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Inequality, Poverty and Agriculture in Rural Bangladesh: Perspective from a Village Study

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Inequality, Poverty and Agriculture in Rural Bangladesh: Perspective from a Village Study 24 〔農 業 経 営 研 究 第42巻 第3号,2004〕 研究論文 Inequality, Poverty and Agriculture in Rural Bangladesh: Perspective from a Village Study Md. Taufiqul Islam*, Kenichi Omori** I Introduction Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated agricultural nations in the world , numbering 129 million people. The country encompasses an area of 147000 km2 with 834 people per km21 . Agriculture plays a key role in the overall economic performance of Bangladesh , not only in terms of its contribution to the GDP, but also as a major source of foreign exchange earnings , and by providing employment to a large segment of the population, particularly the poor(9) . Although the population is growing at a slower rate than twenty years ago (previously 2.01% and currently 1.8%), the pressure of absolute numbers is on the increase( 1 This , combined with rapid urbanization and a rapid decline in available arable land, means that the agricultural sector has to feed a growing population. This cannot be done without substantial agricultural development. Therefore , such development is indispensable for Bangladesh . Although there are some positive trends in respect to farm productivity and overall economic growth in some areas, the agricultural sector is beset with multifarious problems such as a prevalence of small, marginal or landless farmers, inequality in landholding distribution and income , unemployment, slow expansion of irrigation schemes, lack of education and low diffusion of modern technology C2 ), Considering the above, this study conducted a household survey to identify agricultural problems, and to suggest potential areas for improvement in effective agricultural development in survey area. Specifically, the study aims to- 1) Evaluate the impact of education, income and land ownership on agriculture; and 2) Identify inequalities in land and income distribution . This paper is divided into six sections: Section one describes the significance and objectives of the study. Section two discusses the concepts of poverty and inequality . The basic features of the study are presented in section three . Section four contains the method of analysis , data and study materials. Section five presents the results and discussion . Section six summarizes the results and offers conclusions. * The United Graduate School of Agricultural Scien ce, Tottori University. ** Faculty of Life and Environmental Scienc e, Shimane University. Inequality, Poverty and Agriculture in Rural Bangladesh: Perspective from a Village Study 25 Sources: Based on the references: (BIDS,(2)); (DFID, (8)); (Hye, (15)); (Hug, (16)); (IDB, (18)); (IFAD, (19)); (Rahman, 12211:(Sen_126)): and (Todaro. 128)). Figure 1 Causes of Poverty II The Concept of Poverty and Inequality Quantification of poverty largely depends on how it is defined. Although it may be somewhat pedantic, use of definitions helps to avoid confusion and places the subject in perspective. There are various types of definitions of poverty. Generally, poverty refers to forms of economic, social and psychological deprivation occurring among people lacking education and sufficient assets. Accord- ing to Sen (1981), "Poverty is, of course, a matter of deprivation". In Human Development Report, the United Nations classified a Third-World person as poor if, after adjusting for international differences in price levels, the person is trying to live on less than one dollar a day C19).To know what helps to reduce poverty, what works and what does not, poverty has to be defined. Poverty reduction requires improved access to productive assets such as land in addition to basic services, income and educatioric8). The poverty is caused by a vast range of factors. Figure 1 summarizes the causes of rural poverty classified into Social, Economic, Political and Environmental. In this study, poverty is defined as the condition of lack of education inequalities in income and land ownership. Poverty and inequality are very closely linked. Inequality is a relevant concept at different levels and needs to be examined within and outside the household, at a local, national and global level. When social groups based on race, gender, or other features are systematically associated with differential reward and privilege, inequality becomes an institutionalized feature of society. Social Inequality refers to an unequal distribution of economic (wealth) and/or political (power) and/or cultural goods c 5 )' (29). Present study defined inequality as the inability of specific groups of people to access certain opportunities (such as land, education or employment) available in society that typically should be available to all people equally. To measure inequality, one needs to determine the meaning of the degree of being unequal(26). It has been recognized since Dalton (1920) that a measurement of income or wealth inequality implies some concept of social welfare. Berrebi and Silber (1985) note that inequality indices can be expressed as a income-weighted sum of individual 26 第42巻 第3号(通 