Study on agricultural cropping pattern change in a water stress area of North-west region of Bangladesh a case study in Sapahar Upazilla under Naogaon district

Abstract

This study examines the effect of drought on cropping pattern of sample farms in the North-west Regions of Bangladesh. A strong drought can cause greater than 40% damage to broadcast aus rice. During the kharif season, it causes significant destruction to the transplant aman rice crop in approximately 2.32 million ha every year. Past droughts have naturally affected about 53% of the population and 47% of the country. Cropping systems in a region are determined by soil and climatic conditions. Changes in cropping patterns are likely to impact on the availability of water resources due to differences in crop water requirements. The objective of this study was to identify impact of drought on cropping pattern under water stress condition in North-west region of Bangladesh. Farmers from a total of 100 selected farms were interviewed for farm level data in September to December 2016 time periods. Change of cropping system over the study period (2006-2015) in Shapahar upazila . Meanwhile, it is evident that the cropping pattern was dominated by grain crops (rice and wheat, between the 2006 and 2015, with rice constituting the largest area, followed by wheat. Although a major grain crop, rice occupied maximum areas in wet season, whereas wheat and mango orchard can be cultivated in dry areas. Although the area of grain crops showed a downward trend over the study period, the share of grain crops was still more than 0ꞏ50 of total crop area sown. Around 51% farmers responded that due to the cropping pattern change and technological advancement, the production is increasing. On the other side, 39% farmers said that production is increasing due to the improved irrigation facility but climatic variation creating significant obstacles in this process and hampering the production in a big extent. Changing the cropping pattern has significant effects on regional crop productivity: in this way, this new crop has increased the total crop production without increasing significantly the regional water consumption. The results of this case study indicate that regional agricultural water can be used effectively by properly planning crop areas and patterns under irrigation water limitations. Crop production is influenced by inadequate rainfall, high temperature, severe drought, river erosion, and tropical storms. All of which are likely to increase as a result of climate change. Most fields remain fallow during winter and Kharif-I season after harvest of Transplant Aman rice due to moisture stress. The area under cash crops (mango orchard, wheat, water melon and vegetable) increased phenomenally over the study period. It was found that mango orchard performed better, with an average gross margin of marginal, small, medium and large farmers at Sapahar upazila under Naogaon district. Despite this higher production performance, the costs increase was < 5% for other crops. In addition, the benefit-cost ratios of all other crops were higher for better production than rice. It must also be noted that both less water required crops and mango orchard cultivation was profitable compared to rice cultivation. The highest gross return and gross margin were found from mango orchard in all the (marginal, small, medium and large) farmers group and the lowest gross return and gross margin were found from rice cultivation at sapahar upazilla in Naogoan district. This demonstrates that cash crops are turning into a prevailing crop type and mirrors an inclination toward expansion of pay by farmers, who are subbing them for water-intensive crops like rice and sub-par (low financial return) ones like wheat and mango orchard. To cope with the adverse effects of droughts, the farmers have been adapting strategies like increase irrigation facilitates, and cultivating drought tolerant crops, less water required crops like wheat, jujebe and mango orchard. In any case, there is a need to cultivate a feasible sustainable cropping pattern that is multifunctional, which can guarantee food security, improve normal asset utilize and give steady and exceptional return to farmers.