Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Farm income, inequality, and poverty among farm families of a flood-prone area in Bangladesh: climate change vulnerability assessment

  • Published:
GeoJournal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the farm income differences, income inequality of farm households, parameters of income variability that ascertain vulnerability levels, and cost-income variability of agricultural crops in four districts of Mymensingh division in Bangladesh. Six hundred farm households from Mymensingh division were used as the source of data for the current study. The results of the analysis show that per capita income difference is significant in farm household among the districts, and agricultural income variation play an important role in per capita income. Higher income from agriculture contributed lower income inequality in the districts, even though employment income is dominant in most of the districts and highest income inequality is found in Netrokona district. Rice is the leading crop in most of districts, except Mymensingh where income share of other crops is high in the total agricultural income. Remittance income shows the higher income inequality among the districts that are lowest in employment and then agriculture. Agriculture is a primary contributor of inducing income disparity of farm households. In this context, we found that the key variation of agricultural income comes from aman HYV and boro HYV rice crops. The cost and income of these rice crops was largely calculated based on the enhanced yields, higher irrigation, and chemical fertilizer and hired labor use per hectare land. By using the lognormal distribution under two scenarios (baseline, yield loss), we estimated the poverty rates resulted from the yield loss of rice production due to potential climate change impact in different districts. The unexpected yield loss of rice by climate change impact leads to the projection that poverty rates in Jamalpur and Netrokona districts would increase. It is, therefore, recommended that proper management of agricultural farms, crop diversification, and appropriate technology interventions are necessary to reduce income inequality and losses of farm income from climate change impact.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • African Development Bank; Asian Development Bank; Department for International Development, United Kingdom; Directorate-General for Development, European Commission; Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Ministry of Foreign Affairs Development Cooperation, The Netherlands; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; United Nations Development Programme; United Nations Environment Programme; and The World Bank. (2002). Poverty and climate change, reducing the vulnerability of the poor through adaptation. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from, http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/2502872.pdf.

  • Ahmed, S., Diffenbaugh, N., & Hertel, T. (2009). Climate volatility deepens poverty vulnerability in developing countries. Environmental Research Letters, 4, 034004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, S.A, Diffenbaugh, N.S, Hertel, T.W, Lobell, D.B, Ramankutty, N., Rios, A.R, & Rowhani, P. (2011). Climate volatility and poverty vulnerability in Tanzania. Global Environmental Change, 21(1), 46–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.10.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, A., & Ryosuke, S. (2000). Climate change and agricultural food production of Bangladesh: An impact assessment using GIS-based biophysical crop simulation model. Center for Spatial Information Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo.

  • Akter, J., Sarker, M. H., Popescu, I., & Roelvink, D. (2016). Evolution of the Bengal Delta and its prevailing processes. Journal of Coastal Research, 32(5), 1212–1226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alamgir, M. S., Furuya, J., & Kobayashi, S. (2017). Determinants of early cropping of rice in Bangladesh: An assessment as a strategy of avoiding cyclone risk. Japanese Journal of Agricultural Economics, 19, 27–30. https://doi.org/10.18480/jjae.19.0_27 .

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alamgir, M. S., Furuya, J., Kobayashi, S., Binte, M. R., & Salam, M. A. (2018). Farmers’ net income distribution and regional vulnerability to climate change: An empirical study of Bangladesh. Climate, 6(3), 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli6030065.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alauddin, M., & Sarker, M. A. R. (2014). Climate change and farm-level adaptation decisions and strategies in drought prone and groundwater-depleted areas of Bangladesh: An empirical investigation. Ecological Economics, 106(C), 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.07.025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asian Development Bank and International Food Policy Research Institute. (2009). Building climate resilience in the agriculture sector in Asia and the Pacific. Mandaluyong City: Asian Development Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100. (2018). Planning commission. Dhaka: Ministry of Planning, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banglapedia. (2003). National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Vol. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7), The Revised Edition, 2012. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

  • Basak, J. K., Ali, M. A., Islam, M. N., & Alam, M. J. B. (2009). Assessment of the effect of climate change on Boro rice production in Bangladesh using CERES-Rice model. In Proceedings of the international conference on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies for Bangladesh (pp. 103–113).

