The advent of cheap smartphones in rural areas across the globe presents an opportunity to change the mode with which researchers engage hard-to-reach populations. In particular, smartphones allow researchers to connect with respondents more frequently than standard household surveys, opening a new window into important short-term variability in key measures of household and community wellbeing. In this paper, we present early results from a pilot study in rural Bangladesh using a ‘microtasks for micropayments’ model to collect a range of community and household living standards data using Android smartphones. We find that more frequent task repetition with shorter recall periods leads to more inclusive reporting, improved capture of intra-seasonal variability, and earlier signals of events such as illness. Payments in the form of mobile talk time and data provide a positive development externality in the form of expanded access to mobile internet and social networks. Taken to scale, programs such as this have potential to transform data collection in rural areas, providing near-real-time windows into the development of markets, the spread of illnesses, or the diffusion of ideas and innovations.
This data was collected as part of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) (Phase-I) project, with an objective to assesses cereal production in selected areas of NW-Bangladesh, especially with respect to the biophysical and socio-economic characterization of the cereal producing farm households.
To achieve the fallow intensification objective of Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project, farm level data collection was designed to understand the multi-level factors affecting farm trajectories of change and potential for sustainable intensification in Southern Bangladesh. The data comprise farm household level panel data for the years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 from 502 samples in three districts of Southern Bangladesh (Barisal, Patuakhali and Barguna). The surveyed households belong to thirteen villages in the above three districts. The balanced panel data was compiled by combining existing information on farms with a 2015 farm survey. Farm level information of farmers continuously intervened by CIMMYT’s partner NGOs was available for years 1995, 2000, 2 005 and 2010. This unique dataset was compiled as part of the Cereal Systems Intensification for South Asia (CSISA) project implemented by CIMMYT and Analyzing Trajectories and Trade-offs for Intensification of Cereal-based Systems (ATTIC) project of Wageningen University. The data was cross-checked and validated through a series of focus-group discussions and interviews with village elders, and oldest member of the family. The village level population in the data is estimated for years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 based on the population growth rates and census data (1991, 2001, and 2011) provided by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Dhaka.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was launched in 2009 with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) . CSISA's objective is to develop and deploy more efficient, productive and sustainable technologies for the diverse rice-wheat production systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) that ultimately improve food supply and improve the livelihoods of the poor in the region. The CSISA Baseline Household Survey was conducted in late 2010 and early 2011 across eight of the hub domains in which CSISA was operating during its initial phase. The household survey was designed to inform CSISA management as well as to establish a priori conditions (farming practices, farmer livelihoods, etc.) against which the social, economic and livelihood impacts of CSISA will be evaluated. Pursuant to these objectives, a structured questionnaire was developed in a joint effort of socio-economists from different centers of the CGIAR, as well as agronomists and hub managers. In all, the baseline household survey collected data on 2,567 households across the CSISA hub domains of Haryana , Punjab , eastern Uttar Pradesh , Bihar and Tamil Nadu in India; Dinajpur and Gazipur in Bangladesh; and the Terai region of central Nepal. Analysis of the baseline data finds that: The CSISA coverage area is highly diverse in terms of climatological and agro-ecological conditions, cropping patterns, livestock management, land holdings, production practices, yie lds and other variables. This reinforces the initiative’s site- and context-specific approach to effecting change, but complicates the evaluation of impact across the entire coverage area. CSISA targeting is generally reflective of the surrounding population in the hub domain. However, evidence of more explicit targeting (e.g., of women-headed households or other vulnerable groups) was found only in the Gazipur hub. Whereas findings suggest that labor-saving technological change may be a priority in the northwestern hubs (Punjab, Haryana), productivity-enhancing technological change that intensifies production on small landholdings may be a priority for most othe r hubs. Poverty and inequality measures indicate significant levels of vulnerability in the Nepal Terai, Bangladesh, eastern UP and Bihar. This may indicate a need for some re-prioritization of CSISA work in favor of Nepal, provided that CSISA’s technologies and approaches are appropriate to its needs. The role of women in agriculture varies widely across the CSISA hub domains, and is determined largely by social status and social constructs. In general, women provide vital inp uts into agricultural production, both in terms of labor as well as decision-making. The complexities of these issues suggest the need for more rigorous analysis regarding gender gaps in access to technical knowledge and information, inequalities in participation in key decision-making processes, as well as the impacts of the RCTs that are being promoted under CSISA. This may necessitate the collection of gender-disaggregated data for constraints analysis, technology prioritization among different household types and careful consideration in the design, implementation and evaluation of impact assessments. Familiarity with RCTs is most limited in Bihar and other eastern hub domains, suggesting the obvious potential for expanding CSISA activities in these areas. That said, sources of information on RCTs are quite domain-specific and vary significantly between CSISA, input retailers and friends/neighbors. There is evidence from the baseline survey to suggest that while non-adoption is largely driven by insufficient information about several RCTs, disadoption driven by poor yield p erformance and other factors is a non-trivial phenomenon in the CSISA domains.
The study of women's involvement and responsibilities within seed systems in Nepal is scarce, despite the widely held belief that women possess extensive knowledge regarding seed selection and preservation, especially concerning maize and wheat, which are vital staple grains in remote mountain communities. Women play various crucial roles in maize and wheat farming, yet major decisions regarding crops management, such as variety selection, are predominantly made by men. Given the rising trend of male out-migration and the resulting feminization of agriculture, it is imperative to examine women's access to seeds and address the gender biases and limitations faced by women farmers.
At present nearly half of the world’s population is under some form of government restriction to curb the spread of COVID-19, an extremely contagious disease. In Bangladesh, in the wake of five deaths and 48 infections from COVID-19, between March 24 and May 30, 2020 the government imposed a nationwide lockdown. While this lockdown restricted the spread of COVID-19, in the absence of effective support, it can generate severe food and nutrition insecurity for daily wage-based workers. Of the 61 million employed labor force in Bangladesh, nearly 35% of them are paid on a daily basis. This study examines the food security and welfare impacts of the COVID-19 induced lockdown on daily wage workers both in the farm and nonfarm sectors in Bangladesh. Using information from more than 50,000 respondents complied from 2016-17 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) in Bangladesh, this study estimates daily wage rates as Bangladesh Taka (BDT) 272.2 in the farm sector and BDT 361.5 in the nonfarm sector. Using the estimated daily wages earnings, this study estimates that a one-day complete lockdown generates a US$64.2 million equivalent economic loss only considering the wage loss of the daily wage workers. After estimating the daily per capita food expenditure separately for farm and nonfarm households, this study estimates a minimum compensation package for the daily wage-based farm and nonfarm households around US $ 1 per day per household to ensure minimum food security for the daily wage-based worker households.
