0497-B5

The homegardens of Bangladesh: trends and implications for research

Laskar Muqsudur Rahman ¹

Abstract

With a population of 129 million, Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Over 76% of the population lives in rural areas and they are heavily dependent on homegardens for their livelihood. The homegardens of Bangladesh are small and scattered. Their aggregate area constitutes only about 0.25 million ha, representing 10% of the country's forests. But it is extremely productive. An estimated 88% of all wood supplies are drawn from the homegardens.

During the last ten years, there has been a net loss of area earmarked for traditional agroforestry around the homesteads by 2%. The area of homegardens decreased by 2% with an increasing number of houses and increased by 4% with decreasing area of common resource property and cropland for establishment of new homesteads. The average standing volume is estimated at 201.8 m³ per ha and average annual harvest amounts to 17.5 m³ ha^-1yr^-1, which is nearly double of the sustainable yield.

Species for new planting tend to include few fruit trees and exotics of high timber value. This resulted in loss of species diversity, outbreak of pests and diseases and soil erosion. The loss of species diversity decreases biomass production and non-timber forest products. This deprives people of food and nutrition, and skews income generation and employment opportunity.

Major constraints of homegarden management are scarcity of land, poverty and inadequate technical support. Lack of vital statistical data on potentiality and various socio-economic aspects of homegardens is an impediment for impressing the policy-makers to undertake programmes for its sustainability. Effective models can be developed for intensified and diversified cultivation of trees on homesteads and varieties and management of fruit species improved.

Introduction

In 2001, the population of Bangladesh was estimated at 129 million, making it one of the densely inhabited countries in the world. Between 75% and 80% of the population are rural residents (BBS 2002). The homegarden of Bangladesh is a source of livelihood for many farmers and serves as safety net during the time of hardship and natural disaster. The homegarden is regarded as a more reliable place for tree farming being adjacent to living quarters. Furthermore, it is the homegarden, which a marginal farmer sells last after selling his cropland.

The homegardens are small in size, not more than 0.16 ha (Khan and Alam 1996), somewhat aggregated in certain areas and dispersed throughout the flat terrain in Bangladesh. They are usually built on mounds above the water level during annual flood. A typical homegarden serves several houses of related families in a cluster, and has space for garden, livestock, multipurpose pond and yard for communal activities. It is an integral part of cultural heritage of rural Bangladesh. This practice is prevalent not only in Bangladesh but also in many South and South-East Asian, Latin American and African countries (FAO 1986).

In Bangladesh, the state forests cover 2.52 million ha, representing 17% of the country's land area. And privately owned homegardens cover only 0.27 million ha. But it is extremely productive. An estimated 88% of all wood supplies are drawn from homegardens, with state lands supplying the remaining 12% (Poffenberger 2000). The increase of rural population from 65.2 million in 1974 to 94.3 million in 2001 (BBS 2002) brought about many changes in physical and functional components of the homegardens. The production as well as resource base of homegardens is diminishing due to over exploitation. Subsequent socio-economic effects of such changes are numerous and self-reinforcing, and will eventually be felt in all facets of rural life. Therefore, the homegarden needs guarding against.

Materials and Methods

This paper is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected by case studies in four selected villages, namely, Galachipa, Sananda, Ramu and Sonatala, representing each of the coastal, plain, hill and dry regions of Bangladesh. In each village a random sample of eight households were interviewed and observed. The sample households were categorized into: (1) marginal (homestead area _0.02-0.08 ha); (2) small (homestead area _0.08-0.14 ha); (3) medium (homestead area _0.14-0.20 ha); and (4) large (homestead area _0.20 ha). In addition to the structured interviews, unstructured interviews were also carried out with informal informants. Secondary data was collected from published papers and documents.

Results

Homegarden components

The preliminary result shows that during the last ten years there is a net loss of operated area for agroforestry in the homegardens by 2%. The area of old homegardens decreased by 2% to accommodate mostly new houses and increased by 4% with new homegardens on the rural ancillary lands, which used to be the common sources of traditional forest produces, and croplands. This trend is also reflected in the official records.

The area of the country is 14.75 million ha (BBS 2002). The area occupied by houses in the homegardens increased from 2.6% to 3.6% and the area of cultivated land decreased from 55.3% to 48.7% during 1983-1996. (BBS 1999). The area of common resource property has also decreased from 2.9% to 1.4% since 1970-71 (Elahi 2002).

