Farmers’ adaptation to water scarcity in drought-prone environments: A case study of Rajshahi District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Water scarcity and droughts pose serious threats to the livelihood of farming communities and the economy in many parts of the world. Using a survey of 546 farming households and employing multinomial logit regression, this study investigates rice farmers' adaptation to water scarcity in a semi-arid climate in Bangladesh. It identified factors determining farmers' adaptation responses to addressing water scarcity. The analysis shows that farmers with more experience of farming, better schooling, more secure tenure rights, better access to electricity and institutional facilities, and an awareness of climatic effects are more likely to adopt alternative adaptation strategies. Farmers' alternative adaptation choices are examined in comparison to the traditional approach of groundwater irrigation. This study raises issues of sustainability of agricultural adaptation practices in the context of an increasing dependence on groundwater irrigation. The results provide an insight to sustainable irrigation practices and an understanding of the characteristics of farms and farming households to frame better strategies to cope with water-stressed regimes in drought-prone environments.

Modelo Lineal Generalizado con respuesta Beta para estudiar el Índice de Escasez Hídrica en el Caribe colombiano incluyendo efectos espaciales

“…En España, se realizó un análisis econométrico para optimizar el recurso hídrico en la producción agrícola (Portero & Agulló, 2002). En Bangladesh, se investigó el manejo de la escasez hídrica por parte de agricultores de arroz en un clima semiárido; el análisis mostró que los individuos con más experiencia en agricultura, mejor educación, con derechos de tenencia de la tierra más seguros, acceso a la electricidad e instalaciones institucionales y conciencia de los efectos climá-ticos son más propensos a adoptar mejores estrategias de adaptación a la falta del recurso (Alam, 2015).…”

Managing Water and Soils to Achieve Adaptation and Reduce Methane Emissions and Arsenic Contamination in Asian Rice Production

“…The most common form of farm-level adaptation to increasing water scarcity in the Rajshahi District of Bangladesh is greater use of groundwater for irrigation [95]. Other strategies include increasing the use of surface water and planting crops other than rice.…”

Can Water Abundance Compensate for Weak Water Governance? Determining and Comparing Dimensions of Irrigation Water Security in Tajikistan

“…Furthermore, a farmer's perception of the security of access to irrigation water will determine his willingness to invest in water saving technologies and adopt water saving practices [20,21]. As Alam [22] states, it is expensive and time consuming to mitigate water scarcity. Thus, it is not possible for all farmers to invest in mitigating strategies and the status quo of water security levels might differ among farm households.…”