  • Basak, J. K., Ali, M. A., Islam, M. N., & Rashid, M. A. (2010). Assessment of the effect of climate change on Boro Rice Production in Bangladesh using DSSAT model. Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 38(2), 95–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBS. (2011). Yearbook of agricultural statistics of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBS. (2015). Yearbook of agricultural statistics, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, July 2016.

  • BBS. (2017). Household income and expenditure survey, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Dhaka: Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBS. (2018a). Statistical year book Bangladesh-38th series, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, May 2019.

  • BBS. (2018b). Yearbook of agricultural statistics-30th series. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, May 2019.

  • BER. (2017). Bangladesh economic review. Dhaka: Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Ministry of Finance.

    Google Scholar 

  • BER. (2018). Bangladesh economic review. Dhaka: Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Ministry of Finance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brolley, M. (2015). Rice security is food security for much of the world. Rice Today (pp. 30–32). International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Metro Manila.

  • Brulle, R., Carmichael, J., & Jenkins, J. (2012). Shifting public opinion on climate change: An empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010. Climate Change, 114(2), 169–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0403-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhry, A., & Wimer, C. (2016). Poverty is not just an indicator: The relationship between income poverty, and child well-being. Academic Pediatrics, 16(3), S23–S29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2015.12.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Council, N. R. (2013). Climate and social stress: Implications for security analysis (p. 237). Washington, DC: The National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CPD. (2018). State of the Bangladesh Economy in FY2017-18, First Reading. Dhaka: Center for Policy Dialogue.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fafchamps, M. (2003). Rural poverty, risk and development. London: Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bellu, L. G., & Liberati, P. (2006). Inequality analysis: The Gini Index, Module 040. EASYPol, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/a-am352e.pdf%20.

  • Ferreira, F. H. G., Chen, S., Dabalen, A., Dikanov, Y., Hamadeh, N., Jolliffe, D., et al. (2015). A global count of extreme poor in 2012: Data issues, methodologies and initial results. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hertel, T., Burke, M., & Lobell, D. (2010). The poverty implications of climate-induced crop yield changes by 2030. Global Environmental Change, 20(4), 577–585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.07.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hossain, M., & Jaim, W. M. H. (2009). Diversity and diffusion of rice varieties: A data base for Bangladesh. Report Submitted to IFPRI, Harvest Plus Project.

  • Hossain, M., Jaim, W. M. H., Alam, M. S., & Rahman, A. N. M. M. (2013). Rice biodiversity in Bangladesh: Adoption, diffusion and disappearance of varieties. Dhaka: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Research and Evaluation Division.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossain, A., & Silva, J. A. T. (2013). Wheat and rice, the epicenter of food security in Bangladesh. Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology, 35(3), 261–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFPRI. (2012). Supply and demand for cereals in Bangladesh 2010–2030. In A. Ganesh-Kumar, S. K. Prasad, & H. Pullabhotla (Eds.), International Food Policy Research Institute Discussion Paper 01186, June 2012 (p. 28). Environment and Production Technology Division, New Delhi Office.

  • IFPRI. (2013). Agriculture and adaptation in Bangladesh, current and projected impacts of climate change, Discussion paper 01281. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. (2007). Climate change 2007: Synthesis report. In R. K. Pachauri, R. K., & A. Reisinger (Eds.), Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (p. 104). IPCC: Geneva.

