Impacts of Climate Change on Winter Vegetables and Misery of Peasants to Adapt for Livelihoods in Dinajpur, Bangladesh

Md. Moshiur Rahman

Abstract

The paper intends to present the findings of impacts of climate change, extend of vulnerability and tries to show the adaptive capabilities by identifying root causes of winter vegetables production. Simultaneously, it aims to discover the potential economic development by promoting earning opportunities among the indigenous and poor peasant communities of a remote district area of Bangladesh. This study also sets to depict how the rural poor farmers are being deprived from their rights of getting proper information and facilities available regarding adverse impacts of climate change on winter vegetable production. A questionnaire survey has been conducted based on comparative analysis on vegetable production data over two decades. The major findings of the study revealed that production of all the selected vegetables were profitable. However, recently farmers get abrupt suffering in vegetable production due to uneven seasonal pattern. The study reveals that based on the mode of problem prevailing on vegetables, peasants of the study area have applied different techniques in order to enhance production. Application of more fertilizers and insecticide are found to be a very common practice in their vegetable cultivation in modern time than a decade ago. Excess use of pesticide led to decline in taste of vegetables. The cost of vegetable production has been much more increased than any other time before which defiled the credit of increasing production rate. All these factors lead to increase suffering of the peasants. The study also exposed that the farmer communities are becoming financially poorer and finds it difficult to combat climate change issues with the negligible resources and technical knowledge that they have at present. It is found that 30 farmers among 120 show unwillingness to cultivate vegetables further due to less profit now in the study area.

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