IMPACT OF RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ON LIVELIHOOD IN A SELECTED AREA OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Rural electrification is the lifeblood of rural development in Bangladesh. The study was conducted to examine the socioeconomic conditions of sample households, investigate the impact of rural electrification on user’s livelihoods, and identify the problems and constraints faced by the households. A total of 70 households were randomly selected from Chargobodia and Charkalibari villages of sadar upazila under the Mymensingh district. All of the respondents were clients of the Mymensingh Palli Bidyut Samity-1. Primary data were collected through field survey using an interview schedule. Simple statistical techniques were employed to analyse the data. The DFID livelihood approach was carried used to determine the impact of the rural electrification on livelihood. The findings revealed that the highest 74.29% of the selected respondents belonged to the age group 30 – 64. About 47.14% farmers ended their primary level education and 44.28% did not receive institutional education. About 65.71% respondents’s main occupation was agriculture and 21.43% respondents considered agriculture as subsidiary for their earnings. The overall average family size in the study area was 5.15 persons in a family with dependency ratio 3.33. The average farm size was 237.21 decimal. On the basis of farm category, 5.71% of the respondents belong to landless, 75.72% respondents belong to small, and 12.86% respondent’s medium and 5.71% respondents were a large farm category. An average income and expenditure of the respondents were Tk.270485.71 and Tk.236500 respectively. The all five types of assets such as human, natural, social, physical and financial were positively changed after rural electrification in the study area. Wrong bill, load shading, the high price of electricity, low voltage, damage of electric equipment and difficulty of new meter set up were the main problems and constraints. So, the government should address these issues in the development policies and programmes for rural Bangladesh.