Lfe Sample Report

THE OFFICE OF LFE
THROUGH :
NAME OF VENUE COORDINATOR
FACULTY 02
FACULTY 03
FACULTY 04
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
22nd September 2022
To
Tanvir Ahmed Haroon
Coordinator LFE
Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)
Through
Name of Center Coordinator
Name of Faculty 02
Name of Faculty 03
Name of Faculty 04
Subject: Letter of transmittal for the assigned LFE report, Summer 2022.
Sir,
We the undersigned, would like to submit here with the "Live-in-Field

Experience (LFE) Report, Summer 2022” for your perusal. Upon completion
of LFE study on Chowka Para, Katigram in Manikganj (PLEASE WRITE
YOUR OWN VILLAGE AND PLACE) district from 28th August to 08th
September, this report has been prepared.
By using PRA methods, questionnaire survey and observation, we tried our

best to learn about the demography, geography, social condition and change,
economy and agriculture, the impact of seasonality on various aspects of
agriculture, health and environment and the Market and Haat serving the
needs of the village. The analysis of the data gathered from our field survey
helped us in understanding the lives of the rural people.
We would be glad to clarify any matter whenever you required so.
Sincerely yours,
Name ID#
Name ID#
Name ID#
Name ID#
Name ID#
Acknowledgement
We express our heartiest gratitude to our teachers, NAME OF FACULTIES for

their restless guidance in the field. Our special thanks again go to our
teachers, CENER COORDINATOR AND FACULTIES for educating us on
various aspect of LFE as well as guiding us through the report writing
procedure.
We also owe many thanks to NAME YOUR VENUE staffs, the most hospitable
people. for giving us many valuable tips for collecting data during the field
survey.
With out the constant help and guidance of our assigned LFE monitors, the
study would not have been this possible, we are really grateful to them.
Our honest gratitude goes to the inhabitant of “VILLAGE AND PARA" for
their warm and hospitable treatment. Without their enthusiastic cooperation,
it was not possible to make the study successful.
Abbreviation
ASA - Association for Social Advancement

