Rural Economy

3.1 Introduction
Bangladesh, one of the most populated countries in the world, is enormously illuminated on agriculture. Most of the people live in the village and almost half of the countrys population is engaged with farming, forestry and other agricultural activities. As massive possibilities on agriculture are there, Live-in-Field Experience (LFE) program was taken place in rural areas of Bangladesh to get practical knowledge about agriculture, life of rural people and their economic conditions. Our LFE for Summer 2011 semester was conducted at Prosikia in Manikgong and our designated village was Golora (Moddo Para). To understand and assess the economic conditions of people, the patterns of the people are needed to study, means how people earn their livelihood and how they expend it. Like other villages in Bangladesh, people of Golora village also depend on agriculture. Hence, economy is mostly shaped by agriculture, though there are some other factors. This chapter will describe the different economical aspects of this village. Besides, major agricultural crops along with crop production cycle will also come under this chapter. Importantly, all data are collected from Field Survey, LFE Spring 2010.

3.2 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study on Golora village are to Understand the present economic conditions Identify the main economical activities and income sources Find out different income groups and their life styles Know the agricultural activities and major crops Understand the crop production cycle.

3.3 Purpose of the Study

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The purpose of the study is to identify the economic conditions of our designated village, Golora (Moddo Para). We will explore the people life styles of this village with the relation of their economic condition, i.e. their income sources and expenses, savings and housing patterns. Moreover, major seasonal crops and their cultivation process, and other agriculture related matters are our concerns to find out in this chapter.

3.4 Limitations of the Study

Though everything was on right track, but there were some limitations to collect data for our study, which are: Lack of reliable data (primary data) the respondents were sometimes unsure of their answers. Some vague and conflicting information were received that resulted in an unstable database. Some of them are very religious and traditional; did not like the idea of females (students) surveying from village to village. Some of the villagers responded in a fashion that portrayed them much poorer than they actually are, because through our conversations we deduced that some thought us to be a part of the NGO. Some of the villagers are very dishearten by the previous interviewer for their behavior.

3.5 Overview of Economic Conditions

Economic conditions are little bit unstable, because of the piece hike of the necessary goods. Most people of this village are dependent on agriculture. Hence, excessive oil prices agriculture, there are very few people, who work in different sectors, i.e. small business, rickshaw puller, government service holder, cattle fattening and so on. Though, they work in different sectors, many people have taken loans from different NGOs. From our observation, there were mostly tin-shed and earth-made houses. It can be presumed that most people are agriculture-based and their economy is kind of mixed. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE (for irrigation), shortage of fertilizer and insecticides make the people panic. Beside

3.6 Employment Conditions

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Most of the people live in village in Bangladesh and unemployment rate is not satisfactory. As it is stated earlier that most people are dependent on agriculture, very few people do jobs. There could be some reasons behind the unemployment such as lack of Government and non-Government jobs, illiteracy about self-employment. Thus, most people prone to work in agriculture.

3.7 Different Income Groups

As mentioned earlier, people of this village are engaged in different types of activities. Consequently, their life styles are also different. Though, more or less people are related with agricultural activities, their income also varies with their occupations. Based on our collected data on income and according to the villagers, we have classified those people in four different income groups i.e. rich class, upper middle class, lower middle class and poor class people. We have observed that most of the villagers are poor and even below the poverty line. The following pie chart (based on Field Survey, LFE Summer 2011) shows the percentage of different income groups.

Figure 3.1: Percentage of Different Income Groups As the chart is made depending on peoples income level, their income definitely varies from class to class. The villagers of Bhandar Paiker are categorized as different classes based on some characteristics such as family income, the amount of farm land, household goods and savings. Now, these different income groups are briefly described below. 3.7.1 Rich Class Rich class is defined as the highest earning in the village. Based on their income, other classes are defined. However, the average annual income of rich class people is around Tk.100,000. The main source of their income is agriculture. They get huge amount of money from farm land. Moreover, some of them are engaged with small business, which brings a good amount. Details of their income sources and ranking of wealth will be discussed later in this chapter. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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3.7.2 Upper Middle Class The income of upper middle class little bit lower than the rich class of people. And their average annual income is around Tk.60,000. Like rich class people, their main income also is agriculture. 3.7.3 Lower Middle Class Depending on the categories, lower middle class of people are defined as who earns annually around Tk.30,000. Though, they are also depended on agriculture, but they are also employed with petty business and small services. Moreover, some families have more than one earning member in the class. 3.7.4 Poor Class Poor people of Bhandar Paiker village are really poor. Some people even live under poverty line. It is difficult to categorize this class, because fluctuations of income at this level are critical. Some people live on daily earnings and some people earn from laboring. They are mostly depended on agricultural labor, transportation and other. Roughly the average annual income for this class id around Tk.10,000. These income ranges of different classes are summarized in the following bar chart, which shows who earns how much. The graph is inserted in the beginning of the next page. Figure 3.2: Income Ranges of Different Income Groups From the graph, it can easily be seen that rich people earn around Tk.100,000 annually, whereas poor people earn less than Tk.10,0000 annually. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