巻122号) "deprivation" coefficients , the differences among the indices depending on the way the deprivation is defined. The present study emphasized education, inequality and poverty with respect to agriculture, which are the key factors for rural development in Bangladesh. Very few studies have been undertaken in this field. Moreover, previous studies were mainly problem-based 2 ), and which lacked developmental direction. Previous studies show that education constitutes the most impor- tant component of any rural development program, particularly in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh. Education is an important factor in creating access to economic resources for rural development and thus by earning more to escape the curse of poverty(18). It is not always clear to rural people that education can help them reduce poverty by increasing human capital and skill so as to enable them to attain meaningful personal development. Education provides wider choices for occupations thereby providing an independent source of income, which helps to reduce income inequality and poverty. III Basic Feature and Study Area Bangladesh, with a humid subtropical monsoon climate, is suitable for the growth and cultivation of a wide variety of tropical and sub-tropical crop species. Over 80 percent of the people live in rural areas, and a major portion of this population is unemployed half of the year(5). Thirty percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from agriculture, which involves 60 percent of the labor force[18J.The country has a total land surface of approximately 35.5 million acres 3 ), of which about 22.4 million acres are used for agricultural purposes 1). Figure 2 demonstrates comparative man -land ratio in some South-Asian countries . Land is the main productive asset in rural areas; it represents both economic and social status. However, the man-land ratio in Bangladesh is acute. A poverty profile by landholding class in rural Bangladesh is given in Table 1. This table also indicates that poverty is correlated with the amount of land a household controls. The study was undertaken in Mohammadpur Village within the Sadar Thana (sub-district) of the Note: Hectare is a measure of land; lhectare=2.471 acres. Source: Data based on Population Data Sheet in South Asian Countries, ESCAP, 1995 Figure 2 Comparative Man-Land Ratios in some South-Asian Countries Inequality, Poverty and Agriculture in Rural Bangladesh: Perspective from a Village Study 27 Brahmanbaria District. Mohammadpur is a Table 1 Poverty profile by Landholding class plain land village, appropriate for agricultural production and other activities. The communi- cation system in the village is not developed; in the rainy season it is difficult to move from one place to another. Some basic data on the village is given in Table 2. This table compares data between 1991 and 2001. The average household size is 6 members. Mohamadpur is representa- Note: The method of head count has been adopted to measure tive of the average village in Bangladeshc •k30•l. population falling below the poverty line. The head count method involves the following simple procedure of calcula- Although some government and non-govern- tion, h=q/n ment organizations are working towards the where, h=headcount measure of poverty, q=number of development of Mohammadpur Village 4), it persons falling below poverty line, and n=total population Source: Data based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 1994. was found during the household survey that only 23 percent of farmers had received train- Table 2 Basic Data for Mohammadpur Village ing and only 27 percent were linked with organi- in 1991 and 2001 zations such as village cooperative society, BRAC, Samabaya Samity and other informal groups. IV Materials and Methodology Source: Thana (Sub-district) Statistic Officer, Brahmanbaria 1 Sources of Data and Research Methods Sadar Thana, Brahmanbaria District, Bangladesh, 2001. The present study gathered data from multiple sources. Most secondary data were collected from administrative agencies and NGO's in Bangladesh. Various publications, census and study reports were also used. Mohammadpur Village in Bangladesh was selected as a source of primary data. The selection of this village was influenced by a number of factors. There are various types of village in Bangladesh which are usually divided into categories such as plain land, fishery or mountain villages. Over 80 percent of the villages in Bangladesh are located on plain land, and most of the village people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood•k14•l,•k17•l. This study emphasized a plain land agricultural village, as being an average representative village in Bangladesh. In total, one hundred households were investigated using a prepared questionnaire 5). The questionnaires composed the following sections: 1) Head of household and household characteristics. 2) Occupation and Literacy: Occupation is an activity performed to earn income. A person may have several occupations; the source of highest income is defined as the main occupation and all others are secondary. Literacy was defined as the ability to read and write a letter in any language. 3) Farm size and asset ownership.
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