BRAC - Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
BRRI – Bangladesh Rice Research Institute
IRRI – International Rice Research Institute
PRA – Participatory Rural Appraisal
FGD – Focus Group Discussion
GOV – Government of Bangladesh
NGO- Non Governmental Organization
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER 1
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Objective 1
1.2 Limitation of the Study 2
CHAPTER 2
2.0 Methodology 3
CHAPTER 3
VILLAGE MAPPING
NAME (ID#)
3.1 Village Mapping 5
3.1.1 Para Profile 5
3.2 Introduction 6
3.3 Objective 6
3.4 Methodology 6
3.5 History of the Para 6
3.6 Overview of the village and Para 7
3.6.1 Name of the village 7
3.6.2 Location 7
3.6.3 Age 7
3.6.4 Major religion 7
3.6.5 Area 7
3.7 Geographical Distribution 9
3.8 Village mapping 9
3.8.1 Chowka Para 12
3.9 Demographic Information 14
3.9.1 Age and Sex distribution of study population 14
3.9.2 Marital Status 15
3.9.3 Family type 16
3.9.4 Occupation 16
3.9.5 Income Range 17
3.9.6 Education 18
3.9.7 School/ College/ Madrasha 19
3.9.8 House Type and Shop 19
3.9.9 Religion, Mosque, Grave Yard and Eid Gah 19
3.9.10 Sources of water 20
3.9.11 Cultivation and Trees 21
3.9.12 Health Care Center 21
3.9.13 Environmental Pollution and Source of Fuel 21
3.9.14 Haat and Bazaar 21
3.9.15 Sports and Recreations 22
3.9.16 Administration, Laws and Politics 22
3.9.17 Communication, Transports and Electricity 22
3.9.18 Birds and Animals 22
3.9.19 NGO and others 22
3.9.20 Sanitation 23
3.10 MAJOR FINDINGS 23
3.11 TRANSECT MAP OF CHOWKA PARA 24
3.11.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE TRANSECT MAP 24
3.11.2 DESCRIPTION 24
3.11 .3 FINDINGS OF THE TRANSECT MAP 26
3.12 Major findings 27
3.13 CONCLUSION 27
CHAPTER 4
SOCIAL CHANGE
NAME (ID#)
4.0 Social Change Process 28
4.1 Introduction 28
4.2 Objectives of the Report 28
4.3 Procedure and Description of the Village 29
4.4 The Purpose of Our Social Condition and Change Process Study 30
4.5 Time Division 30
4.6 Parameters with the Characteristic of Our Social Change Process Analysis 30
Social Change Process Analysis 31
4.7 Demographic 31
4.7.1 Population and Sex Ratio 31
4.7.2 No. Of Household 31
4.7.3 Family Size 31
4.7.4 Migration 32
4.8 Infrastructure 32
4.8.1 Structure of Houses 32
4.8.2 Communication 33
4.9 Utilities 33
4.9.1 Electricity 33
4.9.2 Market 33
4.10 Environment 34
4.10.1 Land Size pattern 34
4.10.2 Trees 34
4.10.3 Wildlife 35
4.11 Social: The Gender Role 35
4.11.1 Education 35
4.11.2 Religion 37
4.11.3 Effectiveness of Female Rights 37
4.11.4 Marriage 38
4.11.5 Occupation 39
4.11.6 Dowry System 40
4.11.7 Law and Order Situation 40
4.12 Food and Health 41
4.12.1 Food and Nutrition 41
4.12.2 Drinking Water 41
4.12.3 Public Health 42
4.12.4 Sanitation 42
4.12.5 Family Planning 42
4.13 Agriculture 43
4.13.1 Productivity 43
4.13.2 Crop Diversification 43
4.13.3 Use of Fertilizer, Pesticide & other Technologies 43
4.14 Social Change Map 44
4.15 Government Organization (GO) and Non Government Organization (NGO) 46
4.15.1 NGO-GO Activities 46
4.16 The Key Changes That Occurred in Chowka Para after Liberation 47
4.17 Gender Division of Labor 48
4.18 Major Findings 50
4.19 Analysis of the major findings 51
4.20 Conclusion 52
CHAPTER 5
ECONOMY AND RURAL PRODUCTION CYCLE
NAME (ID#)
5.1 Introduction 53
5.2 Objectives 53
5.3 Economic conditions of Chowka Para 54
5.3.1 Explorative method for the study and discussion on income assessment 54
and wealth ranking

5.3.2 Income assessment 54
5.3.2.1 Findings from the assessment 54
5.3.2.2Income groups and amount of income 54
5.3.2.3 Profession 55
5.3.3 Wealth ranking 57
5.3.3.1 Amount of land 57