3.8 Income Sources

Most people in a village in Bangladesh are largely dependent on agriculture. Our village is not unusual. Agriculture is the main source of income of the villagers. According to

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our social change part, we knew of the villages infrastructure has changed from day to day; the most interesting is that we have found some people who have participated in diversified professions in addition to their main occupation. The different kinds of income sources are described below. 3.8.1 Agriculture Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Most people depended on agricultural activities. Our village is not out these activities rather it is the most common source of income for all classes of people. Income from agriculture is depended on seasons. As rich people and upper middle people have many lands, they get a large amount from agriculture. Lower middle class and poor people cultivate crops in others land by agreement. Therefore, agriculture is a base income source for everybody in the village. 3.8.2 Service Holder There are some people, who work in different kind of services. Though they are service holders, but the essential fact is that they are not among the highest incomers. People, as we surveyed, are engaged with land register, hospitals and other governmental institutions like union parishad. 3.8.3 Petty Business According to our survey and village people, some of the villagers are connected with small businesses. Percentage of rich and upper middle class people is higher in this sector of income source. Some of them have shops and some of them work as middle men in crop cycle. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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Figure 3.3: Different Income Sources 3.8.4 Cattle Flattening Cattle flattening are also a major source for income. Many people are engaged with this kind of activities. People rear different kind of cattle to sell milk, eggs and so on. Moreover, in the time of any festival, they sell the cattle in higher price to make more money. Thus, it is a good source of income. 3.8.5 Transportation There are very few people; especially poor people are engaged with transportation. They earn hand to mouth by pulling rickshaw or other kind of transportation. 3.8.6 Others Besides these income sources described above, there are some other fields, where people work to earn livelihood. This category mainly includes agricultural labor, poultry rearing and other things.

3.9 Rural Social Structure

It is used to capture differences in living standards as perceived by the people. It is basically shows what people of different income groups contain what types of assets along with their standard of living. Rural social structure is a way of separating different income groups based on their income and assets. 3.9.1 Rural Social Structural Map During the survey, we had to move from family to family to collect different kind of necessary data. That time, we had to ask the preset questions about their lifestyles, income, expenditure and savings. Moreover, we asked many other things, which will be shown in the following table. To draw the table, we have already classified different income groups. Based on these groups, we will see about their economic conditions in brief. (This portion has been kept blank intentionally for the convenience to draw the table) Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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Table 3.1: Rural Social Structural Map Source: Field Survey, LFE Spring 2010. The table easily shows that the people of rich class have large amount of land, but they do not cultivate it directly. Rather they rent the land to the middle class or poor villagers through a contract. In our observation, rich and upper middle class families are more concern about their children education, health and hygiene. Moreover, we got one person, whose one son is studying in Japan on scholarship and another son live in Germany. This is person has the highest amount of land in Bhandar Paiker village. Now, briefly we will see description of variable from the table. 3.9.2 House Types According to Maslows hierarchy, house is one of the most important basic needs. The house provides a refuge for humans to protect themselves from external danger, such as rain, sun, cold, floods and wild animals. In our village, we have seen that attributing to various types of houses are made of mud, tin and concrete. We found that models of houses are fundamentally based on their financial situation. Some people in high-income group are living in houses that are concrete with tin-shed on the roof. The brave thing is that, in the village, most people living in tin-shed houses. 3.9.3 Properties and Luxurious Products The concept of luxury is an unstable thing. The concept is applicable, because it does not apply to another. For instance, something is essential for one, but that things may be luxurious for another. This means economic position to decide what is appropriate for good bed and so on. On the other hand, poor people have little bed named choki, small table, torch light etc. 3.9.4 Livestock / Domestic Animal Figure 3.4: Possession of Domestic Animal by Villagers Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE whom? The rich class people tend to have TV, VCD, mobile, motorcycle, truck, big Almirah,

