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Uptake and Impact of the Promotion of Chickpea Following Rainfed Rice in the BARInd Area of Bangladesh

Arun Kumar Saha
Consultant
Agricultural Research and Rural Development,

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

PSP has funded R7540 Promotion of chickpea following rainfed rice in the Barind area of Bangladesh since 1999, building on earlier diverse crop-based initiatives to improve the livelihoods of poor farmers in the High Barind Tract (HBT) of Bangladesh. Chickpea was promoted as a suitable crop for farmers to grow on residual moisture, i.e. without irrigation, following the harvest of transplanted main season (aman) rice. A good combination of agronomic practices had been developed but the principal constraint remained the difficulty in establishing a reasonable crop stand once the surface layers of the soil had dried out. ‘Onfarm’ seed priming had been developed elsewhere in other PSP-funded projects (R6395, R7438) and was tested for chickpea in the Barind. A study was made in 2001/2002 of the uptake and impact of chickpea technology, including seed priming, by the project- and non-project farmers. Survey results indicate that the project interventions have contributed positively in many ways to the socio-economic development of the farmers of the HBT. Most of the farmers in the project intervention areas recognize chickpea as a low-cost, highly profitable crop that can be cultivated without irrigation. Fifty-five percent of the respondents practiced seed priming in 2001-02 and, on average, they sowed 60% of their chickpea crop using primed seed. The overall average additional yield due to use of seed-priming technology was 230 kg ha-1, which is about 44% higher than nonprimed plots that yielded an average of 600 kg ha-1. Location-wise benefit/cost analysis showed that chickpea is a very profitable crop in comparison to other major competing crops in almost all situations. The overall average income of the respondents from chickpea was Tk 7134, which is about 12% of the average reported farming income. Contribution of chickpea to incomes was higher in project intervention areas and was proportionally more important for small- and medium-level farmers. The conservatively estimated return of seed priming alone indicates that, single-season benefits in this one year were 1.35 times the total project investment over three years.

Keywords: Livelihood, Poor rural households, Poor, Rural households, HBT

Location: In Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-00-2001

End Date: 00-00-2002

Program Area: Farming System

Commodity: Chickpea, Rice, Cropping System

Objectives:

To analyze critically the effect of the project on the livelihoods of poor rural households in the HBT.

Methodology:

Through individual farm survey and participatory learning exercises (PLE)/ participatory rural appraisals (PRA), necessary data were gathered from about 20 farmers, selected more or less randomly, in each of the dispersed, selected sites that had had different project exposure durations (0, 1, 2, 3 years). The study locations were selected taking geographical, ecological conditions and project exposure time into consideration. The total sample size for the individual household survey was 80 out of which 75 households were surveyed individually. Data from DAE on the extent of chickpea cultivation were checked by sub-sampling among blocks in several sub-districts (Godagari, Tanore, Nawabganj Sadar, Nachole).

Source of Information: Plant Sciences Research Programme: Highlights & Impact. Replacing Rice Fallows

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The project interventions have contributed positively in many ways to the socio-economic development of the farmers of the HBT. Increasingly, more farmers are adopting chickpea cultivation, which is positively impacting on their livelihoods. Most of the farmers in the project intervention areas recognize chickpea as a low-cost, highly profitable crop that can be cultivated without irrigation. Chickpea is proving to be an important commercial crop and is being increasingly adopted by the farmers of the HBT due to effective promotion and large economic benefits. It is not possible to attribute all the benefits from the cultivation of chickpea in the Barind to the project. Yet it is clear that chickpea is a valuable crop for the farmers of this impoverished area. The estimated 9950 hectares of chickpea grown in 2001-2002, assuming net benefit of Tk 8137 ha^-1 (the mean of values from i.e. assuming 50% is sharecropped and thus probably an underestimate of benefits) would have produced Tk 80.9 million (£920,000). Within this total, seed priming is estimated to have generated about £113,800 of additional income for farmers, which is directly attributable to the project. Thus, in one year, benefits to farmers in the Barind have exceeded, by at least 1.35 times, the total cost of the project. The overall benefit/cost ratio of the project and intangible benefits such as the influence of participatory approaches on social capital, etc., are difficult to estimate and attribute accurately but the project has clearly benefited and continues to benefit, many farmers and the Barind as a whole.

Knowledge Management: Journal