5.3.3.2 House type 59
5.3.3.3 Furniture and other luxury material 60
5.3.3.4 Cattle and poultry 60
5.3.3.5 Sources of loan & amount of borrowings 61
5.3.3.6 Remittance 63
5.3.4 Analysis of the findings 63
5.4 RURAL PRODUCTION CYCLE 65
5.4.1 Explorative method for collecting primary data and discussion on 65
findings and analysis
5.4.1.1 Agricultural product 66
5.4.1.2 Frequency of cultivation 66
5.4.1.3 Seasonal cropping cycle 66
5.4.1.4 Production cycle of three main crops 68
5.4.1.5 Type of contractual agreement on land 70
5.4.1.6 Investment for the production 70
5.4.1.7 Sectors of cash outflow 71
5.4.1.8 Output from the production 72
5.5 Conclusion 73
CHAPTER 6
HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
NAME (ID# )
6.1 Introduction 74
6.2 Objective 74
6.3 Data collection 74
6.4 Current situation of Health and Environment in Chowka Pare 75
6.4.1 Health Care Facility 75
6.4.2 Vaccination of children 77
6.4.3 Family planning 77
6.4.4 Seasonality 78
6.4.5 Food and nutrition 80
6.4.6 Sources of water 80
6.4.7 Arsenic 81
6.4.8 Sanitation 82
6.4.8.1 Effects on human health 83
6.4.8.2 Effects on environment 83
6.4.9 Waste disposal 83
6.4.9.1 Positive impact 85
6.4.9.3 Effects on the environment 85
6.4.10 Use of fuel 85
6.4.10.2 Effects on the environment 88
6.4.11 Agricultural activities 90
6.4.11.1 Effects on Environment 90
6.4.12 Trees & wildlife 91
6.4.13 Wildlife 93
6.4.14 Food web 93
6.5 Positive findings of the whole study 94
6.6 Negative findings of the whole study 95
6.7 Recommendation 95
6.8 Conclusion 95
CHAPTER 7
RURAL MARKET ANALYSIS
NAME (ID#)
7.1 Introduction 97
7.2 Objective 97
7.3 Methodology 98
7.4 Haat and Bazaar of the Study village ‘Katigram’ of Manikganj 98
7.4.1 Katigram Haat 98
7.5 Concept of Market, Haat and Bazaar 98
7.5.1 Market 98
7.5.2 Haat 99
7.5.3 Bazaar 99
7.6 Communication and Transportation Facilities 100
7.7 Available Products and Services in Katigram Haat and Bazaar 101
7.7.1 Service available in the Katigram bazaar 101
7.7.2 4Ps 101
7.7.3 Product and Price 102
7.7.3.1 Consumer products 102
7.7.3.2 Business products 104
7.8 Distribution Channel 105
7.8.1 Distribution channel of agricultural products 106
7.8.2 Distribution channel of manufacturing products 106
7.9 Distribution Channel of Inflow and Outflow Products 107
7.9.1 Distribution Network of Outflow Products 107
7.9.2 Distribution Network of Inflow Products 108
7.10 Inward and Outward Products of Katigram haat 108
7.10.1 Inward Products 108
7.10.2 Outward Products 109
7.11 Value chain 110
7.11.1 Current value chain for CORN 110
7.11.2 Improved value chain for CORN 111
7.12 Bargaining power of Buyers and Sellers in Katigram haat 112
7.13 Price fixation 113
7.14 Promotion 113
7.15 Brand preferences & Brand Loyalty 113
7.16 Common Problems 114
7.17 Case story 114
7.17.1 Case story of traders/businessman 115
7.17.2 Case story of Buyers 117
7.18 Conclusion 119
CHAPTER 8
120
8.0 Conclusion
CHAPTER 9 121
9.0 Bibliography
List of Tables
Table 3.1: Age and Sex distribution of study population 15
Table 3.2: Marital status 16
Table 3.3: Family Type 16
Table 3.4: Primary Occupation 17
Table 3.5: Yearly Income of Various Families 18
Table 3.6(A): Educational background of current Students 18
Table 3.6(B): Educational Background of other Members 19

