The Economics of Taming Teesta River: Limits the Choice of Agricultural Crop Diversification

Abstract

Taming river flow to facilitate irrigation support for agriculture begets a group of beneficiaries and a group of sufferers. While implementations of such large scale projects are taking place by taming the natural resource hydrology, the economics of net welfare gain must be met. The estimated cost benefit analysis of a trans-boundary river is a complex issue than a river flowing within the domestic territory only. The dynamics of natural resource hydrology of trans-boundary rivers are often influenced beyond the national level policies. Thus, at lower stream, river dependent farmers’ often suffer from reduced flow of water for irrigation, if withdrawal of water occurs at upstream. It increases the cost of agricultural production. In addition, limits the choice of river dependent farmers’ to reduce their risk of cultivation by adopting crop diversification as a strategy. With reduced flow of water to facilitate adequate irrigation is costly. Hence, diversification of cropping further increases the cost of cultivation, if otherwise; farmers’ opt for low water intensive crops. Assuming soil condition is not sufficiently favorable for cultivating low water intensive crops, the study attempts to explain how taming (man-made) a river limits farmers’ choice to minimize the risk of cultivation by adopting crop diversification. Estimates using Logit and Probit analysis evince that riparian farmers’ depending on river water for irrigation are 11 percent more exposed to the risk of production compared to farmers’ who usually receive irrigation support from the project. Inadequate water flow in dry season arises the risk for riparian farmers’ by limiting their scope of cultivating diversified crops. Besides, the probability of crop diversification drops by 3.5 percent with each event of river erosions in Kharif (Rainy) season at Teesta Valley. These estimates will be useful a priory measures to calculate the overall loss of ecosystem services of a natural hydrology (in the Bangladesh part), which in turn will facilitate Bangladesh to negotiate for a fair distribution of water share in the ongoing trans-boundary water negotiations with India.