Humnath Bhandari

International Rice Research Institute | IRRI · Social Sciences Division

Revitalizing the agricultural sector through youth participation is essential to better adapt to changing climate and support sustainable development. However, youth participation in agriculture has been declining in developing countries, including Bangladesh. Only a limited number of scientific studies have been conducted to address this concern....

Climate-smart agriculture stands as a promising solution to elevate cropping intensity and enhance food security in climate-vulnerable communities. Despite the evident potential, there is an existing gap in understanding the effects of climate change adaptation measures, with limited research explicitly focusing on adopting sorjan cultivation. This...

Coastal Bangladesh faces severe climate change impacts, with agriculture among the hardest-hit sectors. In the low-lying areas of the southern coastal region, traditional farming is often unsuitable due to prolonged flooding, making floating agriculture a valuable locally led adaptation strategy. Women play crucial roles in these adaptation efforts...

This study quantifies the impact and returns on investment from Boro rice breeding research and extension in Bangladesh from 1971 to 2022 using the economic surplus model and project evaluation techniques. The purpose of the study is to assess the economic impact and effectiveness of public investments in rice breeding research and extension, provi...

To increase the profitability and sustainability of rice-based cropping systems in Bangladesh, sustainable intensification through diversifying high-value and climate-smart crops/varieties is required. Therefore, a multi-location farmer’s participatory cropping systems trial was conducted in two consecutive years in south-west Bangladesh aimed at t...

The gig economy (temporary, contract, and freelance online jobs rather than permanent positions) is a component of the fourth industrial revolution and preview of future work. The rise of digital platforms has increased career opportunities and income potential, particularly for women. Yet, the sex-disaggregated evidence regarding platform usage, e...

This study quantifies the impact and returns on investment from rice breeding research and extension in Bangladesh from 1971 to 2022 with an economic surplus model and project evaluation techniques. This study aimed to assess the financial impact and effectiveness of public investments in rice breeding research and extension, providing insights for...

The use of quality seeds is crucial to improve rice yield, food security, and farmers’ livelihoods. The large informal seed system, limited access to quality seeds, and low seed replacement rate challenge increasing rice yield. Despite robust government initiatives to support the seed system, progress has been slow. Besides, the need for farmers’ b...

In Bangladesh, farmers adapt to changing conditions through the adoption of improved varieties containing new or combined traits. The diverse varietal adoption decisions among farmers stem from gender-based differences in trait preferences. This review synthesizes existing knowledge to assess the nature, extent, and causes of gendered disparities i...

The adoption of high-yielding agricultural technologies remains a promising strategy for achieving food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. With the innovation of green technology like seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation water, the productivity of land has increased significantly in Asian countries like Bangladesh. The high-yield...

Bangladesh's aquaculture sector has contributed progressively to the nation's economy over the years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impeded fish farmers' access to markets, reduced their production and sales capacity, resulted in lower income, and increased food security vulnerability. This study assesses how COVID-19 affects smallholder fish farme...

An increasing body of literature has demonstrated COVID-19's harmful impact on agri-food systems, which are a major source of livelihood for millions of people worldwide. Information and communication technology (ICT) has been playing an increasing role in enhancing agri-food systems' resilience amid COVID-19. In this study, the PRISMA approach was...

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. In general , Char land (Riverine Island) communities are frequently affected by floods, riverbank erosion, and other climatic hazards, including drought, cyclones, tornadoes, salinity intrusion , water logging, cold waves, etc., which cause many to lose their sources...

Rice production has increased significantly with the efforts of international research centers and national governments in the past five decades. Nonetheless, productivity improvement still needs to accelerate in the coming years to feed the growing population that depends on rice for calories and nutrients. This challenge is compounded by the incr...

•This study estimates economic returns to investments in rice varietal development in the Philippines and Bangladesh.•The net returns to IRRI and national partners' investments remain strongly positive.•However, the returns are decreasing at a faster rate in the Philippines (24%) than in Bangladesh (6%).•IRRI and national partners should continue i...

