Impacts of the Kawraid river rubber dam project on agricultural performance and poverty

Abstract

The Kawraid River Rubber Dam Project (KRRDP) of Gazipur District was commissioned by the Local Government Engineering Department in 2000-0 I and has been in operation since 2002-03 Boro season. The project has the total irrigation coverage of 1232 ha for Boro rice cultivation. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of the KRRDP on the agricultural performance and to assess the impact of this project on poverty. The impacts are evaluated following a With Project (WP) and Without Project (WOP) approach and considering 2000-01 Boro season as base year (without intervention) and 2006-07 as current year (with intervention). The agricultural performance is evaluated using some agricultural indicators and the poverty level of a household is assessed using the self-assessment method which is modified in this study. A multiple linear regression analysis is done to find out the relationship between poverty and its predictors. Results of the study show that the average yield of Boro rice per ha in current year is about 30% higher than that of base year in the WP area; whereas, the yield is only 7% higher in the \yap area. The production performance of the WP area is also higher in 2006-07 (0.87) than that of 2000-0 I (0.42); but it is not much different in the WOP area (0.54 and 0.6 I in 2000- o I and 2006-07, respectively). The net income (Tk.lha) is 180% higher in the WP area; whereas, it is only 3.6% higher in the WOP area in the Current year compared to that of the base year. The irrigation intervention with the KRRDP has reduced povel1y by 4.5%. For each percentage increase in irrigated area, poverty reduction is found to be about 0.2% in the WP area. Multiple regression results show that the increased income from Boro rice cultivation has a large influence on poverty reduction of the WP area. Both the WP and' WOP areas also exhibit a strong relationship between education and poverty. It thus appears that the irrigation intervention with the KRRDP has played an important role in enhancing agricultural production and income, which have contributed to the reduction of poverty and improvement in living condition of the rubber dam beneficiaries .