Table 4.1: SUGGESTED MINIMUM LEVEL OF EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN 36
Table 4.2: EFFECTIVENESS OF FEMALE RIGHTS 38
Table 4.3: SUGGESTED MINIMUM LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND AGE AT THE 39
TIME OF MARRIAGE
Table 4.4: POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE OCCURING AFTER LIBERATION 47
Table 4.5: NEGATIVE SOCIAL CHANGE OCCURING AFTER LIBERATION. 48
Table 4.6: Gender division of labor according to seasonal variation and 49
income group
Table 5.1: Percentage and yearly income of different income groups 55
Table 5.2: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROFESSIONS OF THE INCOME 56
EARNIMG MEMBERS
Table 5.3: HOUSE TYPE 59
Table 5.4: DOMESTIC ANIMALS 61
Table 5.5: SOURCES OF LOAN & INTEREST RATE 62
Table 5.6: seasonal cropping cycle 67
Table 6.1: PLACES VISITED BY THE FAMILY MEMBERS FOR MEDICAL 75
TREATMENT
Table 6.2: Problems related with the government health care facilities 76
Table 6.3: Vaccination of Children 77
Table 6.4: Seasonal calendar 79
Table 6.5: SOURCES OF WATER FOR DOMESTIC USE (POSITIVE 80
RESPONSES ONLY)
Table 6.6: Aspects, Activities and Impacts of environmental problem 90
Table 6.7: HOMESTEAD TREES 91
Table 6.8: Changes of tree species according to time 92
Table 7.1: Difference between Haat and Bazaar 100
Table 7.2: Use of Transports in Katigram haat by different Actors 101
Table 7.3: Inward products and there origin 108
Table 7.4: Outward product and its destination 109
Table 7.5: Brand preference and change in the choice of local people 114
List of Figures
Fig 2.1: Methodology flow chart 4
Fig 3.1: Map of Bangladesh 8
Fig 3.2: Map of Manikganj 8
Fig 3.3: Participatory village mapping 9
Fig 3.4: Village Map drawn by villager 9
Fig 3.5: Final Village Map 10
Fig 3.6: Village Map 11
Fig 3.7: Participatory Para Mapping 12
Fig 3.8: Para Map 13
Fig 3.9: Income Range Chart 17
Fig 3.10: Iron filter 20
Fig 3.11: Arsenic contaminated tub-well 20
Fig 3.12: Transect Map 25
Fig 4.1: One to one interview with an elderly member of the Para 29
Fig 4.2: different land use patterns 34
Fig 4.3: children in front of the Government school 36
Fig 4.4 Social Change Map 45
Fig 5.1: Wealth Ranking 58
Fig 5.2: A tin shad house in the entrance of the Para 59
Fig 5.3: Response on borrowings 61
Fig 5.4: Average Interest Rate of Various Sources 62
Fig 5.5: Focus Group Discussion 66
Fig 5.6: Cultivation of different type of crops 67
Fig 5.7: Production Cycle of Three Major Crops 69
Fig 5.8: Associated input cost in the agriculture production system 71
Fig 5.9: Distribution pattern of the output product 72
Fig 5.10: Storage facilities available in peasant community 73
Fig 6.1: Arsenic contaminated tube well 81
Fig 6.2: Iron filter 81
Fig 6.3: Toilet Facility 82
Fig 6.4: Ring slab toilet 83
Fig 6.5: Waste disposal in a near bye detach 84
Fig 6.6: Waste disposal 84
Fig 6.7: Straws are staged up for use 86
Fig 6.8: straw are being dried 86
Fig 6.9: fuel Consumption type 86
Fig 6.10: Cooking Place 87
Fig 6.11: Health effect due to fuel use 88
Fig 6.12: Environmental effect 89
Fig 6.13: Air pollution 89
Fig 6.14: Home state forestry 92
Fig 6.15: Fruit tree 92
Fig 6.16: Road side plantation 92
Fig 6.17: Birds in the area 93
Fig 6.18: Food web 94
Fig 7.1: Rural Market types 97
Fig 7.2: Product category 102
Fig 7.3: Consumer goods 102
Fig 7.4: Specialty Product 102
Fig 7.5: Unsought product 102
Fig 7.6: Consumer products and its classification with price at Katigram 103
haat.
Fig 7.7: Business products in Katigram haat 104
Fig 7.8: Common distribution channel 105
Fig 7.9: Distribution channel for the agricultural products 106
Fig 7.10: Distribution channel for the agricultural products 107
Fig 7.11: Distribution network of outflow products 107
Fig 7.12: Distribution network of inflow products 108
Fig 7.13: Inward and Outward products of the Katigram Haat. 109
Fig 7.14: Inwards (Catfish) and outwards (Corn) products of Katigram gram 110
Fig 7.15: Current value chain of corn cultivation 111
Fig 7.16: Improved value chain for corn cultivation 111
1.0 Introduction
Bangladesh represents a village and peasant cultures, of the total
population 75% have originated from rural areas. The village communities are
dominant and pioneer in the process of human civilization and also in the
history of establishment. To understand the culture, economy and
environment of Bangladesh knowledge about the rural area, people and their
life style is required. Rural areas of our country are the habitats of peasant
communities as the ancestors were living in an agrarian society. At present in
the era of modernization, technological development the term ‘community’ is
now being transformed by the term urban ‘society’. So, being prudent citizens
of this country we need to get familiar with the rural communities. LFE (Live-
in-Field Experience) is a new emerging tool to get contact with rural people.
To acquire first-hand experience we were assigned to a para named
‘Chowka para’ which is under Krisnopur thana and Atiigram union of
Manikganj district. We have assessed the different aspects of rural economy
including marketing system, cultural structure and present phenomenon of the
human health and environment.
1.1 Objective
❖ The purpose of the whole experience of the LFE is to get first-hand
experience of the village community and to know how the great
majority of people of Bangladesh live.
❖ To get an idea about the socio-economic realities of rural Bangladesh.
❖ To see with our eyes both rural poverty and rural development efforts
by assessing the income level and agricultural development.
❖ To understand the social change processes over the historical period.
❖ To acquire knowledge about the existent human health and
environment situations of the rural area.
❖ To understand the rural market system.
❖ To make the students familiar with qualitative method of data
collection.
❖ To learn how to communicate with the people in different environment
and situation
1.2 Limitation of the Study