  • IPCC. (2012). Summary for policymakers. In: Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation (SREX). A special report of working groups I and II of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • IPCC. (2014). Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. In C. B. Field, V. R. Barros, D. J. Dokken, K. J. Mach, M. D. Mastrandrea, T. E. Bilir, et al. (Eds.), Contribution of Working Group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Islam, M. B., Ali, M. Y., Amin, M., & Zaman, S. M. (2011). Climatic variations: Farming systems and livelihoods in the high barind tract and coastal areas of Bangladesh. In: R. Lal, M. Sivakumar, S. Faiz, A. Mustafizur Rahman, & K. Islam (Eds.), Climate change and food security in South Asia. Dordrecht: Springer.

  • Israt, J. S., Misuzu, T. N., Mana, K. N., Mohammad, S. H., & Yoshiaki, I. (2016). Rice cultivation in Bangladesh: Present scenario, problems, and prospects. Journal of International Cooperation for Agricultural Development, 14, 20–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kabir, M. J., Alauddin, M., & Crimp, S. (2017). Farm-level adaptation to climate change in Western Bangladesh: An analysis of adaptation dynamics, profitability and risks. Land Use Policy, 64(May), 212–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.02.026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabir, M. S., Salam, M. U., Chowdhury, A., Rahman, N. M. F., Iftekharuddaula, K. M., Rahman, M. S., et al. (2015). Rice vision for Bangladesh: 2050 and beyond. Bangladesh Rice Journal, 19(2), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karim Z. (1996) Agricultural vulnerability and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. In T. E. Downing (Ed.), Climate change and world food security. Nato asi series (Series I: Global environmental change) (vol. 37, pp. 307–346). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-642-61086-8.

  • Key, N., Prager, D., & Burns, C. (2017). Farm household income volatility: An analysis using panel data from a National Survey, ERR-226. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

  • Kobayashi, S., & Furuya, J. (2011). Comparison of climate change impacts on food security of Bangladesh. Studies in Regional Science, 41(2), 419–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, A., & Sharma, P. (2013). Impact of climate variation on agricultural productivity and food security in rural India. Economics Discussion Papers, No. 2013-43.

  • Leichenko, R., & Silva, J. A. (2014). Climate change and poverty: Vulnerability, impacts, and alleviation strategies. WIREs Climate Change, 5(4), 539–556. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y., Wu, W., Ge, Q., Zhou, Y., & Xu, C. (2016). Simulating climate change impacts and adaptive measures for rice cultivation in Hunan Province, China. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 55(6), 1359–1376. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-15-0213.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallick, F. H., & Rahman, A. M. (2009). Indigenous knowledge of flood risks management in Bangladesh. In R. Shaw & A. Sharma (Eds.), Indigenous knowledge and disaster risks reduction. Dhaka: Nova Science Publisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masutomi, Y., Takahashi, K., Harasawa, H., & Matsuoka, Y. (2009). Impact assessment of climate change on rice production in Asia in comprehensive consideration of process/parameter uncertainty in general circulation models. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 131(3–4), 281–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munasinghe, M. (2010). Addressing sustainable development and climate change together using sustainomics, WIREs climate change. New York: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.86.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Murtagh, F., & Legendre, P. (2014). Ward’s hierarchical agglomerative clustering method: Which algorithms implement ward’s criterion? Journal of Classification, 31(3), 274–295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00357-014-9161-z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nath, N. C. (2015). Food security in Bangladesh: Status challenges and strategic policy options. Paper presented at 19th Biennial conference of Bangladesh Economic Association (BAE), held on 8–10 January, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

  • Parry, M. L., Canziani, O. F., Palutikof, J. P., Van Der Linden, P. J., & Hanson, C. E. (2007). Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Paul, W. (2011). Decomposing variation in dairy profitability: The impact of output, inputs, prices, labour and management. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 149(4), 507–517. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021859610001176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popova, Z., & Kercheva, M. (2005). CERES model application for increasing preparedness to climate variability in agricultural planning-risk analyses. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 30(1–3), 117–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2004.08.025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, J. R., Xie, L., Challinor, A. J., Cochrane, K., Howden, S. M., Iqbal, et al. (2014). Food security and food production systems. In C. B. Field, V. R. Barros, D. J. Dokken, K. J. Mach, M. D. Mastrandrea, T. E. Bilir, et al. (Eds.), Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: Global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (pp. 485–533). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • PovcalNet. (2020). An online analysis tool for global poverty monitoring. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/home.aspx.

