The study was conducted at sites located at 24° 24' 50'' N and 88° 55' 48'' E, in two different unions within Natore Sadar Upazila, in the Rajshahi division of northwest Bangladesh. the study area has 67,852 household units and covers a total of 401.29 km². he population of the area is 369,136, with males comprising 51.65% and females 48.35%. By religion, Muslims make up 89.83%, Hindus 9.68% and others 0.49%. The latter are mostly Santal and Buno ethnic nationals (with a population of about 4,353). Around 70% of the population of the area depends on agricultural activities (BBS, 2006). The study area belongs to the Ganges (i.e., known as the Padma in Bangladesh) floodplain and is comprised of 29,925 hectares of cultivable land and 9,736 hectares of fallow land. The climate of the area is generally characterized by tropical monsoons, with high temperatures, considerable humidity and moderate rainfall. The hot season commences early in March and continues till the middle of July. The maximum mean temperature is about 34°C during the monsoon months (April to October) and about 12°C during the winter. The highest rainfall is observed during the months of the monsoon. The annual rainfall in the district is about 1,448 millimeters (source: www.banglapedia.com).
4.1 Livelihood Study In our study, we selected five villages in the two unions and procured data using yield observations of different activities pertaining to planting, irrigation, fertilization, harvesting, packaging, and primary processing in relation to the production of medicinal plants. We also conducted a livelihood survey by interviewing 30 households (located in five villages) that grow medicinal plants by using a structured questionnaire. Through the survey as well as semi-structured interviews with key informants, we gathered data on species in cultivation, land quantity, income derived from medicinal plant harvest, species selection, and overall livelihoods benefit. Apart from direct interviews, we also organized periodic ‘focus-group discussions’ with several participants to learn about their success stories and the reasons why they are involved in medicinal plant production. We also attended (as a participant-observer) a few biweekly meetings of the local cooperative (Laxmipur Khulabaria Oushadi Krishak Samity - a farmer organization in the union) to gain an understanding of the growers’ concerns about the management and marketing of their produce.
Additional information on medicinal plants, socioeconomic and market systems and livelihoods data was derived from a local NGO called Landless Unity Society Training Rural Employment (LUSTRE) working with medicinal plant communities. Data procured from LUSTRE was also triangulated by cross-checking with household responses and by asking key informants (LUSTRE, 2005). We also visited several medicinal plant-based micro-enterprises and primary processing centers in the area to get a better understanding of the primary processing activities of local traders and middlemen as well as to gather information on buying and selling prices at the primary processing level.
4.2 Value Chain Study the Handbook of Value Chain Analysis (VCA) outlined by Kaplinsky & Morris (2001) was considered very useful for analyzing the value chain in order to assess the contributions made by community members engaged in primary production as well as the benefits they derive. he information required for VCA ranged from obtaining qualitative information on how the chain ‘functions’ to quantitative data on the prices and costs borne by different actors in the chain (Kanji et al., 2005). It was difficult to obtain this information systematically from a particular source, and therefore, we decided to combine information procured from various sources, including public statistical sources, development organizations and NGOs, published work, and interviews with key informants and organizations possessing special knowledge of the industry as well as other major actors in the chain. his type of approach helped us to study the existing value chain.
The absence of a network of firms producing medicinal plants leaves no scope for any central data bank or inventory in Bangladesh. Moreover, key industry representatives are often reluctant to provide information on their prices and costs (particularly commercial firms, which prefer to protect their data from competitors and from outsiders). All that necessitated lengthy and costly yield investigations of farms, markets, inputs and trade. In spite of such difficulties, a list of industry representatives was prepared based on information from the Drug Administration of Bangladesh, and the Ayurvedic, Unani and Homeopathic Federation of Bangladesh. Farmers, producers, paikers10, beparies11, wholesalers, processors, manufacturers, distributors and retailers were interviewed through purposive sampling along the chain to obtain data on actors, activities, prices, facilities, and the market situation. In order to map the industry value chain, we had discussions with key informants such as industry experts, development specialists, and the NGOs associated with medicinal plants and agroforestry sector development.
To figure out the middlemen’s impact on the value chain, a total of nine middlemen at local (LaxmipurKholabaria) and sub-regional (Natore and Bogra) levels and 12 wholesalers at regional levels (Rajshahi and Dhaka) were interviewed to obtain data on their ‘cost of goods sold (COGS),’ which includes purchasing price, transportation and labor cost. At the wholesale level, it also involves the cost of storage. Prices of seven species at a primary producer, middleman, and wholesale levels were obtained and then COGS at middlemen and wholesale levels were deducted in order to obtain gross margin as a percentage of producer’s price – which gives an indication of the price-setting power of middlemen and wholesalers. The cost of transportation, storage and labor for all these seven species were calculated based on self-reporting from middlemen and wholesalers in order to determine the COGS.