❖ Our field working hour was limited.
❖ The assigned working hour conflicted with the local farmers working
time.
❖ Students are taken to same place several time so local people are not
don’t want to talk.
❖ During the haat visit too many students ask the same person the same
questions which make them annoyed.
❖ While rapport building the respondents often ask if they are going to be
benefited any way. When they get negative answer, sometime they
reluctant to provide information.
❖ There were only 24 households.
❖ The household were close together so during our questioner survey
respondents are influenced by other people and some case they are
influenced by previous respondents answer.
❖ Whenever the name Proshika appear the villagers changed there
mind-set towards responding.
❖ Lack of reliable data.
❖ Different faculties explain same things differently during the briefing
session.
2.0 Methodology
During the LFE field work two different data collection method was used.
Qualitative data was collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
and Qualitative data is collected through questioner survey.
In collecting qualitative data the different technique of PRA method was
used. Rapport building is one of the first phases to accrue baseline data. The
very fast objective was to do rapport building; its purpose is to establish some
key informant in the village (Para) and to clarify the purpose of our visit to the
villagers. After rapport building participatory mapping of the village and the
Para was conducted with the help of local people. The village mapping was
done in front of a near by tea stall with the help of some middle aged man.
Para mapping was done with the help of retired master and some other
women and children. Transect map of the Para was done from the end of the
Para; we took 200 steps towards the entrance of the Para. The second phase
of data collection was one to one interview and semi structure interview. The
interviewee was selected randomly. The third phase of data collection was
done by pre-designed questioner survey which is a part of quantitative data
collection method. The respondents were selected randomly. The last phase
of our data collection was Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The FGD was
conducted within a homogeneous group.
Reconnaissance Survey Rapport
(Transect + Observation)
Interview
Questionnaire Survey FGD
(Randomly selected) (Randomly selected) (Homogeneous)
Primary Data
Review and Data Compilation

Cross checking
Data Analysis Secondary Data
Draft Copy
Final
Report
Fig 2.1: Methodology flow chart

3.1 Village Mapping
3.1.1 Para Profile
Chowka Para at a Glance

Village Katigram
Para Chowka Para
Thana Krishnopur
Union Attigram
District Manikganj
Age of the Para 40 years
Location 2 km west from PROSHIKA
Population 200 (approximately)
Listed Voters 80
Number of Families 24
Religion Is la m
Number of School 0
Number of Mosque 0
Number of Healthcare Centre 0
Number of Shops 2
Number of Ponds 0
3.2 Introduction
Mapping is a very important part of any kind of survey which helps to
identify the natural resources as well as other demographic physical factors.
In this case through Village Mapping we get an over all idea about the
physical structures of our assigned Para. The backbone of this study is to get
an overall view and idea about the study area. So by preparing a proper
participatory Village Map we can find out the physical features and
parameters of the assigned Para which will later help in developing other
parts of the report.
3.3 Objective
❖ To locate the infrastructures of the Para
❖ To know the house types of the Para
❖ To identify the soil type of the Para
❖ To count and identify the varieties of tree during transect work.
❖ To identify the social and environmental condition of the Para people.
3.4 Methodology
Participatory mapping technique of PRA method was used for Para
mapping. We used questionnaire survey, semi structured and one to one
interview for collecting information (e.g. Para background, age of the Para,
soil type, age, marriage, and education) of the Para. One day is not enough to
draw a perfect map of the village/Para because villagers used their own ideas
to draw it. So during our survey we cross checked the map more or less
everyday. And after 7 days a perfect picture of the Para map came out.
3.5 History of the Para

