DM WATCH was established in 2013 under the name of Disaster Management Watch. Since its establishment, DM WATCH has been involved in research, consultancy, and training, engaging a group of young professionals with diverse backgrounds. Envisioning to contribute to the development of the society and the country as a whole, DM WATCH has been working with various partners from both the public and private sectors.
In response to the current unforeseeable COVID-19 pandemic crisis, DM WATCH came forward to play its part as a research firm by designing and conducting a few scientific rapid studies in the field of public health, WASH, education, and agriculture funded by itself. One of the studies focused on the ‘Impact of COVID-19 and flood on the farmers and their crop production’. As part of the dissemination of results of this study a virtual press conference was arranged on 5 September, 2020, at 11.30 am.
The press conference was commenced with a welcome speech by Mr. Bayazid Hasan, Managing Partner of DM WATCH, who also moderated the session. Dr. Faisal Kabir presented the findings of the study. The study team was comprised of Mr. Md. Al Amin and Mr. Kazi Ehsanul Bari, led by Dr. Faisal Kabir.
The deadly threat of COVID-19 pandemic over the country has threatened our agriculture and farmers. The crisis has been aggravated by the devastating flood that followed. Therefore, the combined effect of COVID-19 and the prolonged flood on the agriculture sector should be assessed and mitigation measures to be suggested to ensure a sustainable flow in crop production system.
This study was conducted to address the current condition of farmers and farming sector in three agro-ecological zones (out of 30 such zones) of Bangladesh. The research aimed at assessing the farmers’ current status amid COVID-19 and recent flood (2020), problems of agriculture production, planning of next cropping season and assistance requirement to recover from the current COVID-19 situation and flood damage. The study was conducted from mid-May to mid-June, 2020.
Most of the marginal and small farmers don’t have sufficient amount of money at hand. In addition, labor shortage and high input cost were common for all types of farmers. Moreover, 78% farmers reported that agricultural input cost raised after the COVID situation appeared. Consequently, cost of production increased (reported by 47% farmers).
Most of the farmers from the study area reported that they don’t have enough money to plan for the next cropping season. Among the study area, the situation is mostly intense in the AEZ-13. Study also revealed that most of the farmers (44%) count loss because of high input and production cost.
When asked, 61% farmers said that they need to borrow money to plan for the next cropping season. Interestingly, NGOs is preferred (28%) by the farmers as the chief source of borrowing money.
When we asked whether they would grow the similar type of crops in the next season, almost 20% of the farmers confirmed that they will cultivate new crops. Strikingly, 42% farmers could not decide about the type crops for growing yet.
We found that farmers need immediate financial help to overcome the challenging situation. This demand is highest for the marginal and small farmers. Whereas, all types of farmers preferred reduction of farming input cost for overcoming the situation.
As a timely measure, government announced a stimulus package (BDT 5000 crore) to be disbursed by banks amongst the farmers at low interest (4%) rate to counter the impact of COVID 19. Up to late July, 17980 application for loan was granted out of 18377 applications. Meaning, the rate of acceptance of grant is very high. However, 90% of farmers did not manage to receive it (as of the end of July 2020). Strikingly, 13 banks did not disburse any amount until the end of July 2020 (Source: News reports). Such a low intake of loan might have happened for various reasons. Our study found that the farmers are more interested in taking loans from NGOs (28% farmers), which requires very few documents. Only 11% of the farmers reported they would like to manage the finance from the banks. Because most of our farmers are illiterate, reducing the hassle of required paperwork should encourage more farmers to avail the loan from the banks.
Although government officials claim that the price is stable, the farmers in our study claimed that the input-price has increased compared to the pre-COVID situation.
Amid the COVID-19, flood hit hard the country in different phases starting from the 11 June 2020 up to 20 August 2020. This inundation has worsened the situation for the farmers. Due to standing flood, 15% crop loss is expected (Ministry of Agriculture).
The flood resulted in:
The farmers can overcome the situation by:
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