Abstract:Although rice is the main crop in Bangladesh and the country is ranked as the sixth largest rice producer in the world, researchers observe that rice is not produced with full efficiency in the country. It is also observed that owing to the application of high yielding variety seeds, chemical fertilizer, pesticide, and irrigation, productivity of rice in Bangladesh has increased in the recent years though it is still lower compared to other Asian countries. A review of existing literature reveals that so far little attention has been given by the researchers in investigating the efficiency of rice production in Bangladesh. Thus, the objective of the present study is to analyze the technical efficiency of rice production in Bangladesh using data from boro rice farmers. Required data are collected from 115 boro rice producing farmers of Meherpur district selected using multistage random sampling procedure. In analyzing the data, farm specific technical efficiency scores are estimated using the Translog Stochastic Frontier Production function approach. The study found that technical efficiency of boro rice farms in Meherpur district is 89.5%. It is also found that 'labor', 'fertilizer and pesticide', 'seed' and 'irrigation' are the significant factors that affect the level of technical efficiency while 'farm size' and 'ploughing cost' are found insignificant in affecting technical efficiency of boro rice production in the study area. The results indicate that boro rice farms in the study area have been operating below the maximum level of production frontier and given the available technology, farmers can increase their production by 10.5% through increasing the use of labor, seed and irrigation inputs and also by using proper doses of fertilizer and pesticide inputs.

The study explores the significant factors and utilization of international remittance in Bangladesh by using primary data from 84 migrant households. The study applies multiple linear regression model estimated by OLS method. The estimated results find that household size, training, skill, years at abroad and earnings significantly affect international remittance in Bangladesh. This indicates migrants remit home motivated by mixed views like, altruistic, loan repayment and exchange view. The study also finds 50.01 percent of remittance is utilized only in consumption of food purpose. The study suggests arranging training and skill enhancing programs to migrants and creating investment opportunities.

Diversification of income is considered as an effective way to increase household wellbeing in the developing countries. However, scant attention has been given on this issue in the context of Bangladesh. Thus, the objective of this study is to present an empirical evidence of the state of income diversification and its impact on households' wellbeing in the rural areas of Rajshahi district of Bangladesh. To this end a multi-stage random sampling technique is used to select 138 households from the study area. In analyzing the collected data, the Simpson Index of Diversity (SID) is calculated to measure the level of income diversification while household consumption expenditure is used for measuring the level of well-being. Finally, a multiple regression model is employed to determine the factors affecting households' wellbeing. The findings of the study indicate that the extent of income diversification is very low in the study area and it has positive and significant effect on households' wellbeing. The obtained results have important policy implications which imply that programs targeted to engage people in other income generating activities would augment their income sources. As measures from the part of the government reducing the rate of interest for private enterprising in the rural sector, development of rural infrastructure and improving information facilities at the rural areas are suggested.

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