The name Chowka Para came from the word Chowk which has two
different meanings. Some believed that before 40 years this place used to be
cultivable land which was locally called “Chowk” (cultivable land). But in the
past all most every house hold had their own ponds. Local people called this
ponds “Chock”. For this reason this Para is called Chowka Para. On the other
hand during our PRA survey some people told us that before establishment of
the Para this place was known as Chowk (cultivable land in local dialog)
that’s why this Para is Called Chowka Para. At the very beginning only five
house holds were established in this area. In course of time those families
become nuclear and house holds increased.
3.6 Overview of the village and Para
3.6.1 Name of the village

Name of the village is Katigram village and our assigned Para is Chowka
Para.
3.6.2 Location
The Para is situated at approximately 2 km from Proshika Campus. This
Para is under Katigram village. Chowka Para is situated in the east of the
Katigram village, Attigram union, Krishnopur thana and Manikganj district.
3.6.3 Age
Age of this Para is approximately 30 to 40 years.
3.6.4 Major religion

The major religion group of Chowka Para is Muslim. We did not find any
other type of religion there except Muslim.
3.6.5 Area
The approximate area of Chowka Para in Katigram village is
approximately 1.5 sq km.
Fig 3.1: Map of Bangladesh
Fig 3.2: Map of Manikganj

3.7 Geographical Distribution
• East : Kisti Vogobanpur, Nauga
• West : Hazi Nagar, Basho Dbpur
• North : Kanda Para, Baro Baria
• South : Ati Gram, Rajib Pur
3.8 Village mapping

Participatory mapping is one of the techniques of PRA method.
Participatory mapping is one of the tools by which the villagers produce a
visual image of a village. Preparing the village map was the first activity done
as a part of the first day's survey. It is a different form of map that
demonstrates the major and minor resources and the social structure of a
village. It is a diverse form of geographical map because it is drawn by the
villagers using their own ideas and techniques. Therefore, a village map gives
a clear vision of the different resources and social condition of a village. We
were accompanied by one person from Proshika and the other person was
local student her name is Feroza Begum. In order to draw the village map, we
took the help of the villagers. Going to the village in the very first day we had
to go for rapport building just by getting to know the Para people. We did our
mapping in the Notun Bazaar, which is just within the outskirt of the Para.
People from all age group participated during village mapping.
Fig 3.3: Participatory village mapping Fig 3.4: Village Map drawn by villager
After village mapping we went to our assigned study area, Chowka Para.
With the help of mobile phone shop owner Mr. Badsha mia and a retired
master Abdul Gafur and some other women and children we have drawn the
Para map. They mentioned the background and other information regarding
the Para.
Fig 3.5: Final Village Map

Fig 3.6: Village Map
3.8.1 Chowka Para
Chowka Para is a very small Para. It has only 24 house holds. In entrance
of the para there is a grocery shop and at the end of the Para there is a
mobile phone shop. Behind the Para there is a canal which is known as
Katigram canal.
Fig 3.7: Participatory Para Mapping

Fig 3.8: Para Map
3.9 Demographic Information
Demography deals with fertility, mortality and migration. Demography
should not be looked upon as an individual issue but it is closely inter-linked
with health, nutrition, gender and environment forming a web where changes
in one have an impact on the other. It concerns with the family, the age
distribution, size, and family relationship. It deals with the level of education
gained by the members of the family, the occupation of each member and the
idea of the population control in the family. This may be evident from the age
ratio of the members of the family.
3.9.1 Age and Sex distribution of study population

(OPTIONAL)
From the questionnaire survey that has been conducted in 24 house hold,
a total number of populations of 113 people were identified. And from the total
population calculated there are 58 male and 55 female.
From this we can find out the sex ratio, dependency ratio, working age
group of the Para.
Number of total Male population

Sex ratio =-------------------------------------------
Number of total Female population
58
Sex ratio =------ = 1.05
55
It means there is 1 woman for every 1.05 man.
Population under 15 year + Population above 65 year

