Assessing the interrelationship between monsoon flood disasters and major crop production in Bangladesh
Mostafizur Rahman, Md. Shafiul Alam, Rumana Sultana, Razia Sultana
Abstract
Bangladesh faces various acute and chronic natural calamities due to its precarious global positioning. Floods are among Bangladesh's leading and most frequent disasters. While much research has been published on the association between flood risk and agricultural losses, significant gaps exist in recognizing the relationship between monsoon flood disasters and agrarian land and production losses. This study aims to investigate the substantial crop losses brought on by monsoon floods, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of floods on crop productivity and strategies to mitigate those effects. It also describes the FAO method for assessing flood damage to the agricultural sector, concentrating mainly on flood damage to rice and jute crops. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed to collect and analyze the data for this study. Primary data was collected through interviews, structured questionnaires, personal observations, and informal discussions with 250 respondents. Secondary data was obtained from official records such as libraries, journals, yearly reports, statistics yearbooks, newspapers, and other relevant sources. The combined quantitative and qualitative data revealed that flooding interrupts crop-growing patterns (rice, potato, pepper, and maize), decreases cropping land area, reduces crop production, and affects socio-economic conditions overall. In addition, this study focuses on the barriers and constraints that could obviate flood management. Hence, floods cause production losses of about 2.25 metric tons of rice and 2 metric tons of jute, equivalent to more than 50,000 ($600) and 45,000 ($550) BDT, individually. The study further recommended a monsoon flood management approach that prioritizes resilience and infrastructure development through constant surveillance and evaluation to ensure regional food security utilizing sustainable crop production. The crop damage assessment method described in this paper can also be applied in other areas for flood risk management.