Search

By developing meta-frontier efficiency and structural equation models, the paper examines whether farm economic viability is positively associated with technical efficiency in a highly food insecure context, such as that of rural Sierra Leone. The findings show that technical efficiency can be a sufficient but not necessary condition in determining economic viability of smallholder farming. It is possible to breach reproductive thresholds at the cost of reduced technical efficiency, when the crop diversification strategy of smallholders includes market-oriented high-value crops. This calls for a dual policy approach that addresses farmers’ internal needs for self-consumption (increasing efficiency of food crop production) while encouraging market-oriented cash crop production (diversification assisted through the reduction of associated transaction costs and the establishment of accessible commercialization channels of export related crops and/or high-value crops). The work also calls out for a move-up or move-out strategy for small holders to create viable farming systems in developing world., Peer Reviewed

CONTEXT: Sustainable intensification (SI) is envisioned as an effective strategy for developing countries to increase farm productivity while reducing negative environmental and social externalities. The development of regionally appropriate SI options however requires accounting for the knowledge and preferences of key stakeholders. In Bangladesh, the Government has requested international donors to support the development of dry season rice expansion in the coastal region. Policies however tend to be made without adequate study of farmers' preferences and ambitions; this can render crop intensification efforts ineffective. Understanding farmers' preferences for alternative crops and crop management practices are therefore crucial for success where agricultural development investments aim at incorporating the principles of SI. OBJECTIVE(S): Using coastal Bangladesh as a case study– we aim to (1) quantify farmers' preferences for alternative irrigated crop and crop management options in comparison to the status quo (land fallowing), (2) analyze whether farmers' preferences are conditioned by concerns regarding the cost and availability of irrigation and fertilizer inputs in comparison to expected net revenues, (3) understand how the heterogeneity in preferences can be attributed to farmer and/or farm characteristics, institutional, and biophysical factors, (4) determine how much farmers' are willing to invest in different crops and crop management options – including those reliant and not reliant on irrigation. METHODS: Taking 300 farmers in two diverse coastal environments, a choice experiment (CE) was employed to explore the heterogeneity in farmers' preferences for different dry “rabi” season intensification options ('boro' rice, maize, wheat and mungbean) against the status quo (dry season land fallowing after harvest of the monsoon season rice crop). Analyses included random parameter logit modeling followed by willingness-to-invest and profit simulations. RESU

Agricultural systems in southern coastal regions of Bangladesh are underdeveloped compared to the rest of the country. Agriculture is mainly rainfed with lower cropping intensities in these areas. The northern part of the country on the other hand grows a number of crops including rice, wheat, potato and maize during the dry winter season by groundwater irrigation. While the agricultural development in Southern Bangladesh was dependent on rainfall, the northern Bangladesh exploited groundwater for irrigation. Both these approaches remain unsustainable because rainfed agriculture has resulted in lower cropping intensities, while the increased withdrawal of groundwater for irrigation has led to declining groundwater tables, high pumping costs, and exorbitant energy subsidies. Whereas groundwater irrigation is unsustainable, agriculture in Bangladesh can make use of surface water irrigation (SWI) as the country has a dense network of rivers and natural canals. Especially in the Southern coastal regions, which is part of the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra River Basin and the associated tidal ecosystem can be efficiently tapped for surface water irrigation. Nonetheless, most projects aimed at agricultural intensification through SWI have not attained the desired potential due to poor management and lower capacity of farmers to invest in irrigation or buying irrigation service provision. With a projected population increase to 200 million by 2050, ensuring national food security in the face of these obstacles will require, among others, the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, alongside sustainable management of natural resources including land and water upon which agricultural production is dependent. In Bangladesh today, old and new models of intensification are being considered for implementation.In Southern coastal Bangladesh, farmers often fallow their land or grow low-input ‘opportunity’ crops during the dry rabi season, following monsoon season rice. In 2018

Large changes have taken place in smallholder farming systems in South Asia s coastal areas in recent decades, particularly related to cropping intensity, input availability, climate risks, and off-farm activities. However, few studies have investigated the extent to which these changes have impacted farm-level crop productivity, which is a key driver of food security and poverty in rainfed, low-input, rice-based systems. The objective of this study was to conduct an integrated assessment of variables related to socioeconomic status, farm characteristics, and crop management practices to understand the major factors influencing crop productivity and identify promising leverage points for sustainable development in coastal Bangladesh. Using a panel survey dataset of 32 variables from 502 farm households located within polder (coastal embankment) and outside polder systems during 2005 2015, we employed statistical factor analysis to characterize five independent latent factors named here as Farming Challenges, Economic Status, Crop Management Practices, Asset Endowment, and Farm Characteristics. The factor Farming Challenges explained the most variation among households (31%), with decreases observed over time, specifically households located outside polders. Individual variables contributing to this factor included perceived cyclone severity, household distance to main roads and input-output markets, cropping intensity, and access to extension services. The most important factors for increasing crop productivity on a household and per unit area basis were Asset Endowment and Crop Management Practices, respectively. The former highlights the need for increasing gross cropped area, which can be achieved through greater cropping intensity, while the latter was associated with increased fertilizer, labor, and pesticide input use. Despite the importance of these factors, household poverty trajectory maps showed that changes in offfarm income had played the strongest role

