Socio-Ecological Vulnerabilities and Major Cereal Crops Production in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh enjoys food self-sufficiency or deficiency depending on crop damages by drought, floods, cyclones, storm/tidal surges and other natural hazards. Data on climate extremes were collected from literatures. Landsat images were analyzed for water availability. Arithmetic, geometric and weighted means were calculated for community vulnerability delineation using IDRISI3.2. About 12.64% populations live in disaster prone areas and their sensitivity to exposed hazards depends on financial capabilities. Crop area damages by natural hazards were the highest in Dhaka division followed by Rajshahi division during 2009-2014. The highest economic loss ($613 million) was found in Barisal division followed by Dhaka ($198.7 million) division. Flooding was the most damaging climate extreme followed by drought and hailstorm. Rice crops are frequently exposed to climate extremes and caused economic loss of $228 million during 2009-2014. Economic losses were < $110 to 1,000 ha because of wheat/maize areas damaged by natural hazards. The most vulnerable areas are situated in the south-west and north-west part of the country. The most affected areas (35.4% of the country) had economic losses of $940-1,170 ha. About 2-4.7 million households (HH) were affected by different natural hazards in different regions of the country. Flood affected HHs were predominant in northern and north-east regions of the country. Common adaptations to natural hazard exposures are crop switching and migration. The other adaptation options could be improvement of post disaster recovery efficiency through financial support, supplying seeds and other inputs based on seasonal suitability.