Dependency ratio=------------------------------------------------------------------
Population age 15 to 64
This is the common formula of dependency ratio. But in Bangladeshi

perspective this is not applicable so it is quite difficult to get dependency ratio.
But In our Para the dependent age group is 0-12 years and 70 years above.
Working age group- of our Para is 15- 65 years and in some case it may
be more. And the migration for better job in cities and abroad take place within
the 20-35 male age group.
Here a table of age and sex structure of our Para is given.
Table 3.1: Age and Sex distribution of study population
AGE MALE FEMALE

GROUPS No % No %
0-10 18 31 11 20
11-20 8 14 10 18
21-30 9 15 16 29
31-40 8 14 4 7
41-50 5 9 6 11
51-60 5 9 5 9
61-70 2 3 1 2
70 and above 3 5 2 4
TOTAL 58 100 55 100
Source: field survey, Group-20, Summer-2006
3.9.2 Marital Status

From the table 3.2 we can see 31 male and 32 Female are married
moreover 27 male and 18 female are unmarried. In this Para early marriage is
prevalent. Most of the girls are married before 18year of age; approximately
14-16 years is the common age at marriage for girl in this Para. Although all of
them agreed that it is better for girls to be married at the age of 18-20. But due
to the security reason social stigma they tend to give marriage before 18.
Same case is observed for the boys. Boys also get married early. In several
cases we found that many boys marry before the age of 21. But villagers
suggested that threshold age at marriage for boys should be 21 or above.
Table 3.2: Marital status
MARITAL MALE FEMALE
STATUS No. % No. %
Married 31 53 32 58
Unmarried 27 47 18 33
Widow/
- - 5 9
Widower
Divorced - - - -
Separated/
- - - -
Abandoned
TOTAL 58 100 55 100
3.9.3 Family type
There are two type of family seen in this Para joint and nuclear family. But
recently the percentage of nuclear family is high which stands at about 62%. It
is because, new generation realize that nuclear family is better for them rather
than joint family. The negative impact of this is that bondings between people
are lesser, the cultivable lands are being fragmented and people are
becoming more and more self centered.
Table 3.3: Family Type
FAMILY TYPE No %
Nuclear 15 62
Joint 9 38
TOTAL 24 100
3.9.4 Occupation
The main occupational group is within the male member of the family.
They are mainly engaged in agricultural activity. Several of them are working
in the towns and other villages and a number of them are working out side the
country. This Para is more or less conservative. So very few female are
involved in any income earning activity. They are typically engaged in house
hold activity (e.g. cooking, cleaning, child care, home state gardening, etc.). A
good percentage of the young children are going to school.
Table 3.4: Primary Occupation
MALE FEMALE
OCCUPATION
No % No %
Income earner 33 57 2 4
House wife - - 32 58
Student 15 26 9 16
Unemployed - - 1 2
Dependent
8 14 7 13
(Children)
Dependent
2 3 3 5
(Adult)
Other (Beggar) - 1 2
TOTAL 58 100 55 100
3.9.5 Income Range
There are mainly three income group in the Para. They are high, middle,
low. The high income group has large amount of land or has a member of the
family in Middle East. The low income groups are those who have no land or
have very little land.
Income Range Chart

10
9
8
No. of Families
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-1,00 Above
1,00
Income range (In thousands (TK) per year)
Fig 3.9: Income Range Chart
Table 3.5: Yearly Income of Various Families

Income range
{In thousands (TK) per No. of Families Percentage (%)
year}
0-20 3 12.5
21-40 10 41.6
41-60 3 12.5
61-80 3 12.5
81-1,00 3 12.5
Above 1,00 2 8.3
3.9.6 Education
Chowka Para has high prevalence of education among the school going
age group. But as like other, the number of female students is lower then
those of male students. And the female student’s education level in most case
is up to class 10. In the Para there is a high prevalence of education however
enrolment in higher education is low. At the present there is only one male
student studying at HSC level and no students is studying above HSC level.
Table 3.6(A): Educational background of current Students
LEVEL OF MALE FEMALE
EDUCATION No % No %
Primary 11 69 4 44
Secondary
4 25 5 56
(non SSC)
SSC - - - -
HSC 1 6 - -
Graduation/
- - - -
BA
Masters - - - -
TOTAL 16 100 9 100
Over all education level of the Para is quite good. Apart from the school
going students, a total of 54% male and 48% female have some kind of
education. And out of this 12% male and 4% female has education level up to
SSC and HSC.
Table 3.6(B): Educational Background of other Members

