Causes and Consequences of Perennial Water Logging in the Life and Livelihood at Rajnagar Bankabarsi in Jashore District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Water logging has turned out to be one of the major environmental global issues, and Bangladesh seems to be one of the worst sufferers. Especially, the south western part of the country experiencing the problems of water logging since 1980s. The situation really compounded with the construction of polders under the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP). The present study has been conducted to investigate the causes and impacts of water logging on people’s life and livelihood in village Rajnagar Bankabarsi of Jashore district. The study is heavily based on primary sources of data. Such endeavor has been carried out through all the standard data collection procedures (questionnaire survey, FGD and KII methods). The data are than analyzed in both quantitative and qualitative approaches. However, the secondary data have been collected from Local Upazila Agricultural Office, Union Land Office and different literatures. Quantitative data processing and analysis are carried out by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS 20.0. Study area map has been prepared through ESRI ArcGIS (Arc Info 10.3) using the satellite image from Google Earth Pro. The study attempted to analyze the spatial spread of water logging over time. Temporal variation of water logging in the study area has been presented through GIS and Remote Sensing techniques. In order to illustrate the socio-economic sphere, the study conducted questionnaire survey. Two hundred and seventy-five sample sizes have been determined for this study. Households have been surveyed for data through questionnaire survey. Comparative assessment of different variables depending on different period of time is the most significant part of this research. Study findings indicated that the study area experienced severe prolonged water logging; about 65 percent respondent opined that water logging continued almost 4 months in a year for many years making the life more vulnerable. More than half (51%) of the respondents indicated the rising river bed as the main cause of water logging. Few FGD participants blamed ‘Gher’ as the major cause for the water logging in the study area. So, it can be said that Water logging is a combined effect of different issues in the study area. From the comparative assessment it has been found, there is an increase of pacca and semi-pacca type of houses in the study area. Field data also found changes in the livelihood pattern. Income group analysis through Gini-coefficient found that the disparity of income increases with time indicating poor people are the main victim of the disaster as they cannot adjust with the changed environment after water logging. The local people adopted themselves with different types of homesteads level and in agricultural sector to adjust with the changed physical condition. In agricultural sector the impact was found only in the minimization of the duration of agricultural activities but crop production increased with time after water logging for applying effective adaptation mechanism. The present study has amply portrayed the prolonged sufferings of the poor families in the study area. The sufferings are so impending that an immediate measures from the government and NGOs are called upon. The neighboring areas of the study area has a record of bumper crops and this reality aspired the people who has been suffering. In a large scale, the water logging calamities brought curse for the majority of the people, but some people were able to achieve a better quality of life through different means. In light of these some measures are pointed for he distressed people as way forward.