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Employment Patterns and Income Generation of Farm Households in Integrated Farming of Bangladesh

Mohammad Taj Uddin
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan.

Hiroyuki Takeya
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

This study focused on the patterns of farm and off-farm employment considering gender structure and the incomes earned from different sources. Primary data collected from personal interviews with the farmers were used in the study. Conventional farming had not been able to generate the needed employment opportunities. Therefore, it's crucial to continue absorbing the ever-growing labor force through integrated farming which proved to be a good source of increased income. The study revealed that, unemployment decreased with the increases in farm size and farmers practicing integrated farming had few family labors surplus compared to the conventional farmers. It was found from the analysis that, the number of enterprises was the most significant factor in integrated farming, whereas working hours per week on off-farm activities by males had significant effect in conventional farming. It also implies that integrated farming is important not only for employment creation, but also for promoting the overall economic condition.

Keywords: Employment, Income, Farm households, Integrated farming

Location: Mymensingh, Kishoregonj and Netrokona in Bangladesh.

Start Date: 00-04-2002

End Date: 00-03-2003

Program Area: Farming System

Non-commodity: Income generation

Objectives:

a) To analyze the employment patterns of farm households on the basis of gender structure

b) To explore the determinants of income of farm households.

Methodology:

This study covered 18 villages in three districts (i.e.Mymensingh, Kishoregonj and Netrokona) of Bangladesh. The study areas were chosen on the basis of the availability of different categories of farmers and other characteristics including favorable climate and land topography suitable for production of crop and non-crop enterprises, better marketing facilities and communication for augmenting income from different types of farm and off-farm activities. A stratified random sampling was employed for this study. In total, 110 farmers were selected, of which 30 were landless (below 0.20 ha), 30 were marginal (0.21 to 0.60 ha), 20 were small (0.61 to 1.0 ha), 20 were medium (1.1 to 3.0 ha) and 10 were large (more than 3.0 ha). The study covered one year of employment and income from April 2002 to March 2003; however, this research was conducted in 2005 at Nagoya University. Data and other necessary information were collected through direct interviews. All the data collected from the field survey were grouped, summarized and presented in tabular forms. An attempt was made to explore the determinants of annual income of the farm households using a multiple regression model. The authors used relevant variables to determine the households’ annual income. It was tested so that no multi-colinearity occurred among different independent variables. The above model was used separately for overall, integrated¹⁾ and conventional farming²⁾.

Source of Information: International Journal of Agricultural Research, 1(1): 32-40, 2006, ISSN 1816-4897.

Article Link (Online Journal): DOI: 10.3923/ijar.2006.32.40; URL: http://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=ijar.2006.32.40

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

This study pointed out that, farmers in integrated farming increase their income by practicing multiple agricultural enterprises compared to farmers in conventional farming. Less external input-based enterprises should be developed and incorporated into integrated farming, which enhance farm households’ income and increase labor demands throughout the year. On the other hand, non-farm avenues should be increased to solve the problems of overt and disguised unemployment of conventional farm families. Therefore, policies should be directed towards providing incentives to households for participating in integrated farming, as well as increasing their capacity to take advantage of such opportunities. However, this would have to be verified by further empirical study. Obviously, such an employment opportunity through integrated farming helps to improve the economic conditions of rural people, especially for the landless, marginal and small farmers, who are around 80% of the total farm households in Bangladesh. Even though spreading labor, re-utilizing resources and the possibility of minimizing both economic and biological risks are the advantageous points of integrated farming, it enforces farmers’ attention to disperse to many enterprises which are often obstructed due to the lack of farmers’ skills and management. Considering the above facts, not all farmers follow exactly the same methods, as they differ in their modes, habits, preferences and production practices.

Knowledge Management: Journal