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From the graph, we can see that villagers mostly (87%) possess poultry birds in their houses. Actually, the possession of livestock depends on the financial conditions of the villagers. People rear the livestock for various reasons. The main reason is for agriculture; they are used in land preparing. Besides, middle class people use the animals to sell milk and in the time of Eid, they sell the animals to make profit. Other animals includes ox, pigeons etc. 3.9.5 Education Education is also varies with the economic condition of the villagers. Almost everybody of rich class is educated. Some of them are studying in Japan and Germany. Awareness of education is also satisfactory among the middle class people. But poor people are not that much educated because of their financial conditions. 3.9.6 Savings Though the villagers are mostly poor, but they have the tendency to save from their earnings. Rich people have the highest savings as they earn a lot. The saving range decreases with the decrease of income groups. Hence, poor people try to save Tk.1,000 Tk.1,200. 3.9.7 Storage Facility Figure 3.5: Storage Facility The people mostly use sacks and drums to store their crops. Mainly they store for their own uses and to sell later to make profit. But the people tend not to store because of rats their crops in cold storage, though it expensive. More or less, people store crops in their houses. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE and insects. They destroy the crops, which is a loss for the farmer. Sometimes, people store

3.10 Rural Production Cycle

Bangladesh is highly populated country and over 80% people live in the village. They are mostly depended on agriculture for their livelihood. Bangladesh is mainly based on agriculture. This sector is the largest and important source of income. Its a growing opportunity for Bangladesh. To know more about the seasonality of agriculture, we went to

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our designated village. We randomly talked to people to know the cultivation process around the year along with the crops. Later, we will know more about crops and it cultivation process around the year. 3.10.1 Contractual Agreement on Land and Crops There is an unequal distribution of land in Bangladesh. Rich class has the most of the land and poor people have least or none except their house. Thus, here arises contractual agreement. In our village, some people have many lands, and many people have few amounts of or no land. As a result, rich people give their land with agreement to those, who have no land or least. In Bhandar Paiker village, we got four types of contractual agreement on land and crops, which are shortly described below. 3.10.1.1 Potton Potton occurs when farmer take lease from the land-owner for a specific period in exchange of money. Generally, farmers pay Tk.3,500 Tk.4,000 for one bigha of land. Here, farmer can produce anything and he gets all the crops. 3.10.1.2 Borga Borga is a land agreement where land-owner gives his land to others to cultivate crops for a particular time. Basically, poor and middle class people take borga. Here, both land-owner and farmer share the production cost and share equally the harvested crops. 3.10.1.3 Agreement Under agreement, land-owners give the land to someone for a fixed amount of money. Here, farmer produces and gets the total crops, leaving nothing for the real landowner. Land-owner can get back the land, if he pay the fix amount, what he took for agreement. 3.10.1.4 Khai-Khalasi Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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As we surveyed, it seemed to us that khai-khalasi is likely as Potton. According to the villagers, farmer takes land from the land-owner for some money. Then the farmer produces and gets the crop at last. Here also, land-owner can get back his land any time. 3.10.2 Soil Type and Seasonal Cropping Pattern Soil is one of the main factors that influence farmers to choose their crops for cultivation. In Bhandar Paiker village, soil type is silt. Depending on this type of soil, farmers produce different kinds of crops according to the seasons. In rainy season, the produce amon and jute. In winter, they produce potato, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard etc. Thus, crops cultivation varies season to season. 3.10.3 Major Crops with Seasons According to the villagers, the weather of Bhandar Paiker village is optimum for producing different kinds of crops. The major crops are different paddies, potato, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard, bitter gourd, chilly, beans, radish, brinjal etc. The cultivation process of some major crops is described below. 3.10.3.1 Amon (BR-11) Preparation of Seed Bed: According to villagers and with the help of PRA method, we came to know that Amon seeds are sown in the middle of Boishakh month and it needs to just over a month for transplantation. Preparation of Land: When small plant are about to ready for transplantation, farmer prepares the land. They use cows and power tiller to prepare the land and then irrigate the land. Afterwards, the farmer transplants the small plants in to the prepared land. It should be cleared that seed bed and prepared land are not same. They are produced in two different lands. INSERT THE CROP CALENDER HERE Irrigation: Irrigation is needed throughout the cultivation process. Firstly, it needs to prepare the seed bed and then it needs when to prepare lands. In addition, to grow the plants, Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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irrigation is must. However, the cultivation process has fallen under rainy season at some extent and thus little irrigation is enough. Harvesting: The plants need to grow over two months. And then the crops are harvested in Agrahayan month. In the mean time, weeding takes place, and fertilizer and insecticide are given to grow the plant. 3.10.3.2 IRRI The process of cultivation is likely to be similar to the cultivation process of Amon; just time is different to cultivate IRRI. However, short description of the cultivation process is given below. Preparation of Seed Bed: To cultivate IRRI, farmers prepare a seed bed in a land in the month of Poush. Then they wait to grow small plants to be transplanted later. Preparation of Land: To prepare the land, farmers use cows or power tiller to make the soil softer. They do it in the month of Magh. When the seeds become small plant, the farmers transplant them into this prepared land. Here also, it needs water, which will be covered in the paragraph. Irrigation: To make IRRI crops, it needs a lot of water because of the dry season. Irrigation needs throughout the IRRI cultivation process. It needs when preparing seed bed, when preparing the main land and also in the time of growing. Harvesting: IRRI is harvested in the month of Jaistho. From land preparation to harvesting, many activities need to be done such as weeding, providing fertilizer and insecticide etc. 3.10.3.3 Potato The cultivation process of potato is different than Amon and IRRI. Here, it does not to prepare seed bed for transplantation. Moreover, potato needs short period of time to cultivate it. We will see the cultivation process of potato in brief. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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Preparation of Land: Farmers prepare land in the first half of Kartik month. This time is enough for the farmers to cultivate potato. After land preparation, they prepare seed bed. Preparation of Seed Bed: Farmers sow potato seeds in the prepared land. And then they wait for the growing of plant. In the mean time, weeding takes place. Irrigation: Like other crops, potato also needs irrigation. When plants grow, famers make some long-row in the potato field for the convenience of irrigation. In this time also, the perform weeding. Harvesting: Potato is harvested in the month of Poush. To get bumper crops, they use fertilizer and insecticide to the potato plants in the growing stage. Image 3.1: Surveying People in the Field

