In connection with a profile on village transformation, we visited Parandah. The village is under Satkhira district. Given the most recent turmoil there that shocked the nation, the choice for Satkhira was not appreciated by many of our well-wishers. But life goes on and we reached the village on time.
The Bangladesh-India border lies a few miles from the village, and on the opposite side of the fence, is the 24 Parganas of India. As far as agricultural practices are concerned, villages around border belts have an edge over others: they reap home the benefits of crop varieties and extension services from neighbouring country. The people of 24 Parganas are no exception. On a large scale, they adopt two Indian rice varieties during the monsoon e.g., Jamaibabu and Swarna. Both the varieties provide an average yield of 10-12 maunds per bigha. The rice from these varieties is reported to be tasty too. The villagers also gain from agricultural extension and research knowledge spilled over the border.
During our visit, we were told that over four-fifths of households now adopt improved varieties during the dry season - mostly BR 28, and Miniket. At the very beginning of HYV adoption, villagers were split into two distinct groups: one claiming it as a gift from God (Allah's niamot) in times of low output, poverty and hunger. The other group considered the advent of HYV as a curse of God (gojob). Their argument was that as the crop required water through machines - not gifted from God - it must be rejected. But over time, the adage that necessity is the mother of invention won the race and the theory of gojob (curse) vanished. If you visit the village now, you might find that HYVs dominate not only rice but also non-rice crops. In fact, the advent of HYVs turned this famine-stricken village into a hub of increased food and non-food items.
Another important point needs to be noted here. There are many commercial fish farming enclosures (gher) producing a wide range of fish in sweet water in and around the village. On the elevated embankments of the gher, farmers grow various kinds of vegetables thus killing two birds with one stone. By and large, once an acute food-deficit village has now turned into a food-surplus one with the blessings of new technology and farmers' innovative ideas. Added to this, the multiplier and linkage effects of the Green Revolution have generated widespread non-farm activities.
But problems are there too. The water table is reportedly going down. The cost of lifting water has increased and thus the cost of irrigation. There are about 1,000 pumps in the village that lower the water table. For one kg of paddy, they lift about 3,000 litres of water as opposed to the required 1,500 litres. A few years back, arsenic problem gripped the village and it is being alleged that lifting underground water is the main factor behind the emergence of arsenic.
Again, climate change has allegedly been casting a shadow, e.g., too much rain when there is no need but too little when required. Water-logging is arresting expansion of paddy potentials on the one hand and frequent and prolonged drought are happening, on the other. The problem of water-logging could be minimised by excavation of a canal passing through the village. There were plenty of promises from politicians to excavate the canal but these were forgotten after the election was over.
When asked about their economic condition, about three-fourths of the 500 households in the village thought that their economic condition improved during the last one decade. One-fifth reported deterioration. This means three-fourths of the households of that village saw a net improvement in their economic conditions. The improvement could be adduced to a number of variables but the most important ones are introduction of HYV and fish cultivation.
Quite obviously, development of road networks and access to electricity paved the way for turning subsistence households into commercial ones. But besides that, the swelling labour market had much to do in raising entitlement of the poor segment of the households. About half of the households are either extremely poor or moderately poor who are engaged in different activities at a wage rate of Tk.400-500/day for non-agriculture and Tk.200-300/day for agricultural activities. Given the current price of coarse rice at Tk.30/kg, the real wage rate remains within the means of this class.
Before leaving for that village from Dhaka, we were informed that the BRAC has established a school in that village. To kill two birds with one stone (Roth Dheka O Kola Becha), we decided to visit that school. There were 30 students (in grade 2) who belonged to extreme poor families. The parents of the students include agricultural and non-agricultural labourers, hawkers, maid/servants, rickshaw/van pullers etc. who could never ever send children to schools because of extreme poverty. Or if they were sent, the parents would pull them out from schools for sheer economic reasons. In Porandoh BRAC School, we wanted to know whether the students of grade 2 would be able to say one sentence in English. All of them raised hands, and replied in the affirmative: what is this (Iha hoy ki)? What is that (Uha hoy ki)? The next question was: what is your aim in life? Out of 30 students, 10 expressed the desire to be police officers, 10 of them teachers, five doctors and five wanted to go to other occupations (such as social worker but not politicians!).
Whether they really would be able to become what they aim at is a different question. To us, in that evening was the realisation that these kids from economically and socially crippled households have the chance to dream about their ways ahead. The duty of politicians and social organisations is to imbibe people with dreams. By allowing these dropped-out children, popularly known as 'Tokais', to attend schools, the BRAC has commendably sown the seeds of dreams for their survival.
The writer is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.
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