG) system on farm productivity, food security and poverty reduction in Bangladesh. In this study, farm survey data, extracted from a comprehensive questionnaire from two study villages viz. Bilpabla (RPG farming) and Chanchra (year-round modern variety–YRMV) located in Khulna and Jessore district, respectively were analyzed deliberately. This study consists of a random selection of ninety farmers from Bilpabla Village and one-hundred farmers from Chanchra. The study indicates that RPG farming system has significant impacts on farm productivity. On an average, yield of modern variety (MV) was reasonably higher in RPG farming system than that of YRMV farming system. In addition, the households engaged in RPG farming system (Bilpabla Village) have simultaneously generated more household income and per capita income (more than twice), relative to YRMV farming system (Chanchra Village). Moreover, the households of Bilpabla are superior to those households residing in Chanchra in terms of physical, social and economic access (purchasing power) which permits them to acquire and consume well-balanced food as well as sufficient calorie intake. Therefore, the RPG farming system had significant impacts on food security and poverty reduction.

Keywords: Rice-prawn gher farming, Year-round paddy farming, Farm productivity, Food security, Poverty reduction, Bangladesh

Location: Bilpabla in Khulna and Chanchra in Jessore districts

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Farming System

Non-commodity: Performance

Objectives:

To evaluate the impacts of RPG farming on farm productivity, food security and poverty reduction in the southern part of Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Primary data were used in this study to examine the impacts of rice-prawn gher farming system on farm productivity in the southern part of Bangladesh. The farm survey was carried out during the month of October 2011 based on the agricultural cropping year 2010 in two study villages, Bilpabla (RPG farming) and Chanchra (year-round modern variety –YRMV farming) in Khulna and Jessore districts, respectively. The Bilpabla village was selected intentionally as the people having vast experience on RPG farming system and direct or indirect dependency on various gher-farming activities for their daily livelihood. On the other hand, Chanchra village was also purposely selected. Farmers in Chanchra usually practice YRMV paddy farming because the farms are located in relatively high altitudes, consequently preventing the adoption of the RPG farming system like Bilpabla in Khulna. MV Boro (BRRIdhan28) paddy is produced during January to April followed by high yielding variety (HYV) T. Aman (BRRIdhan11) paddy during July to December. Likewise, in this study, ninety farmers were randomly selected from Bilpabla and one hundred farmers from Chanchra. Moreover, the socioeconomic data of rice and prawn production were collected through a comprehensive questionnaire.

Source of Information: The Agriculturists 12(2): 126-136(2014) ISSN 2304-7321 (Online), ISSN 1729-5211 (Print), A Scientific Journal of Krishi Foundation

Article Link (Online Journal): http://www.banglajol.info/index.php/AGRIC/article/view/21741/14946

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Rice-prawn gher (RPG) is a locally adopted, developed and integrated farming system in southwestern Bangladesh. The findings of the study indicate that the farm productivity (yield/ha) of MV paddy production under RPG farming is significantly higher than that of MV boro paddy production under YRMV paddy farming in Bangladesh. The household income and per capita income of the households in RPG farming exceeded by more than double than that of households practicing YRMV paddy farming. The households of RPG farming are enjoying more rice, other staple foods and proteins, fruits, milks, eggs etc. compared to YRMV farming. A portion of produced paddy (60-70%) is enough to meet the demand for home family consumption and the remaining 30-40% of paddy is sold off in the local markets for shopping of food items needed in their daily meal. In other words, the purchasing power of households in Bilpabla village was greater than that of Chanchra village. As a result, the households of Bilpabla village consume more balanced food, and obtain more protein and calorie intake from their daily meal, in comparison to the households designated in Chanchra village. The households of Bilpabla village have the advantage over the households of Chanchra village in terms of more physical, social and economic access which provides the ability to attain food. Recalling the fact that food security and poverty reduction are positively related, we can see that the households of Bilpabla village have more food security, which enables them to achieve a lower poverty incidence level compared to the residence of Chanchra village. Therefore, it could be concluded that RPG farming has significant impacts on farm productivity, food security and poverty reduction in the study villages.

Knowledge Management: Journal