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Flood Coping Ability of Ultra Poor Household Women in a Flood Prone Area of Jamalpur District

F. Khatun
Former M.S student
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

M.H. Rahman
Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

M.G. Farouque
Associate Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The objectives of this study were to ascertain the flood coping ability of the ultra poor household women in a flood prone area of Jamalpur district and to explore the relationship between the flood coping ability of the ultra poor household women and their selected characteristics. Data were collected from 82 ultra poor household women (50 percent of the total population of 163) in the Dakatia village under Chaukibari union of Dewanganj upazila under Jamalpur district. Flood coping ability of the ultra poor women was measured though five aspects, namely crop production, poultry and livestock rearing, shelter and housing, means of livelihoods, and health and sanitation. A pre-tested structured personal interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents during the period from 8 March to 23 April, 2009. Result indicated that a great majority of the ultra poor household women (72 percent) had low flood coping ability, 26.8 percent had medium and 1.2 percent of the respondents were found very low flood coping ability. Moreover, the respondent women had moderate flood coping ability in ‘health and sanitation’ and ‘means of livelihoods’ aspects, while their coping regarding ‘crop production,’ ‘livestock and poultry rearing’ and ‘housing and shelter’ remained very low to low. The ultra poor women’s education, family size, farm size, organizational participation, and annual family income showed significant positive relationships with their flood coping ability.

Keywords: Keywords: Ultra poor, Flood coping ability, Women, Flood prone area.

Location: Jamuna-Brahmaputra region. Dewanganj upazila under Jamalpur district, Dakatia village under Chukaibari union.

Start Date: 08-03-2009

End Date: 23-04-2009

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Income generation

Objectives:

To determine the extent of flood coping ability of ultra poor women in a flood prone area of Jamalpur district. Moreover, the study explored the relationships between the flood coping ability of ultra poor women and their selected characteristics.

Methodology:

The study was to be conducted in a flood prone area of the country, preferably in the Jamuna-Brahmaputra region. Dewanganj upazila under Jamalpur district was primarily selected as a suitable area for the study because this upazila is one of the most flood prone upazila of the region and people are vulnerable to chronic flood damages. Dakatia village under Chukaibari union was purposively selected as the specific study location. The selection was made on the suggestions made by local Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer (SAAO), members of Union Parishad and upazila level officials who used to deal with flood affected people. An up to date list of all the ultra poor women members of the households was prepared with the help of SAAO and Union Parishad member. Thus, a total of 163 women (one from each household) of the selected village constituted the population of the study. A sample of 82 women or 50 percent of the population was randomly selected from the population. Data were collected through the pre-tested interview schedule by face-to-face interview procedure during the period from 08 March, 2009 to 23 April, 2009. Ultra poor women’s flood coping ability was the focus of the study. The flood coping ability was measured by considering five aspects of flood coping, namely crop production, livestock and poultry rearing, housing and shelter, means of livelihoods, and health and sanitation. Coping ability was understood as the extent of appropriateness of coping mechanisms (action or combination of a number of actions), which the ultra poor household women followed during and after flood condition to offset the damages of flood. Flood coping ability of a respondent was measured by asking one’s actions or mechanisms against an aspect of flood coping. A number of questions were asked to know the overall actions (for example, for crop production aspect, the questions were: “what do you do to avoid the loss of standing crops?”, “how do you mitigate crop damage after flood?”, “how you procure seeds and seedlings after early damage of crop?”). A respondent was asked to explain her actions and measures during and after flood concerning a specific situation. Appropriateness of a taken action (mechanism) was checked against a list of four previously prepared probable actions. This list of actions was prepared following the scale used by Islam (2005) and modification suggested by the concerned upazila and district level officials related to flood and disaster management activities. By checking the actions in the prepared list of appropriate actions, a specific coping action of a respondent was judged either as ‘high coping ability,’ ‘medium coping ability,’ ‘low coping ability,’ or ‘very low or no coping ability’, while weights were assigned for these as 3, 2, 1 and 0, respectively. Overall flood coping ability score of a respondent women was determined by adding scores for her responses to all five aspects of flood coping. Thus, overall flood coping ability score of a respondent could range from 0 to 15, 0 indicated very low or no coping ability while 15 indicated high coping ability.

Source of Information: Bangladesh Journal of Extension Education, Volume 21, No. 1&2, 2009: 63-71 ISSN 1011-3916

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Findings of the study indicate that majority of the ultra poor household women had low flood coping ability and a few of the respondents had very low and medium flood coping ability. The findings also showed that the ultra poor household women had moderate coping ability regarding ‘health and sanitation’ and ‘means of livelihoods’ issues, while their coping ability regarding ‘crop production’ and ‘livestock and poultry rearing’ remained very low. As crop and livestock are primary resources of livelihoods in the rural Bangladesh, it could be concluded that livelihood of flood affected households, particularly the female headed households will not be resilient enough if the concerned authority does not provide enough support to the flood affected households in these two sectors. Moreover, education, family size, farm size, organizational participation, and annual family income of the respondents were found to have significant positive relationship with their flood coping ability. Therefore, while undertaking any safety net programmes and livelihood improvement programmes in the flood prone areas, these factors should be appropriately addressed by the concerned agencies.

Knowledge Management: Journal