University of Bath PHD Water to the swamp? Irrigation and patterns of accumulation and agrarian change in Bangladesh Glaser, Marion Award date: 1989 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. Oct. 2021 WATER TO THE SWAMP? IRRIGATION AND PATTERNS OF ACCUMULATION AND AGRARIAN CHANGE IN BANGLADESH 7 by Marion Glaser submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Bath January 1989 Attention is drawn to the fact that the copyright of this thesis rests with its author. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purpose of consultation. UMI Number: U009678 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U009678 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 u? 1/ 2 4 APR 1539 [ .................................... Gemdmet meinen Eltern mit Dank fur jahrzehntelange Geduld Acknowledgements In occasional dark moments a P.h.D. may seem like a "piece of solitary masochism". But it cannot be done alone. Many helped me. If I left anyone out - please take it to be said. Special thanks to Rex for care and support and patient endurance of the less desirable side-effects of thesis writing. Thanks also to Joy Kumar and his mother, Ingeborg and Anthony Bottrall; Erik and Ria Wijhuizen, Lynne and Bernadette Cogswell, and David Gisselquist, each for their particular mixture of friendship, hospitality and advice during my stay in Bangladesh. Professors M Hamid and B.M Chowdury (Rajshahi University), Dr. S. Mandal (Bangladesh Agricultural University), BRDB, BADC, Social Welfare Office, Statistical Office and bank staff at Singra and Natore, Mr M. Asaduzzaman (BADC, Rajshahi) Ms K Bentvelsen (agronomist) to the people of Samitigram - for their patience, and their salutory effect on mine in particular to "Saidur" *) and his family, who accepted me into their home and taught and sheltered me in more ways than one. Mrs. Gulbanno (Headmistress of Singra Girls* High School) for warmth, understanding and hospitality Colette for "the home" - and much more my family - for being there My father, JQrgen Glaser and Herrn Karl-Heinz Henneberger for patient support with the production of multicoloured maps and figures - ii - Idris, in particular for patient multiple technical troubleshooting and for proofreading Also to Beatrice and Michael Godwin and Clare B. Jones for proofreading, and to Julie Bloomfield - for trying... Tina (and the redheads) for diversion, derision and laughter to Allister McGregor, Michael Nebelung and to David Lewis in particular for helpful comments on different parts of the thesis to Sarah White - *sister-in-spirit* along the muddy path from research proposal to completion and last but certainly not least to Geof Wood - initiator and much appreciated supervisor of the research through all the interferences between ’life* and work The thesis is one of four produced by a group of research students (A. M cGregor, S. White, D. Lewis, M. Glaser) with our common supervisor Dr G. Wood. Although the studies are independent pieces of work undertaken in different areas of Bangladesh and focussing on different topics, many shared themes and complementarities emerged from our discussions of each others* work. Financial support was provided by a studentship from the University of Bath with some "special effects" from the University finance department. *) Pseudonym retained to protect the anonymity of the family as they are one of my case studies ABSTRACT AND SUMMARY The thesis is based on fieldwork in one main and seven other villages in one area of Bangladesh. It examines patterns of resource accumulation by different household categories and changes in the form and meaning of agrarian relations which occur with the introduction of STW irrigation. It is argued that under present conditions of low non-agricultural incomes and declining per capita land resources in rural Bangladesh, a transformation towards a more expansionary, capitalist rationale of production and appropriation is taking place in agriculture. The fieldwork material shows how under more secure, higher-productivity conditions facilitated by irrigation, agrarian relations are being restructured by producers and appropriators to exploit the productivity potential of new technologies such as mechanised irrigation. The comparison between the main and the seven other villages in this research shows that such restructuring of agrarian relations towards output and productivity objectives takes different forms and has different development outcomes depending on micro-level political economy conditions. The thesis uses the distinction between "forms of market" (or exploitation) and "modes of production" to differentiate between common patterns of transformation and divergent micro-level development outcomes of technologial change. Chapter I poses the main questions addressed in the research, defines the major theoretical concepts used and examines the structural meanings and functions of different agrarian relationships through Bengali history. A discussion of contemporary agrarian change and an introduction to issues and institutions in the irrigation sector in Bangladesh are also given. Chapter II addresses methodological issues, describes the fieldwork and introduces the fieldwork concepts and definitions. Chapter III introduces the area and the main village where research was carried out. Local irrigation-related changes in cropping patterns are then introduced. The final two sections of the chapter discuss forms of informal locally initiated cooperation in the main research village. Chapter IV focusses on the concept of "household category". It concentrates on 11 case studies with a detailed description of how household structure and endowment with material and social resources interact to create overall household position. Some indicators of irrigation-related change in the main research village are summarised at the end of the chapter. Chapter V constitutes the core of the thesis. Firstly, it demonstrates how with more secure, higher yields through irrigation, and with a continuing deterioration of per capita land availability, agrarian relations in the land, credit and labour markets are becoming more productivity-oriented and less subject to the productivity-reducing effects of market interlinkages. Secondly, it shows that the appearance of capitalist agrarian relations has not displaced market interlinkages and wider patron-client relations but that these have adapted to the needs of a capitalist production and appropriation rationale. Chapter VI examines agrarian change in the seven other, "subsidiary" research villages and shows how irrigation-related changes in the agricultural production structure and their influence on household level accumulation processes can take very different forms in one small relatively uniform geographical area. Chapter VII widens the focus to patterns of accumulation and change beyond the cultivation sector. The development effect at the micro- and household level of occupational diversification, in particular in the irrigation-related sectors is examined. Chapter VIII summarises findings and discusses their theoretical implications. V - CONTENTS Acknowl e dgemen t s i Abstract and Summary iii Contents V Tables, Figures and Maps ix CHAPTER I: AGRARIAN STRUCTURAL DYNAMISM 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Past 8 1.2.1 The Mughals 8 1.2.2 The British 11 1.2.3 Pakistan 17 1.2.4 Independence 19 1.3 The Present 20 1.3.1 Land 21 1.3.1.1 Tenancy 22 I.3.1.2 Mortgaging 27 1.3.2 Credit and Usury 29 1.3.3 Labour 33 1.4 Irrigation 36 1.4.1 Technological Choices 38 1.4.2 The Shallow Tubewell 41 1.4.3 The Institutional Framework 44 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 51 II.1 Methodological Concepts and Conflicts 51 II.2