With pressure developing as the nuclear family expanded, intended trees and shrubs are mostly found to grow on the boundary and entrance of the homegarden, until additional land could be enclosed within the homegarden boundary.

However, (Ohlsson 1994) did not considered area as a relevant criteria for describing homestead trees. it is not feasible to measure aggregate area occupied by scattered shrubs and trees (BBS 1999).

Species diversity

Farmers deliberately eliminate some indigenous shrub and tree species. They do not replant, for example, Aphanamixis polystachya and Spondias pinnata, which are slow growing, wide crowned and commercially non-profitable. They prefer few fast growing timber species such as Albizia saman, Albizia procera and Gmelina arborea. In localities close to state forests or traditional source of forest produces, preferences are higher (67%) for fruit species. At other places, preferences are higher (43%) for fuelwood species. An increase in number of dwelling houses dislocate the interior species such as Citrus limon and Ziziphus mauritiana, which eventually extinct from homegardens. Already 34 plant species are under severe threat of extinction from Bangladesh (Gain 2002).

The loss of such species has serious implications on rural life. For example, loss of minor fruit species such as Tamarindus indica, Elaecarpus robustus and Garcinia cowa not only deprive people from essential vitamins and vital insurance against malnutrition but also employment opportunity to those, who collect, process and market them locally. In addition, such species also have other end uses. Further, it appears that part of harvest consists of removing many species of intangible ecological and social value.

Newly adopted tree species are dominated by Albizia saman (49%), followed by Swetenia macrophylla (14%). In northern Bangladesh, 15% to 35% of mature Dalbergia sissoo monocultue are massively affected by top dying. Loss of habitat and subsequent decrease in plant diversity reduced the rural faunal diversity, particularly the avifauna. Out of 650 species of birds, 50 are endangered now (Gain 2002).

Biomass production

Overall, biomass supplies 73% of the nation's energy. Tree and bamboo fuels provide 23% of the domestic energy requirements, compared to agriculture residue (57%) and dung (18%). Fuelwood use makes up 16% of the total domestic energy used, tree waste contributes 7%.

The per capita consumption of 0.05 -0.10 m³ of fuelwood and 180-350 kg leaves, twigs, bamboo, etc. for domestic fuel is low compared to other countries (Ohlsson 1984). Even so, there would be a net deficit of about 3.47 million m³ of fuelwood by the year 2013 (MOEF 1993).

The rate of extraction from village forests is 8.9%, but the rate of increment is five percent (FAO 1982). A review of Village Forest Inventory (FAO 1982) and Forestry Master Plan (MOEF 1993) also shows that the growing stock in homegarden amounts to 201.8 m³ per ha with a mean annual increment (MAI) of 10.0 m³ha^-1yr^-1. Based on the 2001 rural population, the average annual harvest is 17.5 m³ha^-1yr^-1, which exceeds sustainable yield.

The use of agricultural residues and cow dung as fuels has increased depriving the agricultural lands of the recycled fertilizer. In 2000, an estimated 8.1 million tons of cow dung and 18.1 million tons of agricultural crop residues were burnt against 6.8 million tons of fuelwood for cooking food (BBS 2002). One ton of dung would boost grain production by 50-60 kg (Barnard and Kristoferson 1985). We are in fact burning food to cook food due to wood famine (Negi 1985).

Planting intensity

Over 63% of households reported that planting intensity has increased at least fourfold during the last five years. It reflects some success of national tree planting movement. It has been observed that the average planting area per perennial plant is as low as 0.3 m². In spite of dense planting with 2200-2600 stems per ha, 90% of households reported that the growing stock of homegarden has decreased considerably during the last 30 years. Furthermore, dense crowns prevent undergrowth, which in turn result in soil erosion and contribute to low growth in the order of 10 m³ha^-1yr^-1 in areas where 18 m³ha^-1yr^-1 was the original norm even 30 years ago.

