Abstract
Inorganic farming is the norm in most areas of Bangladesh today, especially at croplands near Bangladesh’s capital - Dhaka. However, several recent studies have shown that such practices cause soil degradation overtime, consequently leading to long-term harm to the environment and economic profits. This long-term cost is often avoided by most farmers as inorganic farming is believed to fetch increased productivity/monetary gains, than its environmentally friendly, organic counterpart: the primary aim of this research was to find out the validity of this belief. The research used literature review and analysis of primary data collected about input costs, returns, crop yields, environmental effects, etc., from sixty respondents (mostly farmers and consumers involved in both types of farming), using one-on-one structured interviews, and three focus group discussions at the selected areas of Savar, Sreenagar and Rupganj, focusing primarily on two popular crops – tomato and corn; graphical and tabular analyses were conducted using MS Excel to propose interpretations and record findings. Keeping all other things constant and internalizing environmental externalities, while organic farming was found to produce around 50% and 33% less tomatoes and corns in net terms, respectively, than inorganic farming, the input costs and returns from one cycle of production were found to be lower (50%) and higher (around 200USD), respectively. Hence, from a long-run perspective, organic farming was concluded as the more cost-effective choice both in economic and environmental terms, given that the Dhaka market for organic products are managed better by the producers, consumers and government, alike.
 Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.6(2): 289-299, August 2019
Highlights
Even though there has been success in measures to reduce poverty in recent years, using innovations and government interventions in the agriculture sector, poverty level is still considered high in Bangladesh (Paralkar, 2017)
It was found from the cost-benefit analysis that the total input cost of organic farming for tomatoes and corns is lower than inorganic farming
The income generated from total output of organic farming is lower than inorganic farming for tomatoes and corns
Summary
Even though there has been success in measures to reduce poverty in recent years, using innovations and government interventions in the agriculture sector, poverty level is still considered high in Bangladesh (Paralkar, 2017). The country faces occasional food challenges due to climatic events such as flooding, water logging, droughts or any such unexpected situation (Ahmed, 2006) Despite several such economic drawbacks, Bangladesh fulfills its food demand through primarily inorganic farming, modern technology and trained/untrained farmers (Faroque et al, 2011). Recently published reports have declared that such practices cause soil degradation overtime, leading to long-term harm to the environment and more importantly, economic profits (Kirchmann and Thorvaldsson, 2000). These long-term costs are often avoided by most farmers as inorganic farming is believed to fetch increased productivity/monetary gains, than its environmentally friendly, organic counterpart. The paper aims to get an idea of the background of farming practices in the selected areas, evaluate the reasons behind the preference for inorganic farming practices, understand the awareness levels of the producers and consumers and recommend ways to promote organic products over their inorganic alternatives in Dhaka
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