Rural Households In Bangladesh Research Articles

Evolution of households' responses to the groundwater arsenic crisis in Bangladesh: information on environmental health risks can have increasing behavioral impact over time

A national campaign of well testing through 2003 enabled households in rural Bangladesh to switch, at least for drinking, from high-arsenic wells to neighboring lower-arsenic wells. We study the well-switching dynamics over time by re-interviewing, in 2008, a randomly selected subset of households in the Araihazar region who had been interviewed in 2005. Contrary to concerns that the impact of arsenic information on switching behavior would erode over time, we find that not only was 2003-2005 switching highly persistent but also new switching by 2008 doubled the share of households at unsafe wells who had switched. The passage of time also had a cost: 22% of households did not recall test results by 2008. The loss of arsenic knowledge led to staying at unsafe wells and switching from safe wells. Our results support ongoing well testing for arsenic to reinforce this beneficial information.

Agricultural Trade Liberalisation and Growth in Income of Rural Household in Bangladesh: A Quintile-Growth Approach to the Analysis of Distributional Consequences

The study has investigated the growth in income of rural households in Bangladesh with a view to analysing distributional consequences in the post-liberalisation era. Using data from secondary sources, it has applied a quintile-growth approach by dividing each group of households into five income clusters (quintiles) to analyse the incidence of growth in real income. It has found that although all groups of rural households experienced a moderate to high increase in real income, non-farm households experienced a larger increase than farm households due to a large reduction in consumer price. Farm households gained from the increase in productivity but experienced losses from producer price reduction. The two opposite forces – increase in productivity and reduction in producer price – offset the effects of each other, thereby affecting the income growth of farm households. Amongst the farm households, large and medium farmers gained the most and small farmers gained the least from the growth in real income, indicating that rich households experienced a much higher increase in real income than poor households – thereby adversely affecting the distribution of income and widening the income gap between rich and poor households. These findings demonstrated that while agricultural trade liberalisation benefited rural households generally, the benefits were not distributed equally and in fact, inequality increased amongst rural households. This study argues that the growth in real income of rural household was not pro-poor during 1985- 86 to 2005. This study suggests that agricultural trade liberalisation contributed to higher growth in the rural economy but it contributed to greater inequality in income distribution amongst the rich and poor income groups (quintiles). Government should reduce inequality through policy interventions with income transfer from the rich to the poor.

Escaping Famine Through Seasonal Migration

Hunger during pre-harvest lean seasons is widespread in the agrarian areas of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. We randomly assign an $8.50 incentive to households in rural Bangladesh to out- migrate during the lean season. The incentive induces 22% of households to send a seasonal migrant, their consumption at the origin increases significantly, and treated households are 8-10 percentage points more likely to remigrate 1 and 3 years after the incentive is removed. These facts can be explained qualitatively by a model in which migration is risky, mitigating risk requires individual-specific learning, and some migrants are sufficiently close to subsistence such that failed migration is very costly. We document evidence consistent with this model using heterogeneity analysis and additional experimental variation, but calibrations with forward-looking households that can save up to migrate suggest that it is difficult for the model to quantitatively match the data. We conclude with extensions to the model that could provide a better quantitative accounting of the behavior.

Remittances and life chances: a study of migrant households in rural Bangladesh

Remittances from international and internal migrants are estimated to constitute 10.6% of national income expenditure in Bangladesh and a major income source for many villages and households. Existing studies on migration and remittances for the most part provide little insight on remittances from the perspective of migrant households, that is, on how households use and are affected by this source. Drawing on data from a recently completed ethnographic study of 36 migrant households across three rural villages in Bangladesh, the paper highlights that remittances play a key role in shaping the life circumstances of rural migrant households in Bangladesh. The paper introduces the concept of ‘life chances’ to discuss the impacts of remittances on individuals and households.

Did the commodity price spike increase rural poverty? Evidence from a long-run panel in Bangladesh

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 survey of rural households in Bangladesh collected in four waves in 1988, 2000, 2004, and 2008. Nargis and Hossain (Nargis, N., Hossain, M., 2006. Income dynamics and pathways out of rural poverty in Bangladesh, 1988–2004. Agric. Econ. 35, 425–435) analysed income dynamics and poverty incidence for the first three waves, finding a declining trend in both the incidence and severity of poverty, aided in particular by human capital development and off-farm employment opportunities. We update and extend the analysis to include data collected in 2008, at the height of a spike in agricultural prices. We find that the price of a balanced food basket increased by more than 50% during 2000–2008, while household income rose only 15%. As a result the incidence and severity of rural poverty in Bangladesh sunk to pre-2000 levels during 2004–2008. Thus, the price spikes in 2007–2008 helped push an additional 13 million people into poverty in rural Bangladesh. Moreover, we find that the determinants of poverty have not been time-invariant. In particular, agricultural production, which had previously been associated with a higher incidence of poverty, served as a hedge against higher food prices during 2004–2008.

Income vulnerability of rural households in Bangladesh: a comparison between Bayesian and classical methods

The geographical location and the monsoon climate render Bangladesh highly vulnerable to natural hazards, deteriorating the country's socio-economic stability. This study is based on 500 randomly chosen rural households from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey [Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2006]. The objectives are to estimate the income vulnerability of rural households and to check whether the Bayesian approaches (natural conjugate prior and non-informative prior estimates) have any superiority over the classical (feasible generalized least square (FGLS)) method. The poverty level, measured from the data, is 24%; whereas the vulnerability estimates, using FGLS, natural conjugate prior and non-informative prior are 31%, 69% and 82%, respectively. Vulnerability estimates by the Bayesian natural conjugate prior approach is found to have greater efficiency compared with FGLS and non-informative prior approaches.

Development of a two‐item quick screen for household food insecurity assessment

Developing an abbreviated assessment scale may enable household food insecurity (HFI) to be assessed more rapidly in developing countries. Using data from 11,243 households in rural Bangladesh, we used latent trait analysis to identify 2 out of 9 questions on a standardized Food Access Survey Tool (FAST) that has been used to identify food insecure households. The latent trait analysis utilizes test parameters that reflect qualities of “discrimination” and “difficulty” in the way questions are answered by respondents. From the 9‐item FAST, the 2 questions that best discriminated households with at least mild food insecurity focused on the frequencies with which household respondents indicated they “buy rice” and “worry about food”. Against a mild‐moderate HFI cutoff using the full 9‐item scale, a positive response to either of the above 2 questions yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 87.5% and 100%, respectively. It is possible to closely approximate the performance of the original 9‐item FAST questionnaire with two questions, thereby improving efficiency in screening households with mild‐moderate food insecurity.Grant Funding Source: Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant GH614)

Study on the pattern of prescriptions available at rural households in Bangladesh

This was a descriptive type of cross-sectional study conducted in October, 2010, in three villages of Shahjadpur Upazila of Sirajganj district in Bangladesh. Among the rural households, those who visited medical practitioners in the last three months, were included in the study. The present study aimed to examine the pattern of prescriptions available at rural households of Bangladesh, to analyze the prescriptions whether diagnoses and/or lifestyles advice were mentioned, and to find out number of drugs and antibiotics (including their dose and duration of use) prescribed. During last three months, 68% respondents had attended a doctor's chamber; however, prescriptions were available for 57% of the respondents. More than three quarters of the prescriptions (77.6%) included 3-5 medicines, and antibiotics were prescribed to 194 (61%) respondents which constituted 21.4% of the total number of drugs prescribed. The average number of drugs and antibiotics prescribed per prescriptions was 3.8 and 1.3 respectively. Only about 23% of the respondents received antibiotics for 3-6 days, 30% for 2 days, and 46% for one day. Advice on lifestyles and diagnoses were mentioned only to 32% and 52% prescriptions respectively. The study also found that 22.6% of the prescriptions were made by unqualified doctors. Specific programs should be implemented to motivate and train medical students, practitioners and allied health professionals to provide rational prescriptions to the consumers in regards to the number of drugs as well as clarity of instructions given in the prescriptions.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v1i1.13207 South East Asia Journal of Public Health 2011:1:12-16