Employment opportunity

The type of employment in homegardens is mostly casual laborer and such labor force has almost doubled since 1970. Besides, diminishing supply of forest products, for example, non timber forest products (NWFP) such as honey, rattan, raw materials for herbal medicine and cottage industries has impeded the employment opportunity for many rural people. Since 1983-84 the number of wood based cottage industries decreased from 0.93 million to 0.46 million (BBS 1999). Consequently, employment opportunities in the rural areas are becoming increasingly rare. Many unoccupied people lead miserable life and are migrating to towns aggravating the problem further. Innovation of effective homegarden agroforestry models have immense potential for employment generation and poverty alleviation.

Income generation

The households depend on varieties of homegarden commodities for daily cash income. Examples are vegetables and NWFP. Decrease in planting area, dense planting of a singular species all contribute against daily cash receipts.

The large farmers' income from homegardens ranges from 32% to 54% of the total family expenses. Whereas, the marginal and small farmers' income varies from 7% to 18%. Furthermore, at present 46% of households earn no cash from homegardens, except daily requirements. Another 17% of households owns no homesteads. Davidson (1984) reported an income range of 26% to 47% for all categories of farmers.

The owner of the monoculture-woodlot harvests after 10-12 years and he goes almost without interim annual earning. Thus monoculture results in inequity in income distribution among different categories of farmers and over time. The main impact of population pressure and subsequent land fragmentation and loss of resource base seems to be that the pauperization of the majority and the enrichment of a small minority perpetuates.

Management constraints

Except few (15.6%) mostly with large holdings, all households reported scarcity of land as a major constraint (Table 1). Unavailability of planting materials is more pronounced in remote rural areas, where services of government and non-government agencies are inadequate. The trees growing on the boundary of homegardens result in conflicts with neighbors. The nature of constraints varies from region to region and farm to farm.

Table 1. Major constraints of homegarden management, Bangladesh

Needs identified by farmers

Seventy-five percent of the respondents in the dry region expect easy payment micro-credit facility. About 88% of respondents of the same region desire fast growing and drought resistant seedlings (Table 2). Among others, the farmers inquired about improvement of existing poor yielding fruit, causes of poor growth of trees and possibility of introduction of improved varieties of fruits.

Table 2. Needs identified by farmers for improvement in homegarden systems, Bangladesh

Discussion

Tropical homegardens have provided sustenance to millions of farmers, and prosperity to some, around the world, for centuries. The annotated bibliography and evaluation of homegarden literature by Brownrigg (1985) illustrates the diversity, complexity, and value of homegardens; but it concludes with a call for research on removing the ambiguity surrounding the homegardens as a development tool (Nair 2002). Some researchers (e.g., Fernandes and Nair, 1986. Soemarwoto, 1987, Michon and deForesta, 1999) deal mostly with an architectural analysis of homegardens. Millat-e-Mustafa et. al. (1996) provided an excellent description of structure and floristics of Bangladesh homegardens. However, the homegardens represented traditional ways and indigenous species and did not get cited in development chronicles because that did not receive development support (Nair 2002).

Hocking et al. (1997) suggested that cultivation of trees on homesteads in crowded countries like Bangladesh can be intensified and diversified, and varieties and management of fruit species may be improved. Despite dense planting the yield is not optimized. The decision on spacing for plantations depends upon many variables such as object of management, site and species (Rahman 1995). Therefore, it is time to supplement the farmers' indigenous knowledge of silviculture with scientific knowledge.

The importance of homegardens can hardly be overemphasized. But the reality is that the status and trends of homegardens of Bangladesh have not been studied precisely, nor rigorous research to identify management strategies for its sustained development have been carried out. There is also scarcity of adequate vital statistical data on various aspects of homegardens to convince the development planners. Side by side land use control is also essential.

Conclusion

The rural life-style is being changed due to population pressure, urbanization and infrastructure development, and subsequent land fragmentation and reduced homegarden area. Scientific attention has seldom focused on such trends and improving these traditional systems. In spite of their importance, the homegardens do not get the attention deserved in terms of research and extension support, credit facilities, and utilization and marketing facilities. There is no program specifically targeted to improve the overall productivity of homegardens, nor to introduce yield-increasing technology. There is need to design and implement appropriate and effective measures to improve the homegarden system. To sustain the rural livelihood, adequate Government initiative is essential to control land use and undertake program to support the planting of trees on homesteads

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¹ Deputy Conservator of Forests, Forest Department, Bangladesh. [email protected]