Climate change issue in agri-credit and role of PKSF
Monday, 10 October 2011
Md Hasan Khaled
In Bangladesh, agriculture, as a single-largest producing sector, contributes 19.95 per cent of the GDP and employs around 43.8 per cent of the total labour force. The 8.70 million hectare multi-cropping agriculture land in Bangladesh comprise 60.61 per cent of the total land. Rice, jute, wheat, maize, potato and different types of vegetables are the main crops. Few important successes can be noted in the agricultural sector: Crop diversification throughout the year has gained momentum; agriculture sub-sectors like aquaculture, animal husbandry and the poultry sector are also moving forward; and intensive farming has increased rural employment (labour man-days), reduced lean period and enhanced farmers' earning opportunity. As a result, the success of this sector has a major impact in achieving macroeconomic goals such as poverty reduction, employment generation, human development and food security for sustainable economic development. The marginal and small farmers are the main driving force of the agriculture sector. In terms of land size, 38.63 per cent are marginal farmers who own between 0.05-0.49 acres; 49.86 per cent are small farmers who own between 0.50-2.49 acres; 10.34 per cent are medium-size farmers and 1.17 per cent are large scale farmers (Agricultural Sample Survey of Bangladesh, BBS-2005). Among the marginal farmers, around 14.03 per cent are landless but are involved in farming as tenants. Inadequate capital, impact of natural disasters and climate change, scarcity of land and the lack of technology use are the main constraints for the marginal and small farmers' development. Despite many successes, Bangladesh is also one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world and not surprisingly it faces the most adverse impacts of the global climate change. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) has ranked Bangladesh as the most vulnerable country to floods, third-most in tsunamis and sixth-most to cyclones in terms of human exposure. Every year several natural disasters and rapid climate change slow down the pace of its agricultural development and poverty reduction efforts. The consequences of climate change are increasing the risk of floods, droughts, heat and cold waves, river erosion and water logging and increasing water salinity and decreasing water quality. It also reduces reliability on hydropower and biomass production, decreases agricultural production, create adverse impacts on fisheries and livestock, human health and ecological balance. Like other countries, the agriculture sector of Bangladesh also depends on favourable climate. Timely rainfall in monsoon season, timely advent of winter, pure underground water and overall moderate temperature are the blessings for our agriculture. The effects of climate change has changed crop patterns while reducing yields partially or totally. Magnitudes of crop failure also create price instability and inflation. The adverse impact of climate change on agriculture hampers GDP growth, employment, food security and poverty eradication efforts at the national level. Palli Karma-Sahayak Founda-tion (PKSF), an apex institution providing wholesale credit to the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) for their agricultural credit operations along with other credit operations, considers the climate change issue in its entire programme activities very seriously, especially for the agricultural credit programme. The most severely climate change affected farmers are in the southwest parts of the country. Many farmers including PKSF financed farmers of this region have started using saline tolerant variety of rice BR dhan41 in Aman season and BR dhan47 in Boro season. As an alternative livelihood option, a big portion of members of this coastal region have engaged themselves in alternate income generation activities like mat making, which is known as 'mele madur' in local language. Farmers have started to cultivate early variety of jute in southwest region since few years back. After the devastating cyclone in 1991, a large number of farmers of the southeast coastal belt were forced out of rice farming as large part of the cultivable areas were affected by saline water. According to the report of the Agricultural Extension Depart-ment, farmers are now cultivating rice BR dhan28, 29 and 47 in Boro season. The varieties of seeds of the rice can be adjusted with the different scale of salinity content in the southeast coastal part of the country. The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) recently invented a variety of Boro rice (BINA-8) that has been introduced successfully to the farmers of coastal areas. PKSF financed farmers are actively using these varieties of rice. The farmers of the northern part of Bangladesh are always concerned about flash floods. The flood tolerant variety of rice BR-dhan51 and 52 have been innovated and tested by the farmers of that region. BR-dhan33 is an early maturing variety of rice that is getting popularity among the farmers in the monga (seasonal unemployment) prone regions. This variety of rice helps reduce the magnitude of vulnerability of the farmers in the lean period. Considering the climate change issues, farmers are cultivating different types of potatoes in different periods of time. Currently, a research is going on to develop drought tolerant variety of rice. The PKSF organised farmers are enthusiastically adopting these innovations. Vegetable cultivation through out the year has also gained momentum among the farmers. They are gradually making themselves capable to adjust their agricultural activities with the rapid climate change. The agriculture sector needs rigorous research to address the climate change issues and to set coping mechanisms. New variety of inputs especially seed development is a time consuming process. This sort of research requires process re-engineering to address climate change issues more swiftly. The PKSF has signed MoUs with different research institutions to adopt their innovations and to extend those in the field level. The writer is Deputy General Manager of PKSF and can be reached at email: khaled@pksf-bd.org
