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Impact of Market Oriented Maize Cash Crop Production on House-hold Food Security: Bangladesh Perspective

Jannat Adib Chowdhury
Student ID- 13162036
Master of Development Studies Program BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University

Dr. Md. Shahnawez Hossain
Supervisor
Research Fellow BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University

Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman
Executive Director
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Farming households from some parts of Bangladesh have increasingly been taking up maize production through efforts of a development project called Katalyst as there is huge demand in the national market for maize grains to be used for poultry feed. Maize primarily is used as a cash crop since Bangladeshi households are not habituated with maize consumption. The issue of Household Food Security at the level of farmers mainly depend on their own subsistence production. Therefore, it is very important to understand whether by switching into maize from subsistence crop production system, farmers are being worseoff in terms of their household level food security. Maize productions have been found to be positively interlinked with economic advancement of farmers, notwithstanding it depends on variety of factors. It is interesting to look at the findings accrued from an independent study commissioned by Katalyst which made conclusion on the economic impact of maize cultivation. Drawn from the large n farmers’ survey and verified with the in-depth small n farmer interviews, farmers have reported to make more income through maize production as opposed to their previous crop during the same season. Evidence shows that the economic gains of farmers through maize production have led to increased level of household food security primarily in relation to nutritional balance. For example, 80% of the survey respondents mentioned that their food habit improvised with the additional earnings from maize production. Farming households have reported a rise in affordability consume protein based foods such as fish or meat on an weekly basis with the additional income generated from maize production. Evidence shows that there lies a positive relationship between increased maize production and household food security. Farmers have positive perception about maize cultivation and they feel that by increasing maize production they have been able to reduce their dependency on rice crop.

Keywords: Maize, Cash crop, Food security, Households, National food security, Rice, Wheat, Potato

Location: In Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Management, Food security, Socio-economic status, Maize

Objectives:

With this background, this study offers insight on the effects of market-oriented maize cash crop production and how it affects the issue of food security in the farming households in Northern Bangladesh and Southern Bangladesh. The main underlying motivation for this study arises from: (i) the importance of national food security in Bangladesh and the implied need for reliable projections for planning purposes; (ii) Also, the previous studies done in this regard have manly covered effects of rice, wheat and potato on food security. There is a very limited amount of data available on the effects of maize crop in the context of farmer level food security in Bangladesh. The study will essentially look into the immediate and long term effects of maize crop cultivation on the food security of farmers. The overall goal of the study is to pinpoint the associated positive/negative/null effects on food security/nutrition status of farmers due to involvement in the production of cash crops such as maize.

Methodology:

Based on the understanding from the literature review, the methodology of this paper adopts a mixed-methods approach by utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. The Mixed-method research approach is prominently used by researchers all around the world since it has characteristics of validating and triangulating data from various angles. Mixed methods research is defined as, a methodology for conducting research that involves collecting, analyzing, and integrating (or mixing) quantitative and qualitative research (and data) in a single study or a longitudinal program of inquiry (Johnson, Onwuegbuzie, & Turner, 2007). The purpose of this form of research is that both qualitative and quantitative research, in combination, provides a better understanding of a research problem or issue than either research approach alone. This method of research has various types of focus when it comes to designing the research. Essentially, approach and main focus on either qualitative or quantitative will depend on population. Following research designs are widely used research designs: • Instrument design model • Triangulation design model • Data transformation design model • Explanatory model For this research, explanatory research design model is found to be best suitable for addressing the respective hypothesis of the paper. The key attributes of the explanatory research design model are : * Quantitative research questions or hypotheses will address the research question or issue. * Information from the first phase will be explored further in a second qualitative phase. * Qualitative data collection will be used to explore important quantitative results with a few participants. * The reason for following up with qualitative research in the second phase is to acquire better understanding and to explain the quantitative results. Therefore, it was important to analyze the income data of farmers who have taken up maize cultivation for last few years in the northern region. There is ample amount of secondary data available through impact assessments conducted earlier by Katalyst maize sector team. By analyzing these data, identification of farmers who have been benefitted economically has been done. Afterward, farmers were interviewed coming from the same farm households related to their subsistence production and household food security. The primary data collections using two sets of structured questionnaires were carried out by conducting two field visits in the northern region (Nilphamari) and southern region (Pirojpur) of Bangladesh. There were two set of questionnaires prepared for two types of farmers (control and treatment farmers). They were interviewed through the questionnaire consisted of a general part identifying the respondent and the location. It included questions on whether they were (i) Contract farmers1 or (ii) copy farmer²; and in which year they started maize cultivation. Farmers were asked for the sources of information they consulted for maize cultivation, the kind of information obtained from different sources and the perception of the usefulness of that information. Finally, information was collected on the costs and benefits of maize cultivation and yields which is particularly very important for understanding the economic gain from maize production for directly intervened farmers in comparison to farmers who are not involved in maize production. The second category of the questionnaire specifically tried to find out essential information for understanding the relationship between increased income and food security in a micro level context. Thus, the questions are very much focused on issues such as food production, food consumption and food habits in order to unravel how an increase in income leads to a change of food intake within a significant time span. Prior to this, sampling frame, sampling method and sample size were determined. Afterward, the data has been analyzed in order to figure out the relationship status between income generation by maize cash crop production and HFS status in farm families.

Source of Information: Thesis as part of the coursework of the Master of Development Studies Program of BRAC University, August 2016

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

There were two set of questionnaires prepared for two types of farmers (control and treatment farmers). They were interviewed through the questionnaire consisted of a general part identifying the respondent and the location. It included questions on whether they were (i) Contract farmers1 or (ii) copy farmer² ; and in which year they started maize cultivation. Farmers were asked for the sources of information they consulted for maize cultivation, the kind of information obtained from different sources and the perception of the usefulness of that information. Finally, information was collected on the costs and benefits of maize cultivation and yields which is particularly very important for understanding the economic gain from maize production for directly intervened farmers in comparison to farmers who are not involved in maize production. The second category of questionnaires specifically tried to find out essential information for understanding the relationship between increased income and food security in a micro-level context. Thus, the questions are very much focused on issues such as food production, food consumption and food habits in order to unravel how an increase in income leads to a change of food intake within a significant time span. Prior to this, the sampling frame, sampling method and sample size were determined. Afterward, the data has been analyzed in order to figure out the relationship status between income generation by maize cash crop production and HFS status in farm families. Rather, as states do not try to prescribe what producers should grow, households will tend only to invest in cash crop production where they have some means of maintaining their existing food entitlements. However, the benefits from cash crop production seem to have unequal impacts within the households, both between and within the households (DFID 2012).

Knowledge Management: Thesis