2.1. Study Design and Survey Since the aim of the study is to analyze the constraints affecting agricultural production and marketing in the lagging regions, we administered a survey to gather information regarding the characteristics of both the farm families and farming practices in these regions. Specifically, we collected information pertaining to the age, education level, and farming experience of farmers (usually household heads), landholdings, and composition of their households. In addition, we collected data on farming practices, including agricultural input use, operational costs, access to credit, and storage and transportation of agricultural products. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews of the farmers at the field level using a structured questionnaire. The respondents were individuals responsible for making their household’s agricultural decisions. The survey was carried out from July 2015 to June 2016.
2.2. Selection of Lagging Regions In this study, three criteria were considered to determine the lagging regions of the country: ‘Agriculture Productivity’, ‘Agroecological Zones (AEZ)’, and ‘Percentage of the Population below the Poverty Line’. For simplicity, four indicators were used to measure agricultural productivity: (1) Rice yield per acre, (2) percentage of area irrigated, (3) percentage of area under HYV of seed, and (4) cropping intensity. Low yields, low percentage of area under irrigation, low percentages of HYV, and low levels of cropping intensity indicate low levels of agricultural productivity. Data pertaining to these four variables were collected for 21 administrative districts for 2014–2015. The main sources of data were the Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics of Bangladesh 2016 and the Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh 2016. The data for each of the four variables for the 21 districts were ranked 1 to 21 with the highest value equal to rank 1, second highest value equal to rank 2, etc. The rank total for the district was computed by adding the district’s four variable rankings together. These rank totals were then ranked again, and these ranks were used as the hierarchical position of the regions. Results from the ranking show that Patuakhali ranked lowest with respect to agricultural productivity. All four productivity indicators for this region are very low, indicating the region is extremely deprived with regard to agricultural production. Chittagong Hill Tract and Barisal were ranked the next lowest in terms of agricultural productivity. Followed by Khulna, Noakhali, Sylhet, and Faridpur districts. Most of the indicators for these regions are poor but show moderate improvements compare to Patuakhali, Chittagong Hill Tract, and Barisal. Bangladesh is divided into 30 AEZ. However, some AEZ overlap with each other. Thus, for convenience and ease of analysis, overlapping AEZ were combined to create 12 mutually exclusive regions. Each region contained several administrative districts. The 12 regions differed with respect to their endowment of geographical features, soil type, and fertility conditions. The names of these 12 regions and their corresponding districts are shown in Table 3. A group of 12 indicators was selected to examine the variations among the 12 agroecological regions. The indicators were: Rural literacy rate, per capita regional domestic agricultural product, share of regional domestic product attributed to agriculture (%), farmers’ cooperative society, percentage of net cropped area to total geographic area (%), cropping intensity (%), area under HYV seed as a percentage of total cropped area (%), area irrigated as a percentage of total cropped area (%), consumption of chemical fertilizer, food-grain productivity, number of agricultural workers and net cultivated area per 100 agriculture workers. A composite index of development indicators was formulated from the 12 factors, and the level of development of these regions was classified according to low, medium, and higher using hierarchical positions of the regions. The hierarchical positions of the regions revealed that ‘low Ganges river floodplain’ (Faridpur), ‘lower Meghna river and estuarine floodplain’ (Noakhali), and ‘eastern hills’ (Chittagong hill tract) were the least developed regions in Bangladesh. Furthermore, five districts were selected as lagging based on the percentage of the population below the lower poverty line . Patuakhali, Bagerhat in Khulna, Jhenaidah in Jessore, Nilfamari in Rangpur, and Netrakona in Mymensingh were selected as regions with the most extreme poverty.