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Labor Absorption and Agricultural Development: Bangladesh’s Experience and Predicament

MOHAMMAD ALAUDDIN
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

CLEM TISDELL
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Significant employment gains have resulted from the Green Revolution technologies in Bangladesh. While the kharif (wet) season employment has remained more or less stagnant, employment in the rabi (dry) season increased fourfold between the early 1960s and the late 1980s. With overall crop sector employment occasion by 30%, interseasonal differences in employment have declined steadily. The employment-generating effect of the Green Revolution is slowing down, i.e. agricultural growth at the margin has become progressively less labor-intensive in recent years. Changes in the occupational structure may merely reflect a relocation of surplus labor from the farm to the nonfarm sector (where it is also largely surplus) rather than heralding a real turning point. In Bangladesh, there is little prospect of agriculture providing much greater employment and there is little sign that labor transfer in Bangladesh will lead to a pattern of successful induction as in the contemporary developed countries of East Asia or the Western countries.

Keywords: Labor Absorption, Agricultural Development, Bangladesh

Location: Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Analysis and interpretations

Objectives:

Variations in agricultural productivity, labor intensity and overall employment are discussed and explanatory factors are identified. These are considered both on an annual basis and on a two-crop seasons, i.e. kharif (wet) and robi (dry). As far as we are aware, this is the first in-depth investigation of these relationships for Bangladesh.

Methodology:

The basic data used in the empirical analysis are reported in Alauddin and Tisdell (l989) but have been updated to include more recent information as well as that prior to the Green Revolution. The basic information on overall labor utilization and intensities of labor use (mandays per hectare) and on other relevant variables is taken from BBS (1976, 1979, 1980, 1984a, 1984b, 1985a, 1985b, 1985c, 1986a, 1986b, 1990, 1992b, 1992~) and BPC (undated). The labor absorption data are based on 50 crops comprising seven broad commodity groups’ for 1960-61 to 1990-91. The total land area allocated to these crops constitutes more than 98% of the gross cropped area. The estimates have been derived taking into account irrigated and nonirrigated cropped areas as well as traditional and modem techniques of irrigation.

3. PRODUCTIVITY, EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR INTENSITY Let us analyze the trends over time of overall crop sector employment, different variants of labor intensity per cropped hectare as well as various measures of land productivity. Depicts trends in yield per gross cropped hectare (including area under multiple cropping, IGYFDT), crop sector employment (TOTAL) and labor intensity per gross cropped hectare (ZMDPHA) for 1960-61 to 1990-91. It can be clearly seen that while foodgrain yield per gross cropped hectare has increased quite steadily, overall crop sector employment, as well as labor intensity per gross cropped hectare, have increased at a much slower pace. Over a period of nearly 25 years since the Green Revolution, overall crop sector employment has increased by only 14% even though the increase in crop sector employment is much higher compared to the early 1960s. If one considers the labor intensity per gross cropped hectare, the difference between the pre-and post-Green Revolution periods is even less striking.

4. CAPITAL INTENSITY, LABOR INTENSITY AND EMPLOYMENT From the preceding discussion it is possible that increased production of foodgrains has resulted more from an increase in the usage of capital rather than labor in Bangladesh. The question that arises is: has Bangladeshi agriculture become more capital intensive over the years? Have labor intensity and overall labor use increased commensurate with increased capital intensity? We address this issue. Even though time-series data for capital use in agricultural production are not readily available we use two proxies, namely fertilizer and irrigation. One must also bear in mind that it is extremely difficult to measure capital as controversies surrounding its definition and measurement indicate (see, for example, Robinson, 1969; Harcourt, 1973). First consider fertilizer applied per hectare of gross cropped area (FERT) as a proxy for capital intensity. Fertilizer application increased in Bangladesh dramatically from less than two kilograms per gross cropped hectare to over 70 kilograms per gross cropped hectare over a period of 30 years. Consider the association between overall labor-intensity values (index of man-days per gross hectare, IMDPHA) against capital intensity (kilograms of fertilizer in nutrient terms per gross cropped hectare, IFERT). Overall a positive association can be observed between these two variables. A closer examination of the observations reveals two distinct patterns in the association.

Source of Information: World Development, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 281-297,1995

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

This paper highlights the contribution of the Green Revolution technologies to employment generation in Bangladesh agriculture. Important changes have taken place in Bangladesh agriculture since the introduction of the new agricultural technology. This has led to significant employment gains compared to the pre-Green Revolution situation. While the khurif (wet season) employment has remained stagnant or may even have declined slightly, there has been a fourfold increase in employment during the robi (dry) season. Thus the overall increase in employment in the crop sector is of the order of around 30% between the 1960s and the late 1980s. Due to a dramatic decline in the interseasonal differences in employment, employment is more evenly spread throughout the year. Herein lies the real significance of the employment contribution of the Green Revolution in Bangladesh.

Knowledge Management: Journal