Research by ICRISAT and partners reveals that rural per capita income is on the rise in the semi-arid regions of India and Bangladesh. Adoption of high yielding varieties and access to farm equipment and livestock resources played an important role in the increase in income. Another trend is that although farm households in South Asia still rely on agriculture for 80-90% of their income, nonfarm employment is on the rise. The nonfarm sector in India now employs about 33% of the rural work force as against only 20% in the eighties.

These insights were shared at the mini-symposium on ‘Rapid Transformation of Rural Economies in South Asia: Insights from Village Dynamics Studies’ held at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 14 October.

A key presentation documented that the per capita income of rural households reported an increase of 10% in Bangladesh and 4% in the semi-arid regions of India during the period 2010 to 2012. The figures for east India, however saw a 4% decrease.

In east India, nonfarm employment as the main occupation increased from 42% in 2010 to 51% in 2012. In the semi-arid regions of India nonfarm activities increased from 39% in 2010 to 43% in 2012. In the Indian states of Telangana and Maharashtra, nonfarm activities provided employment to 45% of the rural workforce in 2012. In Bangladesh as much as 60% of the labor force was engaged in nonfarm activites as the main occupation.

Technology and social factors enhance crop productivity

Another presentation featuring the relationship between changes in agricultural wages, crop productivity, profitability and farm income showed that factors like technology (fertilizers, hybrid varieties) and social factors (education levels of farm households) have positively contributed in enhancing crop productivity and crop profitability. An additional spending of ₹ 1 (US$ 0.06) on fertilizers increased crop profitability by ₹ 1.48 (US$ 0.02). An additional year of schooling by the head of the household is associated with an increase in crop profitability by ₹ 2,985 per ha (in 2009-10 constant prices). The results also show that an increase in male wage rates has decreased farm profitability significantly.

Gender impact: Shift from rice to fish farming in Bangladesh

The gender impact of diversification from rice to commercial aquaculture in Bangladesh was discussed. Aquaculture decreased the workload of women as compared to rice cultivation but made women more dependent on their husband’s income and lessened their control on how the income was spent. Women were not aware of the exact income earned from fish/shrimp farming since the men dealt directly with traders. Though aquaculture increased household income and food security, it made self-sufficient rice producing households more dependent on the market for their staple food.

Threat to rice production in Bangladesh

Another presentation dealt with the threats to future rice production and food security in Bangladesh due to decreasing availability of farm labor and ageing of the farming population. The paper showed that the growth rate of farm labor declined from 1.6% in 1980 to 0.32% in 2010. By 2020, the growth rate of farm labor is projected to be zero or negative. Another alarming fact is that the average age of the farming population has gone up from 36 to 46 over the period 1988 to 2011.

Human happiness index

During the discussions, it emerged that given the richness of the longitudinal data available, an attempt can be made to create a human happiness index considering several socio-cultural-economic factors. Thus, the village level studies should strive to document the impacts of rural transformation on human happiness and derive implications for future research, institutions and policy changes.

Participants of the mini-symposium

The symposium was organized to discuss the findings of the Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) project and was organized by ICRISAT Research Program – Markets, Institutions and Policies. Dr Mruthyunjaya, Member, VDSA Advisory Committee chaired the symposium and Dr N Nagaraj, Principal Scientist (Economics), ICRISAT, was the co-chair. Fourteen papers were presented at the symposium by scientists and researchers from ICRISAT and its partners: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) and Socioconsult Ltd.

The VDSA project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets.

List of papers presented during the mini-symposium

Paper Title	Authors	Link
Dynamics Of Rural Livelihoods In Bangladesh And India: Insights From Village Dynamics Studies Villages	Uttam Deb, Cyhnthia Bantilan and Ranjit Kumar
Demographic transformation in South Asia: implications for rice research and development	Humnath Bhandari and Samarendu Mohanty
Typology of Agriculture for India for Technology Targeting and Development Planning	P. Parthasarathy Rao, M. Lagesh, UK Deb and E. Jagadeesh
Agricultural Production Typology in Bangladesh	Md. Golam Faruque, Md. Waji Ullah, Uttam Deb,Chowdhury Saleh Ahmed, Roland Nathan Mandal, Bijoya Paul, and Tazeen Fatima Khan
Policy Induced Transformation In Dryland Agriculture: The Case Of Tharati Village In Karnataka	N Nagaraj, Uttam Deb, GD Nageswara Rao, R Anusha and Cynthia Bantilan
Transformation From Crop Farming To Fish Farming: Development Dynamics Of Nishaiganj Village In Mymensingh District Of Bangladesh	Alamgir Chowdhury, John Marandy, Mamun Howlader and Uttam Deb
Wage and other Factor determinants of crop productivity and farm income in India? Panel analyses across six villages in SAT region from 2001-2011	Madhusudan Bhattarai, Padmaja P, Atul K, Uttam K Deb, and MCS Bantilan
Productivity, Yield Gap and Resource Use Efficiency in Hybrid Rice Production in Bangladesh	Abdur Rouf Sarkar and Humnath Bhandari
Structural changes of irrigation in Bangladesh: a synthesis of FGDs from 96 villages	Rahman, M. Saidur, Mandal, M. A. Sattar, Kajisa, Kei and Bhandari, Humnath
Women’s empowerment in the fragile environment of Semi-Arid Tropics: focus on norms, agency and attitudes	R Padmaja, MCS Bantilan, K Kavitha, GV Anil Kumar, P Padmaja and Y Mohan Rao
Does diversification of rice based systems always lead to gender equity? A case from Bangladesh	Kamala Gurung, Humnath Bhandari
Public Distribution System in India: Implications for Poverty and Food Security	Anjani Kumar, Shinoj Parappurathu, M C S Bantilan and P K Joshi
Food and Nutrition Insecurity in Eastern India: Evidences from a Household Level Study	Shinoj Parappurathu1, Anjani Kumar, MCS Bantilan and PK Joshi