RURAL BANGLADESH - PreventionWeb

Socioeconomic Profile Findings
Figure 15: Land Ownership by Sex of Household Head
% of Households Own
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Land Ownership
M ean land area (in decim al) is show n on the top of the bar
139
9
19
51
145
Female Male
Sex of Household Head
Ag. Land Homestead Pond
Land ownership patterns also vary by region. Chittagong Hill Tracts and Drought zone
households typically own larger areas of land (more than 170 decimals each compared to
average land holders between 123 and 154 decimals in the other four zones). CHT and
drought-prone households also hold substantially more land for other purposes beyond
cultivation. Land is relatively less productive in drought-prone areas, requiring households
to have larger areas of land to make a living. Although CHT households own relatively
large areas of land, the value of land in CHT is substantially lower compared to all other
regions.
In a land hungry country, where rural families depend on agricultural production on
cultivable land as the major source of their livelihoods, the CHT represents a magnification
of the problem of the struggle over land. Although the scarcity of land is not as acute as
elsewhere, land access has been severely exacerbated by the pressures of a growing
population compounded by the settlement of plains-lands people from other parts of the
country. Thousands of hectares of land historically belonging to the hill peoples have been
taken by settlers. In addition, the government has gradually taken up lands traditionally
under jum cultivation – also known as swidden, shifting, rotational, or ‘slash and burn’
agriculture – to turn into reserve forests. Much of the land classified as ‘agricultural land’ in
Table 22 is undoubtedly used in the CHT as jum cultivation. The pressures on land during
the past two to three decades have forced jum farmers to reduce the fallow period, which is
crucial in order to maintain land productivity, from the traditional time period of 10 to 12
years to three years on average today, thereby severely affecting the fertility of the soil.
3 FINANCIAL CAPITAL
The microfinance "revolution" in Bangladesh has been based upon the premise that
household poverty and livelihood vulnerability is, in large part, due to lack of access to
financial capital. The recent bestowal of the Nobel Peace Price to Mohammed Yunus for his
pioneering work in promoting microfinance opportunities for poor women and poor
households illustrates most profoundly the worldwide recognition that well targeted income
generating opportunities can provide an engine toward development and poverty alleviation.
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