Changing face of cultivated lands

Distribution of cultivated lands in different seasons appears to show that the Aus season - spanning from March to August - has almost lost its historic importance. This is reflected by a drastic deceleration in the share of lands in that season. There was a time when the proportion of land in the Aus season was almost at par with Boro or Rabi season (November-May). In subsequent periods, the pendulum swung rapidly and only about one-fifths of the land was cultivated in the most recent period (2014) as against more than four-fifths in Boro season.

But we also observe a resurgence of the Aus season between 2000 and 2014 with a rise in acreage under cultivation. Possibly this was prompted by the temporary food crisis during that period. However, we reckon that farmers revisited their land uses for two important factors: (a) access to timely water in Boro season and (b) higher profitability of the crop grown with that water. That is why lands under irrigation increased with rapid pace in Boro season. This particular season also appears to have claimed some lands from deep-water Amon - a crop historically grown in the season. In consequence, the proportion of lands used in this season dropped significantly - from four-fifths in the base year to two-thirds in recent periods.

The trend in seasonal utilisation of lands clearly signals that farmers have increasingly leaned on mechanised irrigated crops - pervasive in Boro season - by gradually withdrawing from nature-dependent crops. Finally, we observe that the quantity of cultivated lands has been declining roughly by one per cent per annum which is quite in line with the observation from other studies. But the 'missing land' also points to some policy directions, specifically reminding us about the need for new technology and more allocations to agricultural research. Thus, time has come before us to think about the introduction of a second generation of 'Green Revolution'.

Another interesting development to record is the changing use of owned lands by rural households. The share of owned lands for homestead has gone down from roughly 12 per cent to about 8.0 per cent in comparable periods. Driven by economic hardships, rural residents possibly went for production of homestead-based horticulture and vegetable crops by downsizing the area under homestead. On the other hand, areas under ponds and gardens significantly increased to allow production of fish, flowers, and vegetables. Thus, in the face of shrinking cultivated lands, rural households have somehow managed to compensate for the loss of output to keep them on an even keel.

Next comes the issue of the utilisation of irrigation-based lands. Since irrigation is mostly related to modern varieties, the closer link between water and crops is quite clear. By this, we intend to imply that by diverting lands towards Boro season, the farmers, in fact, moved towards growing more high-yielding variety (HYV) crops at the expense of the traditional ones. Statistical data reinforce the point. About three decades back, only 36 per cent of the cultivated lands could be brought under irrigation. The rapid growth of irrigation since then continued unabated and covered 85 per cent of the cultivated lands in 2014. This shows that Bangladesh has been able to achieve praiseworthy progress in terms of increasing irrigated lands. And since irrigation is needed mostly for HYV paddy, it can also be argued that Bangladesh performed remarkably well in the production of this crop. The widespread cultivation of HYV paddy over time has helped Bangladesh reduce its food deficit and, at the same time, save foreign exchange spent on imports of food grains.

But it is only a part of the whole success story. Bangladesh witnessed another success in management and distribution of irrigation equipment. The strategy and the modes of irrigation have undergone radical change over time. For example, shallow tube-wells (STWs) were used to irrigate about half of the total lands in the base year (1988), and the share shot up to two-thirds in the most recent periods. This indicates pervasive use of these equipments in rural areas. The use of Low Lift Pump (LLP) also expanded over time. The reason for the rise of STWs and, to some extent, of LLPs could be attributed mainly to a liberalised import regime pursued by the government to promote irrigated agriculture. As various research documents show, in the early 1980s and 1990s, the government removed or reduced import duties on irrigation equipments and accessories for greater participation of the private sector in irrigation facilities. Such a policy change was brought forth with a view to encouraging farmers to grow more HYVs so that increased food production can help food security for the nation. Added to that is the multifarious use of shallow machines, especially in transport. It needs to be mentioned here that shallow machines have three important advantages: (a) small investments are required in procuring the equipments; (b) farmers have own control over irrigation with ownership, and (c) the equipments can very easily be moved across plots or places. However, the second important mode of irrigation in the past was indigenous methods that are now almost on the verge of extinction. This is partly due to construction of dams for flood control and partly due to a reduction in water flows in canals. But along with shallow machines, we also observe significant increase in the use of LLPs over time.

The writer is a former Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University. [email protected]