  • Poverty and Inequality in Bangladesh. (2015) Journey towards Progress (2014–2015), Macroeconomic Wing. Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

  • Rahman, A., Roytman, L., Krakauer, N. Y., Nizamuddin, M., & Goldberg, M. (2009). Use of vegetation health data for estimation of Aus rice yield in Bangladesh. Sensors, 9(4), 2968–2975. https://doi.org/10.3390/s90402968.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rashid, M. H., Afroz, S., Gaydon, D., Muttaleb, A., Poulton, P., Roth, C., et al. (2014). Climate change perception and adaptation options for agriculture in Southern Khulna of Bangladesh. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2(1), 25–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rimi, R. H., Rahman, S. H., Karmakar, S., & Husssain, S. G. (2009). Trend analysis of climate change and investigation on its portable impacts on rice production at Satkhira, Bangladesh. Pakistan Journal of Meteorology, 6(11), 37–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruane, A. C., Major, D. C., Yu, W. H., Alam, M., Hussain, S. G., Khan, A. S., et al. (2013). Multi-factor impact analysis of agricultural production in Bangladesh with climate change. Global Environmental Change, 23(1), 338–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.09.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salam, M. A., Furuya, J., Alamgir, M. S., & Kobayashi, S. (2016). Policy adaptation cost for mitigation of price variation of rice under climate change in Bangladesh. Center for Environmental Information Science, Tokyo, 30(November), E1–E7. https://doi.org/10.11492/ceispapers.ceis30.0_E1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarker, M. A. R., Alam, K., & Gow, J. (2012). Exploring the relationship between climate change and rice yield in Bangladesh: An analysis of time series data. Agricultural Systems, 112(October), 11–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2012.06.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarker, M. A. R., Alam, K., & Gow, J. (2014). Assessing the effects of climate change on rice yields: An econometric investigation using Bangladeshi panel data, economic analysis and policy. Amsterdam: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2014.11.004.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sikder, R., & Xiaoying, J. (2014). Climate change impact and agriculture of Bangladesh. Journal of Environment and Earth Science, 4(1), 35–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, K. R., Woodward, A., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Chadee, D. D., Honda, Y., Liu, Q., et al. (2014) Human health: Impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits. In C. B. Field, V. R. Barros, D. J. Dokken, K. J. Mach, M. D. Mastrandrea, T. E. Bilir, et al. (Eds.), Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: Global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (pp. 709–754). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • UNDP. (2009). Policy study on the probable impacts of climate change on poverty and economic growth and the options of coping with adverse effect of climate change in Bangladesh. General Economics Division, Planning Commission, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh & UNDP Bangladesh.

  • Yu, W. H., Alam, M., Hossain, A., Khan, A. S., Ruane, A. C., Rosenzweig, C., et al. (2010). Climate change risks and food security in Bangladesh. USA: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study did not receive any external funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Finance and Banking, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, 3100, Bangladesh

    Md. Shah Alamgir & Md. Rashid Ahmed

  2. Social Sciences Division, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8686, Japan

    Jun Furuya & Shintaro Kobayashi

  3. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Rubaiya Binte Mostafiz

Authors
  1. Md. Shah Alamgir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jun Furuya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shintaro Kobayashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rubaiya Binte Mostafiz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Md. Rashid Ahmed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Md. Shah Alamgir.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alamgir, M.S., Furuya, J., Kobayashi, S. et al. Farm income, inequality, and poverty among farm families of a flood-prone area in Bangladesh: climate change vulnerability assessment. GeoJournal 86, 2861–2885 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10231-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10231-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation