Energetics of Rice Cultivation in South-West Coastal Region of Bangladesh

M. Rahman, M. Halder

Abstract


This study attempts to analyse the energy flow in boro rice production in the south-west coastal region of Bangladesh during the dry season (November 2010 to May 2011). Structured questionnaire survey was made of target farmers of five farm sizes in randomly selected five coastal villages to collect step-wise and source-wise quantitative energy inputs and outputs. The energy from seed bed, land operation and maintenance, and harvesting and threshing were calculated as step-wise energy input, whereas energy from human labour, machinery, seed, irrigation, and fertilizer and pesticide applications were calculated as source-wise energy input. The output energy was estimated based on the main product (rice grains) and by-product (straw) of rice cultivation. Energy input, energy output and energy efficiency of rice cultivation were calculated in average of five coastal villages for each of the farm sizes.  The results reveal that the average total energy input was estimated to be 44,520 MJ ha-1, which varied from 29,283 MJ ha-1 on medium farmers to 72,339 MJ ha-1 on landless farmers. The total energy use in all steps decreases with an increase in size of farm holdings, except large farm. Seedbed stage consumes the highest energy following land operation and maintenance, and harvesting and threshing. Fertilizers accounted for a major share (63.3%) of energy input followed by seed, irrigation, machinery power, pesticides and manpower. In average farm situation, the total energy output produced from the field was 80,690 MJ ha-1n , which varied from 51,641 MJ ha-1 on large farm to 142,593 MJ ha-1 on landless farm. In the same situation, main product (rice grain) and by-product contribute respective 79.2% and 20.8% in the total output energy. Total energy output also decreased with the increase in farm size. The energy efficiency (output/input) from rice cultivation ranged from 1.5 on large farm to 2.0 on landless farm with an average of 1.8. The output-input ratio of energy was estimated to be in the sequence of landless > marginal > medium > small > large farm. Therefore, lower sized farms are more energy efficient than those of larger sized farms in rice production in the south-west coastal region of Bangladesh.

Keywords


Boro Rice; Structured Questionnaire Survey; Farmers; Energy Input; Energy Output; Energy Efficiency

References


Alam, M.S.; Alam, M.R. and Islam, K.K. 2005. Energy flow in agriculture: Bangladesh. American Journal of Environmental Sciences 1(3): 213-220.

Bala, B.K. 1998. Energy and Environment: Modeling and Simulation. Nova Science Publishers, New York, USA. 268 pages.

BBS (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics). 2002. Provisional Estimates of Gross Regional Products, 1995-96 to 1999-2000. BBS, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

BBS (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics). 2003. Population Census 2001 National Report (Provisional). BBS, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

GoB. 2000. Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka.

Halder, M. and Rahman, M. 2013. Analysis of energy flow and transformation in rice-based cropping system in south-west coastal Bangladesh. Paper Presented at International Conference on Engineering Research, Innovation and Education (ICERIE 2013), January: 1138-1143, Sylhet University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Haque, S.A. 2006. Salinity problems and crop production in coastal regions of Bangladesh. Pakistan Journal of Botany 38: 1359-1365.

Iqbal, M.T. 2007. Energy input and output for production of boro rice in Bangladesh. Electronic Journal of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Chemistry 6: 2144-2149.

Khan, M.A. and Hossain, S.M.A. 2007. Study on energy input, output and energy use efficiency of major jute-based cropping pattern. Bangladesh Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research 42: 195-202.

MoF (Ministry of Finance). 2007. Bangladesh Economic Review 2007. MoF, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka.

PDO-ICZM. 2004. Where Land Meets the Sea: A Profile of the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh. The University Press Limited, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 317 pages.

Ramachandra, T.V. and Nagarathna, A.V. 2001. Energetics in paddy cultivation in Uttara Kannada district. Energy Conversion and Management 42: 131-155.

SRDI (Soil Resource Development Institute). 2012. Saline Soils of Bangladesh. Soil Fertility Assessment, Soil Degradation and Its Impact on Agriculture Program, SRDI, Ministry of Agriculture, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

WB (World Bank). 1998. World Development Indicators-1998. WB, Washington D.C.

Zeng, L. and Shannon, M.C. 2000. Effects of salinity on grain yield and yield components of rice at different seedling densities. Agronomy Journal 92: 418-423.

Zeng, L.; Shannon, M.C. and Lesch, S.M. 2001. Timing of salinity stress affects rice growth and yield components. Agricultural Water Management 48: 191-206.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

COPYRIGHT of this Journal vests fully with the National Instional Institute of Ecology. Any commercial use of the content on this site in any form is legally prohibited.