Constraints Faced by the Farmers in Practicing Coping Strategies towards Household Food Security during Flood

Abstract

A study was carried out at each of three flood affected reverine villages of three upazilas (small administrative unit) under Jamalpur district in Bangladesh during September, 2011 to May, 2012 to find out the constraints faced by farmers in practicing coping strategies towards household food security during flood. The qualitative information as obtained from the focus group discussion (FGD) and scored causal diagrams (SCDs) were used to supplement the quantitative data to add new information if necessary in descriptive manner. Priority of constraints are differ from one farmer to another due to cultivated land topography, involvement of family labour in cultivation processes, precautionary measures taken against flood, previous experience, prediction of flood damage etc. ‘Lack of appropriate agricultural rehabilitation program’, ‘improper and inadequate relief distributed by GO/NGO’, ‘high price of agricultural inputs’ and ‘lack of technical knowledge on flood’ were identified as major constraints being faced by farmers in practicing flood coping strategy towards household food security. Lack of flood resistance crop varieties, inadequate organizational (GO/NGO) relief in time, lack of credit, agricultural labour and quality seeds in time (after flood) were found major constraints by almost all categories of farmers for overcoming food crisis created by the whim of nature. Go and NGO can take necessary steps against this adverse situations.