Agro-economic performance of boro rice cultivation at farmers’ level of haor area in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is densely populated and agriculture based country. Total rice growing area was 11.38 million ha in Bangladesh which covers 74.85% of the total cultivable area and the total production of rice was 34.71 million metric tonnes (BBS, 2016). Agriculture is the single largest producing sector of economy since it comprises about 14.1% of the country's GDP and employing around 62.1% of the total labor force (BBS, 2017). There are as many as 373 small or large haors in Bangladesh (Master Plan of Haor Area, 2012). There are many haors (basin like structure) where water remains either stagnant or in flash flooding condition during the months of May to October and mainly Boro rice is grown in the Rabi season using irrigation. Geographically, most of the haors are situated in seven districts of the NorthEast Bangladesh. The districts are Sunamganj, Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Sylhet, Habiganj, Maulavibazar and B. Baria. The Hakaloki haor, Sumir haor, Dakar haor, Tanguyar haor, Gungiajuri haor, Mukhar haor, Kaowadighir haor etc are the prominent haors in Bangladesh. The total cultivated area in those haor districts is about 1.26 million hectares of which 0.68 million ha (nearly 66%) is under haor. Almost 80% of this area (i.e. 0.68 million ha) is covered by Boro rice, while only about 10% area is covered by T. Aman production (Huda, 2004). Out of these, 95 haors are in Sunamganj district of which about 70% area has now been turned into cultivated land (Master Plan of Haor Area, 2012). Boro-Fallow-Fallow and Fallow-Fallow-T. Aman are the major cropping patterns practiced in the area. So, there is a great possibility of growing modern variety rice as well as other rice and nonrice crops in the haor areas. One of the major reasons for nutrient stress is the use of imbalance fertilizers. Among the improved cultural practices, to insure proper growth, large amount of chemical fertilizers are applied in different crops field (Shakouri et al., 2012). Judicious and proper use of fertilizers can markedly increase the yield and improve the quality of rice (Alam et al., 2009). Farmers' of haor area do not apply balance doses of fertilizers because of higher yield of rice comparison to other areas of Bangladesh. It is most important that the actual fertilizer application should be known to manipulate the adequate fertilizer input supply for higher production and social appreciation to apply balance

Profitability analysis of paddy production in different seasons in Bangladesh: Insights from the Haor

“…Therefore, the results indicated that investment in rice cultivation was profitable in current years. This finding is consistent with the results of Ali et al (2019), and Alam et al (2010) where they reported a positive gross margin for rice production in the haor area as total revenue is much higher than total variable costs. It is anticipated that the productivity of rice cultivation and certainly the farmers' profits would improve dramatically as more land is dedicated to rice production.…”

“…This clearly shows that large amounts of resources are invested in meeting the labor requirement. This result is substantiated by the observations made by Islam et al (2017), Ali et al (2019), Bawla & John (2018), and Duvvuru & Motkuri (2013) that "Rice production is labor-intensive and in most cases relies on a substantial usage of paid labor.…”

“…Alam, et al (2010) stated that the major hinders to the adoption of potent cropping patterns were embankment damages and scarcity of shorter growth duration high yielding varieties. While Ali et al (2019) attempt to show the Boro rice cultivation and agro-economic performance in the haor area. He found that the productivity of Boro rice is low due to the imbalance use of fertilizers.…”

Determinants of households’ livelihood diversification strategies to adapt with natural disasters: Evidence from ecologically vulnerable haor region of Bangladesh

“…small business, boating, day laborer (agricultural and non-agricultural), and household work as sources of subsistence (Hoque et al 2018;Islam et al 2016a;Islam et al 2016b). Boro rice is grown on 80% of the haor areas, and it is frequently harmed by early ash oods, hailstorms, and drought (Alam et al 2010;Ali et al 2019). The ood risk is a great hazard for boro rice cultivation which trends to food insecurity of haor households because boro rice is the foremost source of year-round food supply for their livelihood (Ferdushi et al 2019;Kabir et al 2020).…”