Producing Food and Feed:

Towards a More Diversified Cropping System

Firdousi Naher 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

Area under cereals and pulses in Bangladesh, 1985/86 to 2010/11

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Wh

eat

, mai

ze &

pu

lse

s (0

00

acr

es)

Bo

ro r

ice

(0

00

acre

s) Pulses

Boro rice

Wheat

Maize

2

Expansion in maize acreage in Southern Bangladesh

3

175 390

13086

72586

100

10100

20100

30100

40100

50100

60100

70100

Jessore Kushtia

Acr

es

1999/2000

2009/2010

Change in pulse acreage in southern districts, 1986/87 to 2009/10

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

200000

Acr

es

Barisal

Jessore

Khulna

Kushtia

Patuakhali

Source: BBS

4

Growth of acreage, production and yield under cereals and pulses, 2000-11

Source: Calculated from BBS 5

Crop Growth rates of:

Area Production Yield

Boro rice 2.9 5.4 2.6

Wheat -8.1 -6.8 1.3

Maize 31.1 39.4 8.0

Pulses -5.02 -3.7 1.3

Growth of maize production and yield in southern districts, 1999-2010

6

57 56

10 10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Jessore Kushtia

Pe

rce

nta

ge/y

ear

Production

Yield

Growth of production and yield of major pulses in southern districts, 1985-86 to 2009-10

7

-3

0

-2

0.04

-3

0.1

1

2

3

0.6

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

Barisal Jessore Kushtia Khulna PatuakhaliPe

rce

nta

ge

Production

Yield

Division-wise spread of maize and pulse growers

0

8 9

20

33

30

0

21

5

33

27

13

1 0.2 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Maize

Pulses

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011 8

Farm size distribution of maize and pulse growers

62

38

0 0

12

47

23 18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Marginal Small Medium Large

Maize

Pulses22

36

32

10

15

28

41

16

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Marginal Small Medium Large

FtF National

Maize farmers Pulses farmers

FtF zone 2% 53.4%

Bangladesh 3.4% 20%

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011 9

Technology diffusion among maize and pulse farmers

8

26

92

74

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

FtF Zone National

OPV Hybrid

Maize 92

77

67

98

8

23

33

2 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Masur Mung Mashkalai Khesari

Local

HYV

Pulses: FtF

93

76 84

96

7

24 16

3

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Local

HYV

Pulses: National

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011 10

Fertilizer use in maize and pulse cultivation

Maize (kg/acre) Pulses (kg/acre)

Urea TSP DAP MoP Urea TSP DAP MoP

FtF zone 113 75 27 40 18 11 3 7

National 99 98 17 32 20 11 2 5

Percentage of land treated with fertilizer

Maize Pulses

FtF zone 100 56

National 98 71

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011

11

Use of pesticides in maize and pulses (taka/acre)

1161

255

801

217

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Maize Pulses

FtF

National

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011 12

Yield of maize and pulses (tons/hectare)

Crop FtF zone National

Maize 6.2 5.9

Pulses:

Masur (lentils) 0.99 0.96

Mung (green gram) 0.67 0.72

Mashkalai (black gram)

0.91 1.2

Khesari (grass pea) 0.99 1.1

13

Average per capita consumption (kg) per month of poultry products and pulses

0.12 0.09

0.42

0.13 0.16

0.48

0.22

0.16

0.44

0.34

0.22

0.43

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Poultry meat Eggs Pulses

1995 2000 2005 2010

RDA (kg/person/month)

Pulses: 1.8 Eggs: 0.15 Poultry meat: 0.75

Source: Calculated from Household Income and Expenditure Surveys; RDAs from BAN-HRDB, Ministry of Agriculture

14

Proportion households consuming pulses in past 7 days: maize and pulse growers

47

40

78 73.2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

FtF Zone National

Maize producinghouseholds

Pulse producinghouseholds

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011 15

Per capita daily protein intake (grams) among maize and pulse producers

51.7 51.3 52.6

55

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

FtF zone National

Maize producers

Pulse producers

Source: IFPRI, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2011 16

National retail price ratios of select food items vis-à-vis rice prices

2

2

2.8

6

4

3

1

3.0

7

6

4

2

3.1

8

9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Masur Khesari Eggs Chicken Beef

1990/91

2000/01

2009/10

Source: BBS 17

Cost of acquiring protein from different sources

For 50 grams of protein from: Cost (Taka)

Masur

22

Mung

23

Mashkalai

15

Khesari

9

Chicken

40

Hen egg 50 18

Net returns from maize and pulses

Source: Calculated from IFPRI, BIHS 2011 19

Crop Net return (Taka/hectare)

Farm gate price (Taka/kg)

Maize 53,527 17

Masur 32,130 55

Mung 27,401 63

Mashkalai 27,787 44

Khesari 15,812 29

Conclusions

• Phenomenal increase in maize acreage in past 10 years – both in the FtF zone and at the national level.

• Area under pulses have declined drastically in the FtF zone as well as in Bangladesh as a whole.

• Technology generation and diffusion has been higher in maize – till date 11 BARI hybrid maize varieties while only 6 HYVs for lentil and green gram and 3 for black gram and grass pea.

• Maize requires about 5 times more fertilizers than pulses. Pesticide application is also higher.

20

Conclusions (cont’d)

• Consumption of pulses, the cheapest source of protein, has declined; remains much below desired levels

• Compared to maize farmers: – pulse farmers have a higher consumption of pulses – pulse farmers have a higher intake of protein

• Since 1990s, egg prices have gone up 3x and chicken prices by 8x that of rice. Maize feeds mostly into the poultry industry

• Economically maize is much more profitable than pulses

21

Policy implications

• Research and development efforts for pulses need to be strengthened to incorporate pulses in the cereal-intensive cropping system

• Farmers’ easy access to agriculture extension and other support and advisory services is necessary to build their awareness on pulses to diversify the cereal-cereal crop rotations

• Guidelines should be developed and, if necessary, market prices guaranteed to encourage farmers to diversify their cropping pattern

22