Household Work, Labor Time And The Schooling Of Girls In Rural South Asia

This paper uses an applied general equilibrium framework in which family labor use, including the labor of male and female children, is incorporated to examine the effect of income subsidy schemes designed to encourage schooling of children on intra-household resource allocation within rural households in Bangladesh. Various subsidy schemes that are tied to hours of schoolwork by girls or all children are examined under existing preferences and under altered preferences that increase the desire for schooling. The effects of these subsidy schemes are compared to a general income subsidy as well as a scenario where the demand for increased paid domestic work, which often is female child intensive, increases. It is found that household welfare increases most when a subsidy is combined with households altering their preferences by placing greater value on the education of girls. The success of policy experiments that have combined advocacy and educational reform with economic incentives can be explained from this finding.

Maternal care practices among the ultra poor households in rural Bangladesh: a qualitative exploratory study

BackgroundAlthough many studies have been carried out to learn about maternal care practices in rural areas and urban-slums of Bangladesh, none have focused on ultra poor women. Understanding the context in which women would be willing to accept new practices is essential for developing realistic and relevant behaviour change messages. This study sought to fill in this knowledge gap by exploring maternal care practices among women who participated in a grant-based livelihood programme for the ultra poor. This is expected to assist the designing of the health education messages programme in an effort to improve maternal morbidity and survival towards achieving the UN millennium Development Goal 5.MethodsQualitative method was used to collect data on maternal care practices during pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum period from women in ultra poor households. The sample included both currently pregnant women who have had a previous childbirth, and lactating women, participating in a grant-based livelihood development programme. Rangpur and Kurigram districts in northern Bangladesh were selected for data collection.ResultsWomen usually considered pregnancy as a normal event unless complications arose, and most of them refrained from seeking antenatal care (ANC) except for confirmation of pregnancy, and no prior preparation for childbirth was taken. Financial constraints, coupled with traditional beliefs and rituals, delayed care-seeking in cases where complications arose. Delivery usually took place on the floor in the squatting posture and the attendants did not always follow antiseptic measures such as washing hands before conducting delivery. Following the birth of the baby, attention was mainly focused on the expulsion of the placenta and various maneuvres were adapted to hasten the process, which were sometimes harmful. There were multiple food-related taboos and restrictions, which decreased the consumption of protein during pregnancy and post-partum period. Women usually failed to go to the healthcare providers for illnesses in the post-partum period.ConclusionThis study shows that cultural beliefs and norms have a strong influence on maternal care practices among the ultra poor households, and override the beneficial economic effects from livelihood support intervention. Some of these practices, often compromised by various taboos and beliefs, may become harmful at times. Health behavior education in this livelihood support program can be carefully tailored to local cultural beliefs to achieve better maternal outcomes.

Drivers of Escape and Descent: Changing Household Fortunes in Rural Bangladesh

This paper analyses a panel dataset on 379 rural households in Bangladesh interviewed in 1987/88 and 2000. Using a 'livelihoods' framework it contrasts the fortunes of ascending households (which escape poverty) and descending households (which fall into poverty). These two dynamics are not mirror images of each other. Escapees overcome structural obstacles by pursuing multiple strategies (crop intensification, agricultural diversification, off-farm activity, irrigation) that permitted them to relatively rapidly accumulate a mix of assets. Descents into poverty were associated with lifecycle changes and crises such as flooding and ill-health. The findings confirm that Bangladesh made great progress in reducing poverty in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Welfare Impacts of Rural Electrification in Bangladesh

