Do farmers use waterlogged wastelands efficiently? An economic study on water chestnut farming in Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT

Waterlogging due to rain-fed floods is considered a natural calamity worldwide that causes lands in the north region of Bangladesh to remain underwater and uncultivable for most crops during the rainy season. This unused wasteland has immense potential for additional earnings for the marginal farmer by converting it to cultivable land through proper utilization by cultivating water chestnuts. Increasing the productivity and efficiency of water chestnut farming in these wastelands would facilitate higher food production for the growing populations. Therefore, this study estimates the farmers' profitability of water chestnut production along with technical efficiency (TE) and land use efficiency (LUE). Primary data from 150 farmers of Natore, Naogaon, and Jamalpur districts were used and stochastic frontier analysis was employed. Results reveal that no farmers had any training in water chestnut farming. Human labor and land use costs incur more than 80% of the total cost and laborers shortage was found due to skin problems working in the water. However, water chestnut farming was profitable in all districts and the average benefit-cost ratio was 1.37. TE results indicate that there was an opportunity to increase the water chestnut production by 20.2% using the same amount of inputs. LUE by the water chestnut farmers was found to be very low; hence, they were using their land inefficiently and this inefficiency was positively affected by farm size and number of family members and negatively affected by age, year of schooling, and income. The study suggests research focusing on improved management of water chestnut without affecting laborers and training to facilitate higher productivity and LUE.