Coastal agriculture and livelihoods worldwide are highly vulnerable to changing climates, and Bangladesh is no exception due to its geophysical location. This paper examines rice farmers’ vulnerability, adaptation strategies, and adaptation barriers to managing climate change impacts in the coastal region of Bangladesh. Survey data were collected f...

Enhancing profit efficiency in vegetable farming is important to increase income, livelihoods, and nutrition security, and to reduce poverty of smallholder farmers, particularly in developing countries. This study examined the profit efficiency and its determinants in smallholder vegetable farms in Nepal using the stochastic translog profit functio...

Fish is a major source of food and nutritional security for subsistence communities in developing countries, it also has linkages with the economic and supply-chain dimensions of these countries. Burgeoning literature has revealed the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on the fisheries and aquaculture sector, which serves as the major source of income and...

Climate change affects crop production through exposure to droughts, floods, pests, and pathogens. To mitigate climate-induced production losses, various stress-tolerant varieties have been developed and adopted in many countries around the globe. We assess the impacts of adopting submergence-tolerant (Sub1) rice varieties on productivity, profit,...

In Bangladesh, coastal farmers are highly vulnerable to various climatic hazards. This paper explores coastal rice farmers’ vulnerability, food security and adaptation strategies in response to climate change issues. Survey data were collected from 120 rice farmers from two coastal districts of Bangladesh and analyzed using descriptive statistics t...

Diversifying and intensifying the rice-based cropping systems in the southern coastal zone of Bangladesh is a government priority to meet the food, feed, and fiber demand of an increasing population and changing climate. This study was conducted for three years (2016–2019) in Polder 30 located in southwest coastal zone of Bangladesh with five cropp...

Rapid expansion of groundwater use for irrigation for dry season rice production in Bangladesh has led to overuse, deterioration of groundwater quality, increased cost of irrigation, and higher greenhouse gas emissions. The divergence between marginal private and social cost of irrigation due to market failures in the presence of these externalitie...

Policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on the rice value chain in Asia. This work was based on interviews with rice value chain actors in selected countries in South and Southeast Asia

Most of the lands of the southern coastal zone of Bangladesh are protected from tidal flooding and storm surges by embankments constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, creating polders. Sluice gates in the embankments connect the canals (former river distributaries) inside the polders to the surrounding rivers, providing the opportunity for water in...

While most of the food in Asia is produced by aged farmers who are less likely to adopt technologies for a sustainable increase of the productivity required to keep the world food secure, yet around the world, few young people see a future for themselves in agriculture. Similar scenario in Bangladesh where there is a general perception that young g...

p>The study was carried out to investigate the patterns and extent of livelihood diversification in rural Bangladesh. It also identified the major factors affecting extent of livelihood diversification. The study drew a random sample of 500 rural farm households in Bangladesh through a multi-stage sampling technique. The primary data were collected...

This study examines the adoption of submergence-tolerant (Sub1) rice varieties (BRRI dhan51, BRRI dhan52, BINA Dhan 11, and BINA Dhan 12), grown in the Aman season (July-November) in northwest Bangladesh, using data obtained from more than 1,100 farm households. The impacts of these varietal adoptions on profit from rice production and household co...

The Indian rice sector is transforming in tandem with rapid social and economic changes. This chapter examines the ongoing structural transformation in India’s rice economy and draws conclusions to enable the development of a vibrant and sustainable rice value chain. The analysis is based on a descriptive analysis of secondary data and a literature...

Product profile is the nobel approach to guide rice breeding priorities for market-driven and targeted rice varietal development. It is also useful to donors in making rice breeding programs more cost-efficient, market-driven, client- and product-oriented, and forward-looking. Rice breeders should take into account the documented traits coming from...

This article examines the transformation from rice farming to commercial aquaculture and its implications for gender roles and relations, women’s access to and control over resources, household food security, and livelihood. Primary data collected from 400 sample households located across 10 villages in northern and southern Bangladesh were used fo...

Diversification of livelihood activities minimizes households' vulnerability to shocks by reducing income variability. Livelihoods of rural Bangladesh is encompass both farm and non-farm activities. This study investigated the patterns and extent of diversification of livelihoods in rural areas of Bangladesh. The study drew a random sample of 500 r...