Lack of access to electricity has been considered a major impediment to the growth and development of rural economies. Thus, the provision of electricity and other forms of modern energy has been a priority for many development organizations, including the World Bank. However, few impact studies of electrification have taken the endogeneity of the grid connection into account. Using a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2005 of 20,900 rural households in Bangladesh, this paper examines the welfare impacts of household access to grid electricity after controlling for endogeneity bias. The econometric analysis shows that grid electrification has significant positive impacts on household income, expenditure, and education. The household gain in total income due to electrification is as high as 21 percent, with a 1.5 percentage point reduction in poverty per year. The results also suggest that the income and expenditure effects ofelectricity connection are higher for better-off households. doi: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol33-No1-8

Energy poverty in rural Bangladesh

Energy poverty is a well-established concept among energy and development specialists. International development organizations frequently cite energy-poverty alleviation as a necessary condition to reduce income poverty. Several approaches used to measure energy poverty over the past 20 years have defined the energy poverty line as the minimum quantity of physical energy needed to perform such basic tasks as cooking and lighting. This paper uses a demand-based approach to define the energy poverty line as the threshold point at which energy consumption begins to rise with increases in household income. At or below this threshold point, households consume a bare minimum level of energy and should be considered energy poor. This approach was applied using cross-sectional data from a comprehensive 2004 household survey representative of rural Bangladesh. The findings suggest that some 58 percent of rural households in Bangladesh are energy poor, versus 45 percent that are income poor. The findings also suggest that policies to support rural electrification and greater use of improved biomass stoves might play a significant role in reducing energy poverty.

Investigation of arsenic removal performance by a simple iron removal ceramic filter in rural households of Bangladesh

Arsenic (As) poisoning of groundwater has caused a devastating health crisis in Bangladesh and West Bengal (India). A high concentration of iron (Fe) is also present in groundwater of this region. A simple Fe removal ceramic filter was developed by local manufacturer and currently employed in rural households of Bangladesh. The aims of this study were to investigate the Fe and As removal performance of this filter and proposed a modification in order to enhance the As removal efficiency by introducing additional source of Fe (iron net) and iron oxidizing bacteria. Technical and social performances of the filter were assessed by filed survey. The field data suggested that the filter is very effective in Fe removal through oxidation and co-precipitation process. Arsenic also was removed and removal efficiency was highly depended on the initial concentration of Fe and As in groundwater. This simple Fe removal filter showed high user acceptance, satisfaction and sustained use. A simple modification of this filter using iron net and iron oxidizing bacteria substantially increased 18% more As removal. This study suggested that modification of this simple and inexpensive filter could be applied for the simultaneous treatment of As and Fe in the As contaminated region.

Do non-farm incomes really matter for poverty among small households in rural Bangladesh? A case of advanced villages

Given the critical importance of the non-farm sector in rural Bangladesh, this paper examines the comprehensive effects of non-farm incomes on poverty reduction, namely, household production and consumption. The study was based on the original field survey with data from about 175 small households in advanced villages of Bangladesh. Standard micro-econometric techniques were used for the empirical analyses. The study found that the small households in advanced villages were in a stage that their non-farm incomes did not contribute significantly to their household production for either farm or non-farm and food consumption (calorie adequacy); and accordingly, these could be spent on non-food consumption. Finally, the study found that the overall non-farm income significantly mattered for reducing income poverty but could be still low to be realized in reducing education poverty. However, among the non-farm income components, while out-country remittance and non-farm selfemployment incomes were more income poverty (incidence and gap) reducing compared to non-farm wage and in-country remittance incomes, the remittance incomes (both in-country and out-country) were reducing the severity of education poverty. Thus, the qualitative diversification of the small household workers and productive use (preferably in farm/non-farm production and demand driven education) of non-farm incomes deserved special attention.