Soil organic carbon (SOC), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water footprint (WF) are the key indicators of environmental sustainability in agricultural systems. Increasing SOC while reducing GHG emissions and WF are effective measures to achieve high crop productivity with minimum environmental impact (i.e. a multi-pronged approach of sustainable intensification (SI) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to achieve food security). In conventional agricultural systems, intensive soil tillage and removal of crop residues can lead to increase negative environmental impact due to reduce SOC, GHG emission and high water consumption. Conservation agriculture (CA) based conservation tillage systems (CTS) with crop residue retention is often suggested as a resource conserving alternative to increase crop productivity without compromising soil health and environmental sustainability of cereal cropping systems. The environmental impact of CTS in terms of SOC, WF and GHG emissions nonetheless remains understudied in Bangladesh. A two-year field experiment was carried out to evaluate the impacts of CTS with retention of crop residue on SOC accumulation, GHG emission and WF in wheat cultivation of Bangladesh. In the experiment, CTS such as zero tillage (ZT) and minimum tillage (MT) were compared with the conventional tillage (CT) practice. Result observed that the SOC accumulation in the soil was 0.11 t ha−1, 0.97 t ha−1, and 1.3 t ha−1 for CT, MT and ZT practices, respectively. A life cycle GHG emission estimation by farm efficiency analysis tool (FEAT) calculated 1987, 1992 and 2028 kg CO2eq ha−1 for ZT, MT and CT practices, respectively. Among the studied tillage options, lowest WF was achieved by MT (570.05 m3 t−1) followed by ZT (578.56 m3 t−1) and CT (608.85 m3 t−1). Since the results are in favor of CTS, this study recommends MT and ZT practice to reduce negative environmental externalities in wheat cultivation in Bangladesh. In comparison between the methods, the MT, whi

Coastal systems are facing natural and human-driven change coupled with a rising population. With increasing shifts in socioecological conditions during the past several decades, it is important to understand how socioecological drivers at different hierarchical levels: -micro, -meso, and -macro affect coastal farming systems, which play a crucial role in the livelihoods of coastal dwellers. Mixed rice-livestock-aquaculture farming in Southern Bangladesh exemplifies the rapid change occurring in many of the world's coastal farming systems in response to these drivers. We used panel data observations from the above study area and modeled trajectories of farm typologies, and the impact of multi-level socioecological drivers by a novel approach. Our approach integrates: (1) a well-articulated conceptual frame of change observed using (2) a temporal view of the potential drivers, change process and farm type outcomes, with the twenty years panel data of 502 households that is analyzed by means of (3) multivariate statistics in conjunction with panel data models that operationalize the conceptual frame. Our approach allows (a) estimating dynamic effects over time that typically cannot be estimated in a cross-sectional data set, (b) distinguishing between time-invariant fixed and time dependent random effects of multi-level socioecological drivers, and (c) controlling for omitted variables to a certain extent. Considering farming systems both within and outside of polder embankment systems intended to protect against oceanic water intrusion, we found a gradual shift from heterogeneous, rice-livestock farm types to more homogenous farms with less livestock and more off-farm activities. Micro-level factors including farm plot fragmentation, farmers' experience in cropping, machinery, salinity and soil fertility were influencing changes in farming systems. Meso-level factors including markets, road infrastructure, labor availability, access to extension and land tenure also

Non-PR, IFPRI2; CSISA, EPTD, The expanded use of surface water for irrigation, intensified farm management, and double cropping have been highlighted by the Government of Bangladesh as policy priorities and development imperatives in the coastal region. A deltaic country, Bangladesh has a dense network of interconnected rivers and over 230 tributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Most farmers cultivate rice during the summer monsoon. In the subsequent winter season that is characterized by low amounts of rainfall, many farmers do not irrigate despite available surface water resources in naturally flowing canal systems. Rather, they tend to fallow their fields or grow pulses without intensive management practices. Use of available water resources for irrigation, intensified farm management, and double cropping are relatively rare. The reasons for this ‘ironic’ situation are complex. They involve challenges with soil and water salinity, lack of infrastructure and market integration, and farmers’ generally low investment capacity and aversion to risk, among others. Most studies in the coastal region have focused on addressing these issues from a biophysical or agronomic standpoint, or by using econometric approaches to examine farmers’ interest in intensified crop management and the use of irrigation. Considering agronomic management, there are many approaches that have been deemed as technologically feasible. Less information is however available on how different kinds of farmers perceive and approach these complex issues. Similarly, the relevance for policy and development initiatives in coastal Bangladesh is relatively under-researched. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze farmers’ perceptions of their predominant farming systems and explore corresponding constraints and perceptions of the use of surface water as a means to intensify farm management.