In Bangladesh, agriculture, as a single-largest producing sector, contributes 19.95 per cent of the GDP and employs around 43.8 per cent of the total labour force. The 8.70 million hectare multi-cropping agriculture land in Bangladesh comprise 60.61 per cent of the total land. Rice, jute, wheat, maize, potato and different types of vegetables are the main crops. Few important successes can be noted in the agricultural sector: Crop diversification throughout the year has gained momentum; agriculture sub-sectors like aquaculture, animal husbandry and the poultry sector are also moving forward; and intensive farming has increased rural employment (labour man-days), reduced lean period and enhanced farmers' earning opportunity. As a result, the success of this sector has a major impact in achieving macroeconomic goals such as poverty reduction, employment generation, human development and food security for sustainable economic development. The marginal and small farmers are the main driving force of the agriculture sector. In terms of land size, 38.63 per cent are marginal farmers who own between 0.05-0.49 acres; 49.86 per cent are small farmers who own between 0.50-2.49 acres; 10.34 per cent are medium-size farmers and 1.17 per cent are large scale farmers (Agricultural Sample Survey of Bangladesh, BBS-2005). Among the marginal farmers, around 14.03 per cent are landless but are involved in farming as tenants. Inadequate capital, impact of natural disasters and climate change, scarcity of land and the lack of technology use are the main constraints for the marginal and small farmers' development. Despite many successes, Bangladesh is also one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world and not surprisingly it faces the most adverse impacts of the global climate change. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) has ranked Bangladesh as the most vulnerable country to floods, third-most in tsunamis and sixth-most to cyclones in terms of human exposure. Every year several natural disasters and rapid climate change slow down the pace of its agricultural development and poverty reduction efforts. The consequences of climate change are increasing the risk of floods, droughts, heat and cold waves, river erosion and water logging and increasing water salinity and decreasing water quality. It also reduces reliability on hydropower and biomass production, decreases agricultural production, create adverse impacts on fisheries and livestock, human health and ecological balance. Like other countries, the agriculture sector of Bangladesh also depends on favourable climate. Timely rainfall in monsoon season, timely advent of winter, pure underground water and overall moderate temperature are the blessings for our agriculture. The effects of climate change has changed crop patterns while reducing yields partially or totally. Magnitudes of crop failure also create price instability and inflation. The adverse impact of climate change on agriculture hampers GDP growth, employment, food security and poverty eradication efforts at the national level. Palli Karma-Sahayak Founda-tion (PKSF), an apex institution providing wholesale credit to the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) for their agricultural credit operations along with other credit operations, considers the climate change issue in its entire programme activities very seriously, especially for the agricultural credit programme. The most severely climate change affected farmers are in the southwest parts of the country. Many farmers including PKSF financed farmers of this region have started using saline tolerant variety of rice BR dhan41 in Aman season and BR dhan47 in Boro season. As an alternative livelihood option, a big portion of members of this coastal region have engaged themselves in alternate income generation activities like mat making, which is known as 'mele madur' in local language. Farmers have started to cultivate early variety of jute in southwest region since few years back. After the devastating cyclone in 1991, a large number of farmers of the southeast coastal belt were forced out of rice farming as large part of the cultivable areas were affected by saline water. According to the report of the Agricultural Extension Depart-ment, farmers are now cultivating rice BR dhan28, 29 and 47 in Boro season. The varieties of seeds of the rice can be adjusted with the different scale of salinity content in the southeast coastal part of the country. The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) recently invented a variety of Boro rice (BINA-8) that has been introduced successfully to the farmers of coastal areas. PKSF financed farmers are actively using these varieties of rice. The farmers of the northern part of Bangladesh are always concerned about flash floods. The flood tolerant variety of rice BR-dhan51 and 52 have been innovated and tested by the farmers of that region. BR-dhan33 is an early maturing variety of rice that is getting popularity among the farmers in the monga (seasonal unemployment) prone regions. This variety of rice helps reduce the magnitude of vulnerability of the farmers in the lean period. Considering the climate change issues, farmers are cultivating different types of potatoes in different periods of time. Currently, a research is going on to develop drought tolerant variety of rice. The PKSF organised farmers are enthusiastically adopting these innovations. Vegetable cultivation through out the year has also gained momentum among the farmers. They are gradually making themselves capable to adjust their agricultural activities with the rapid climate change. The agriculture sector needs rigorous research to address the climate change issues and to set coping mechanisms. New variety of inputs especially seed development is a time consuming process. This sort of research requires process re-engineering to address climate change issues more swiftly. The PKSF has signed MoUs with different research institutions to adopt their innovations and to extend those in the field level. The writer is Deputy General Manager of PKSF and can be reached at email: khaled@pksf-bd.org