Domestic violence against women is associated with lower household food security in rural Bangladesh

PurposeThis research was intended to examine whether there is a relationship between household food security and domestic violence among households in rural Bangladesh.MethodsThe study uses data collected from the USAID/FANTA funded 2001–2003 Bangladesh Food Insecurity Measurement and Validation Study conducted by Tufts University. The study measured both physical and psychological abuse of women by their husbands using scales developed from the data. Household food security was measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale developed for Bangladesh. Logistic regression was performed, controlling for religion, food security status, age, decision‐making input of the female, women's status relative to their husbands, participation in microcredit or labor force, and number of sons in the household.ResultsThe large majority of female respondents experienced psychological abuse and about half of women reported physical abuse from their husbands in the past year. Older husbands were less likely to be abusive, and the number of sons was inversely related to the likelihood of abuse. Women's decision making power was positively associated with abuse. Both physical and psychological abuse were more likely to occur in households with lower food security status.

Assessing poverty, risk and vulnerability: a study on flooded households in rural Bangladesh

AbstractFlood is a common catastrophe in Bangladesh. This study aimed to examine the poverty, risk and vulnerability for flood hazards. A cross‐sectional household survey was carried out after 2 weeks of the flood in four districts in the year 2005. In total, 600 rural households were interviewed through a three‐stage stratified random sampling. A utilitarian approach was used to assess flood vulnerability and its components. A set of households' characteristics and shock (flood) variables were used as explanatory variables. The results showed that poverty and idiosyncratic flood risks are positively correlated and highly significant. Households with higher educated members, headed by a male and owners of a dwelling place have been found to be less vulnerable to idiosyncratic flood risk. Possession of arable land and a small family size can reduce poverty and the aggregate flood risk.

Household Rates of Return to Education in Rural Bangladesh: Accounting for Direct Costs, Child Labour, and Option Value

This study estimates the returns to boys’ education for rural Bangladeshi households by accounting for some conventionally neglected items: direct costs of education, foregone child labour earnings, and option value. The estimated returns are 13.5% for primary education, 7.8% for junior‐secondary education, 12.9% for higher‐secondary education, and 9.7% for higher education; the resulting option value from primary education is 5.3%. These results suggest that there is economic rationale for non‐poor rural households to invest in boys’ education, especially at the primary level.

Household Rates of Return to Education in Rural Bangladesh: Accounting for Direct Costs, Child Labor, and Option Value

This study estimates the returns to boys' education for rural Bangladeshi households by accounting for some conventionally neglected items: direct costs of education, foregone child labor earnings, and option value. The estimated returns are 13.5% for primary education, 7.8% for junior-secondary education, 12.9% for higher-secondary education, and 9.7% for higher education; the resulting option value from primary education is 5.3%. These results suggest that there is economic rationale for non-poor rural households to invest in boys' education, especially at the primary education level.

Rural communities' preferences for arsenic mitigation options in Bangladesh

In the context of arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh, this paper analyses rural people's preferences for arsenic-free drinking water options. A particular focus is on rural households' willingness to pay for piped water supply which can provide a sustainable solution to the arsenic problem, and how the preference for piped water supply compares with that for various other household/community-based arsenic mitigation technologies. The analysis is based on data collected in a survey of over 2700 households in rural Bangladesh. Six arsenic mitigation technologies were selected for the study: three-kolshi (pitcher) method, activated alumina method (household-based and community-based), dugwell, pond sand filter and deep tubewell (handpump). The survey results indicate that, after taking into consideration the initial and recurring costs, convenience, associated risks and the advantages and disadvantages of each selected technology, the preference of the rural people is overwhelmingly in favor of deep tubewells, followed by the three-kolshi method. The analysis reveals a strong demand for piped water in both arsenic-affected and arsenic-free rural areas, and scope of adequate cost recovery. Between piped water and other arsenic mitigation technologies, the preference of the rural people is found to be predominantly in favor of the former.