Climate Change and Farming Vulnerability in the Coast of Bangladesh

Abstract

The present research is highly related with a public interview to capture the data directly from the field related to the random data sampling based information. The farmers within the study region were earnestly affected by various types of hazards like, river bank erosion, salinity effects, effects of tidal flood, overweening rainfall, monsoonal cyclone, water logging as well, which are directly colligated to climate change. Agriculture is the main source of economy of the country, which is jeopardized by almost all the hazards. In the study area most of the farmers (46.36%) were having below 0.2 hectors of land and only 4.54% farmers had above 0.3 hectors. The major field crop of the study area was rice (Boro/Aman). Generically farmers were not acquainted to cultivate Aus in this area. During Aus growing season the salinity intensity became higher and they had less opportunity to use the land for Aus cultivation. Majority of the farmers (72.73%) used rain water for agricultural purpose instead of river water. As a consequence, around 37% farmers were migrating from affected areas to non affected areas and among the displaced farmer 21% were permanent and 16% were seasonal. In rainy season, more than 25% households were confronting water logging, tidal flood problems due to low plinth height of the houses. The farmers had been suffering from various communicable and non communicable diseases like arsenicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, malaria, dengue, cholera, encephalitis, malnutrition and prevalence rate of the climate change associated diseases was 5.09. The present study revealed that climate change induced hazards severely leading to crisis of freshwater, decreasing in rice and other essential crop production. Finally, the study found that environmental migration, food deficiency and health problems that increasing vulnerability and reducing the sustainable capacity of the farmers to climate change adaptation. The livelihood of majority of the farmers was very dull and farmers community in the study area, a poorest among the poor.

Keywords: Climate Change, Agriculture, Migration, Food Deficiency, Health, Sustainable Capacity.