Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
both government and other organizations such as the Asian Development Bank and
the European Union.
Many economic studies have underscored the financial viability of agroforestry.
In a study of strip plantation on logged-over forest plots in the Dinajpur district, for
instance, Rahman and Islam (1997) calculated a benefit-cost ratio (B/C) of 1.95 and
an internal rate of return (IRR) of 42 percent. This is comparable to the financial
results of cashew plantations established at central Tamil Nadu, India under an
agroforestry system (B/C ratio of 1.65 and IRR of 41 percent; Sekar and
Karunacharan 1994). Elevitch and Wilkinson (2000) reported that agroforestry in
Hawaii is financially viable and less risky than seasonal crops or forestry. At the
same time, however, it has been questioned whether these systems are indeed as
economically viable as they are claimed to be, e.g. by Siddiqui and Khan (1999)
who studied the socio-economics of rural homestead forestry in the Chittagong
district. Moreover as a general observation, one might wonder why, if indeed its
economic viability would be as pervasive as the financial analyses suggest, the
world is not full of agroforestry yet. There appears to be a gap between the financial
analyses and what farmers are actually doing.
Taking as a case study a common multistrata agroforestry system in Northern
Bangladesh, in comparison with the seasonal cultures of rice and wheat grown in
that region, the present paper is designed to address this 'agroforestry adoption
gap'. Special attention will therefore be paid to the difference between what we
have called the 'financial' and 'social' economic perspectives. The financial-economic
approach is defined here as focusing on the formal cost-benefit analysis of the
agroforestry system, abstracting away to a large degree from the complexities of the
farmers' daily life; it coincides to a large degree with 'financial accounting' or
'cash flow analysis' in mainstream cost-benefit analysis (Irvin 1978). The social-
economic approach as exemplified here is not a variation on financial accounting
in order to express rationality at the collective level, as in mainstream cost-benefit
analysis. We remain on the household level but take a broader look, aiming to come
to grips with relevant aspects of the full set of factors, e.g. including the psychologi-
cal, institutional, and moral, taken into account by farmers in their land use consid-
erations. For a broad example of this type of approach, see Platteau (2000).
11.2
The Study Area and Agroforestry System
The research has been conducted in the Shibpur village of Puthia Upazila in
Rajshahi District in Northern Bangladesh. The study village contains some 500
households and is located 22 km east of Rajshahi city centre, between the 24°25
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to
24°20
; eastern longitudes. It
experiences a tropical monsoon climate, with a rainy season extending from May
to November and a dry season from December to April. A mean maximum daily
temperature of 32°C to 36°C has been recorded during the months of April, May,
June and July; and a mean minimum daily temperature of 7°C to 16°C in January.
¢
northern latitudes and between the 88°40
¢
to 88°45
¢
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