Labor is a critical input in agricultural production. It accounts for more than half of rice’s production cost. Rising scarcity and cost of agricultural labor threatens food production. This paper presents major changes in agricultural labor markets in Bangladesh.

Agriculture provides livelihood for over 60% of Bangladesh’s population. It is pivotal to provide food and income for the rural poor. At the same time, it is also crucial to reduce agriculture’s high population density. Powerful social, economic, and natural forces are driving changes in agricultural systems. The agriculture sector must respond to...

Bangladesh’s agriculture is rapidly transforming due to social and economic development. These transformations have implications on resource use, food production, and technology development. This paper presents key long-term transformation in Bangladesh’s agriculture.

Rice is the major staple food in Bangladesh, contributing 71% of total calorie supply, 58% of total protein intake, and 15% of rural household income. More than half of Bangladeshi households are net buyers of rice. Poor households spend 40% of their food expenditure on rice. By reducing real income and purchasing power, a rice price inflation wors...

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in rice production in the past three decades with production growing at 3% per year, leading to self-sufficiency in rice for the first time in 2000 for its 150 million people. But now it faces challenges of feeding an additional 1.8 million mouth each year with declining land, water, labor, and other producti...

We assess the effects of the dramatic rise in agricultural commodity prices during 2007–2008 on income dynamics and poverty among rural households in Bangladesh. A unique panel data set allows us to put the effects of recent events in the context of long-run trends in income and poverty. We use data from a nationally representative longitudinal sur...

In this paper we assess the effects of the dramatic rise in agricultural commodity prices during 2007-2008 on income dynamics and poverty among rural households in Bangladesh. We use data from a nationally representative longitudinal survey of rural households in Bangladesh collected in four waves in 1988, 2000, 2004, and 2008. Nargis and Hossain (...

A rapid increase in food grain prices in the first half of 2008 has diverted global attention to the food crisis. Rice, the staple food of millions of Asia’s poor, is not only an economic good but also a political commodity. The price of rice escalated in May due to a number of shortand long-term factors, with the export price exceeding USD 1000 pe...

Drought is a major constraint to rice production in Asia. Drought occurs frequently and is one of the major reasons for wide fluctuations in rainfed production. The economic cost of drought estimated in this study was found to be substantial in rainfed areas of eastern India. The economic cost of drought depends largely on the frequency and coverag...

Social capital is an old concept but it entered into academic and policy debates only in 1990s. Its importance in explaining economic and social phenomena have been increasingly felt in recent years. Literature on theoretical and empirical aspects of social capital grew significantly during last decade. The whole notion of social capital is centred...

Drought is a major constraint affecting rice production, especially in rainfed areas of Asia. Despite its importance in rice-growing areas, the magnitude of economic losses arising from drought, its impact on farm households, and farmers' drought coping mechanisms are poorly understood. This article provides insights into these aspects of drought b...

This article examines the economics of groundwater irrigation and shallow tubewell (STW) ownership decision making, using farm-level data collected from 324 households in Nepal. STW irrigation generated a significant positive effect on rice yield and farmers’ incomes. Based on a probit model, the farm size, land fragmentation, access to electrici...

author: Dr Shijun Ding, dingsj@public.wh.hb.cn Aims The paper aims to understand the nature and magnitude of drought risks in southern China; to estimate economic costs of drought and explore farmers' coping strategies; and to suggest alternative options for policy interventions. Major findings 1) It is found that although drought can occur at diff...

The economic costs of drought and rice farmers' coping mechanisms are analyzed using time series and farm survey data from China, India and Thailand. The economic cost was estimated to be 2-6% of the value of output. Farmers' coping mechanisms were found to be inadequate in preventing consumption shortfall.

A survey was undertaken to assess the state of art of production, scale of plantation and genetic diversity of lime and lemon in Nepal during 2000/01. Lime and lemon were extensively distributed throughout the mid hills stretching from Ilam district in the east to Darchula district in the far west of the country. Out of total plantations, 80 percen...