Patterns of Agricultural Production and Practices: Feed the Future Zone and Other

Regions of Bangladesh

Akhter Ahmed Bingxin Yu

Bangladesh Policy Research and Strategy Support Program International Food Policy Research Institute

Workshop on

The Feed the Future Zone in the South and the Rest of Bangladesh: A Comparison of Food Security Aspects

16 January 2013 Dhaka

Data

Data for the analysis came from the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS). Agricultural module of BIHS collected information on Landownership and tenure; agricultural production, input use and costs (plot-level data); livestock, poultry and fisheries production practices; marketing practices and revenues BIHS sample is:

nationally representative of rural Bangladesh representative of rural areas of each of the 7 administrative divisions of the country representative of the FTF Zone of Influence

BIHS started in October 2011 and ended in March 2012

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3

SURVEY RESULTS

Inequality in Distribution of Arable Land

0.551

0.571

0.503 0.508

0.558

0.580

0.520

0.575

0.548

0.46

0.48

0.5

0.52

0.54

0.56

0.58

0.6

FTF zone Barisal Chittagong Dhaka Khulna Rajshahi Rangpur Sylhet Bangladesh

Gini coefficients

4

Inequality in Land Distribution in FTF Zone

The distribution of ownership of arable land in the FTF zone is extremely unequal 42.5% of all households are landless—they own no arable land Among those who own land, bottom 25% of all households own only 3.5% of total cultivable land The other extreme: top 5% of all households own 27.7% and top 10% own 43.9% of all cultivable land in the FTF zone Gini coefficient: 0.55

5

0

20

40

60

80

100

Cu

mu

lative

pe

rce

nta

ge

of o

wn

ed

ara

ble

la

nd

0 20 40 60 80 100 Cumulative percentage of households in FtF zone

Lorenz curve Line of equality

Purely Tenant Farmers

34

24

37

34

30

34 36 37

34

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

FTF zone Barisal Chittagong Dhaka Khulna Rajshahi Rangpur Sylhet Bangladesh

Perc

ent

Divisions

6

Distribution of Farm Size Groups

32.8

43.8

15.6

7.8 8.3

37.2

27.8 26.7

0

10

20

30

40

50

Marginal(less than 0.5

acre)

Small (0.5 -1.49 acres)

Medium (1.5- 2.49 acres)

Large (2.5acres and

more)

FTF Zone

Percent of farmers

Percent of total operated land

7

36.3

44.6

11.8

7.3 9.6

37.8

21.6

31.1

0

10

20

30

40

50

Marginal(less than 0.5

acre)

Small (0.5 -1.49 acres)

Medium (1.5- 2.49 acres)

Large (2.5acres and

more)

Rural Bangladesh

Percent of farmers

Percent of total operated land

Fertilizer Use by Farm Size Groups

8

226 208

219

180

0

50

100

150

200

250

Marginal(less than0.5 acre)

Small (0.5 -1.49 acres)

Medium(1.5 - 2.49

acres)

Large (2.5acres and

more)

Met

ric

ton

s p

er h

ecta

re

FTF Zone

Urea fertilizer

221 203

214 194

0

50

100

150

200

250

Marginal(less than0.5 acre)

Small (0.5 -1.49 acres)

Medium(1.5 - 2.49

acres)

Large (2.5acres and

more)

Met

ric

ton

s p

er h

ecta

re

Bangladesh

Urea fertilizer

Rice Yields by Farm Size Groups

9

2.95 2.82

2.68 2.62

0

1

2

3

Marginal(less than0.5 acre)

Small (0.5 -1.49 acres)

Medium(1.5 - 2.49

acres)

Large (2.5acres and

more)

Met

ric

ton

s p

er h

ecta

re

FTF Zone

Yield of all rice

2.90 2.87 2.83 2.81

0

1

2

3

Marginal(less than0.5 acre)

Small (0.5 -1.49 acres)

Medium(1.5 - 2.49

acres)

Large (2.5acres and

more)

Met

ric

ton

s p

er h

ecta

re

Bangladesh

Yild of all rice

Comparing Fertilizer Application With

Recommended Dose for Rice Crops: FTF Zone

10

166

101

69

181

91

43

0

50

100

150

200

Urea TSP MoP

Kilo

gram

s /h

ecta

re

HYV aman

Recommended dose

Actual use

269

131 121

260

130

64

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Urea TSP MoP

Kilo

gram

s /h

ecta

re

HYV boro

Recommended dose

Actual use

Yields of Rice: FTF Zone

11

1.18

2.32

1.93

1.41 1.51

2.51

2.13

3.75 4.07

3.80

2.81

0

1

2

3

4

5

Aus local Aus HYV All aus B. aman T. amanlocal

T. amanHYV

All aman BoroHYV

Borohybrid

All boro All rice

Yie

ld (

me

tric

to

ns/

he

ctar

e)

Cost of Production for Major Rice Crops: FTF Zone

12

37632

46935

65266

20360

31779

47765

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

Local aman HYV aman HYV boro

Taka

/he

ctar

e

Cost per hectare

Full cost Cash cost

20817

13749 12827

11773

9295 9182

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Local aman HYV aman HYV boro

Taka

/met

ric

ton

Cost per metric ton

Full cost Cash cost

Way Forward (1)

Improvement in food security can be enhanced by rapidly increasing the incomes of small commercial farmers. These farmers dominate agricultural production. Providing smallholders with adequate access to institutional credit and effective agricultural extension services are critical for agricultural development in the FTF zone.

Since there is little or no fallow land now available, future production increases in Bangladesh will have to come from higher yields

This will mean developing new technologies and innovations through research to address production problems in flood, drought, and salinity induced stress conditions

Food and agricultural technologies must be disseminated to farmers through effective extension systems

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Way Forward (2)

Prevalence of landlessness is very high and increasing. The capacity to absorb the growing rural labor force in agriculture is extremely limited. A shift of rural labor force out of agriculture requires the creation of rural non-farm employment opportunities in higher productivity sectors. Rapid development of rural-urban food value chains is important for generating non-farm employment and incomes.

While private sector activities are increasingly creating employment opportunities and income, the public sector should continue to complement private-sector activities. The GOB’s role in providing an enabling policy environment for the private sector is crucial in this regard.

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