Effects of Irrigation on Household Income and Food Security in a Deeply Flooded Area in Bangladesh

Abstract

The effects of irrigation on household income and food security are examined based on a study of 200 households in five villages in a deeply flooded area in Bangladesh. The average household head was an illiterate owner or tenant farmer, having a secondary source of income, a household of 7.65 members, a farm of 2.64 acres, indebted to money lenders or institutions, and in deficit in household food production. The findings indicated that although irrigation increased the total cropped area and cropping intensity the increments were small. Irrigation replaced less productive local variety crops by more productive high yielding varieties and low value crops by high value crops. The adjustments were large in the dry rabi season but small in the wet kharif season and resulted in more specialization of cropping. The small effect of irrigation on cropping was due to the deep flooding nature of the area which prevents triple cropping and restricts cultivation of high yielding variety rice in the summer even with irrigation. Irrigation, however, increased net annual income and access to rice, and increased substantially food grain production and calorie production of the households. The average household did not fulfil the recommended dietary allowances of calories of its members and small farm households fulfilled only one half of the allowances in the non-irrigated condition.