3.10.3.4 Vegetables Besides the crops described above, villagers produce a lot of other kinds of vegetables. As it is mentioned earlier that the weather of this village is very supportive to crops cultivation, people produces a wide range of vegetables in their lands. Actually, they produce different kinds of crops around the year one by one. And the process of cultivation is more or less similar to those described above. For example, after harvesting potato, they will produce bitter gourd at the same land and the process for cultivation is similar. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

3.11 Fertilizer and Pesticide

Crops always attract insects and these insects destroy the crops, which is a loss for the farmer. To get a bumper production, farmers use different kinds of fertilizers and pesticides in their crop lands. But it is their one of major problems to collect fertilizers and pesticides on time. Here is short list of fertilizers and pesticides, the villagers use.

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Table 3.2: Different Kinds of Fertilizers and Pesticides Source: Filed Survey, LFE Spring 2010

3.12 Gender Division of Labor (for Agriculture)

The gender division of labor has already been shown in the Social Change chapter. As this chapter is dedicated to economy and agriculture, we will see the gender division of labor for agriculture only. In the past, women performed only household activities and men worked in the field. By changing in the society, women are now coming up to work with male persons side by side. But still, some of women do not work in the field because of their good financial conditions.

Figure 3.6: Gender Division of Labor (for Agriculture) According to the villagers, only 10% female persons work in the fields. Though they are poor, they spend little time in the field comparatively than male persons. When we were surveying people, we observed that few women were working in the field. Through PRA method, we came to know that women mainly work in the time of sowing seeds and harvesting. In the mean time, they also doing weeding and take care of plants. In harvesting time, women help the men a lot by working in the field. Sometimes, poor women are hired to harvest the crops. For example, in the time of harvesting potato, hired women are paid Tk.30 Tk.40 per mound.

3.13 Findings
After the completion of our survey, we have got some facts about the economic conditions and agriculture of the Bhandar Paiker village. These facts are summarized in the findings in the following bullet points. People are poor in Bhandar Paiker village We identified four different income groups

Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE

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Annual income of rich people is around Tk.100,000, whereas poor peoples income is less than Tk.10,000 Every household has poultry birds Agriculture is main income source for the villagers Soil type is silt Major crops are Amon, IRRI, Potato, bitter guard, radish etc. Farmers cultivate different kinds of crops around the year in the same land Storage facility is not satisfactory Female persons work mainly in the time of sowing and harvesting Cost-benefit analysis of crops will be covered in Rural Market chapter

3.14 Conclusion
The fertile land and favorable climate ensures that the village Bhandar Paiker will always depend on agriculture for its economy. Though people have other kind of occupations, but agriculture is the main source of income. Based on their income, four classes of income group arise. Their life styles also vary from rich class to poor class people. Moreover, beside the agriculture, these classes have different income sources such as service, petty business, cattle fattening, transport worker etc. Possession of poultry birds also vary within different class. Most of the families of this village are engaged with agriculture directly or indirectly. Major crops are paddies, potato, bitter guard etc. Storage system is not so good that they can store crops for a few months. Female persons also contribute to and depended mainly on agriculture for their livelihood. Live-in-Field Experience Bogra, TMSS Group - 4 PAGE agricultural activities with the male persons. Therefore, people of Bhandar Paiker are poor

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