Further efforts are needed to combat poverty and agricultural productivity problems in the delta region of Bangladesh. Sustainable intensification of crop production through irrigation and production of cash crops such as maize and wheat might be a promising option to increase income and diversify food production. Only limited research has however been conducted on the potential of using surface water from canals as an irrigation source for maize and wheat production in the delta region. To better understand the contribution of shallow groundwater to crop production and number of irrigations needed for maize and wheat in this unique coastal environment, we conducted multi-locational trials on farmers' fields over three rabi seasons. In addition to soil moisture and salinity, we recorded the depth and salinity of the shallow water table throughout these experiments. Maize in particular requires considerable capital investment for seeds, fertilizer, irrigation and labor. Although farmers express wide interest in maize – which can be sold as a profitable cash crop into Bangladesh's expanding poultry feed industry – many of them are reluctant to invest in fertilizer because of the high entry costs. We therefore also investigated the profitability of growing maize under low and high (recommended) fertilizer regimens. Volumetric soil moisture at sowing and during the grain filling phase or at maturity indicated that there is ample supply of water in the profile. Most measurements were above the drained upper limit (DUL). We attributed this to the generally shallow water table depths, which never exceeded 2.75 m at any location, but generally stayed between 1–2 m depth throughout the season. The region's soil texture classes (clay loams, silt loams and silty clay loams) are all conducive for capillary rise of water into the rooting zone. Consequently, irrigation had a significant effect on maize yield in the driest winter only, whereas for wheat, it had no effect. The key

Conservation tillage (CT) options are among the most rapidly spreading land preparation and crop establishment techniques globally. In South Asia, CT has spread dramatically over the last decade, a result of strong policy support and increasing availability of appropriate machinery. Although many studies have analyzed the yield and profitability of CT systems, the technical efficiency impacts accrued by farmers utilizing CT have received considerably less attention. Employing a DEA framework, we isolated bias-corrected meta-frontier technical efficiencies and meta-technology ratios of three CT options adopted by wheat farmers in Bangladesh, including bed planting (BP), power tiller operated seeding (PTOS), and strip tillage (ST), compared to a control group of farmers practicing traditional tillage (TT). Endogenous switching regression was subsequently employed to overcome potential self-selection bias in the choice of CT, in order to robustly estimate efficiency factors. Among the tillage options studied, PTOS was the most technically efficient, with an average meta-technology ratio of 0.90, followed by BP (0.88), ST (0.83), and TT (0.67). The average predicted meta-frontier technical efficiency for the CT non-adopters under a counterfactual scenario (0.80) was significantly greater (P = 0.00) than current TE scores (0.65), indicating the potential for sizeable profitability increases with CT adoption. Conversely, the counterfactual TE of non-adopters was 23% greater than their DEA efficiency, also indicating efficiency gains from CT adoption. Our results provide backing for agricultural development programs in South Asia that aim to increase smallholder farmers’ income through the application of CT as a pathway towards poverty reduction.

In Bangladesh, wheat is an important cereal crop after rice, which shares about 3.04% of the country’s total cereal area and 1.7% of total cereal production. Here, the average productivity of cereal crops including wheat remains significantly low compared to neighbouring countries. Low productivity of food crops together with resource constraints confine the country’s capacity to feed its 150 million people from 8.2 million hectares of cultivable land. As a consequence of the above underlying supply (production) and demand (due to population rise) mismatch, the country is still identified as one of the food deficit countries of the world, where its overall food-security and self-sufficiency is far from being achieved. Given that limited wheat area expansion possibilities exists due to population demand for land in Bangladesh, the future production possibilities of wheat in the country seems to be on increasing the productivity per unit area. In other words, this means increasing efficiency in wheat production by removing farming inefficiencies among Bangladesh wheat farms. Among the reasons of yield levelling in Bangladesh, the lack of knowledge on the effectiveness of farmer decision could be a delimiting factor. Because, the ex-post knowledge of the technical or environmental efficiency of various farmer practices including technology could prompt the farmers to practice in lines with the best performing peers. However, studies pertaining to efficiency of improved technologies for that matter conservation tillage (CT) technology in Bangladesh are rare. Moreover, there are no studies till date on the environmental efficiency of wheat farms operating under different tillage technologies. Considering these, previous researches have suggested that future studies on CT in Bangladesh could be on calculation of benefits associated with environmental improvements. That is, notwithstanding the bulk of studies on adoption impacts of conservation tillage or