EDUCATION No % No %
Primary 9 21 9 20
Secondary
9 21 11 24
(non SSC)
SSC 3 7 1 2
HSC 2 5 11 2
Graduation/
- - - -
BA
Masters - - - -
No Education 13 31 17 37
Infant 6 14 7 15
TOTAL 42 100 46 100
3.9.7 School/ College/ Madrasha

There is no School/ College/ Madrasha in Chowka Para. They use these
facilities located in other Para. For example children of the Para go to Sharkar
Para & Karigor Para for their schooling purposes.
3.9.8 House Type and Shop
There are many types of houses in Chowka Para. There are a two houses
which has wall made of brick. But roofs of all the houses are made of tin.
Majority of the houses are made of tin. Some houses are made by bamboo
thatch or some other materials. There is only one house which has wall made
of mud. Almost Every house floor is made by earth.
3.9.9 Religion, Mosque, Grave Yard and Eid Gah

No such infrastructure is there. They use this facility located in surrounding
Para.
3.9.10 Sources of water

Most of the families have their own tube-well and almost every family uses
tube-well for their cooking, drinking whether they have a tube-well or not of
their own. But all of them are iron contaminated and arsenic affected as they
are marked red by the government people. The tube wells were identified with
arsenic and iron by government five years back, since then no necessary step
was taken to ensure the supply of pure drinking water or any corrective
measures were not taken. Those who are concern about there drinking water
quality obtain water from nearby pure water source. Only three households
use indigenous method for iron filtration. (See fig 3.8)
Fig 3.10: Iron filter Fig 3.11: Arsenic contaminated tub-well

There is no pond within the village but there is one which falls under the
jurisdiction of both Chowka & Karigor Para. A canal runs behind the Para. And
the village people use this canal for there bathing and washing purposes.
There is also two well in this Para. One well is in the east side of the Para and
another one is the west side of the Para. These two wells are only used for
washing purposes.
During dry season farmers use pump to extract ground water for irrigation.
3.9.11 Cultivation and Trees
Maximum villagers depend on agriculture and cultivation. They produce
different types of crops, vegetable throughout the year. The main crops are
BR29 paddy, Corn, Jute etc.
We have found trees like Mango, Jackfruit, Mahogany, Koroi, Shimul tula,
Neem, Rain Tree, Coconut, Date,, Banana, Bamboo, Coconut, Guava,
Lemon, Papaya, Epil Epil, etc.
3.9.12 Health Care Center

There is no health care center or any medical facility in side the Para.
They use this facility located in other Para. But field worker come and visit
them, they advocate family planning and provide pill and condom for family
planning. They also do vaccination to the children.
3.9.13 Environmental Pollution and Source of Fuel

The overall environmental situation of Chowka Para is quite good. There is
no source of environmental pollution except some unplanned waste disposal
in the canal. Some pollution is happening through agriculture pesticide use.
The villagers are now going for commercial woodlot. The fuel use of the area
is mainly leaves and twigs, cow dung and straws. These are not causing any
severe environmental problem.
3.9.14 Haat and Bazaar
There is no haat or bazaar adjacent to the village. There is one new
bazaar at the Karigor Para and there is a haat at Katigram. People of the Para
use this facility located in other Para.
3.9.15 Sports and Recreations

There is no specific sport or recreation place. Children use yard or road as
their playground. They also use this facility located in other Para.
3.9.16 Administration, Laws and Politics

Once upon a time Mattobbar ruled the village. But now-a-days the
situation has been changed, union chairman with the help of his members
solves general problem. In the case of serious problem they handover it to
Krishnopur thana. According to PRA and interview, we have found there is no
crime activity in the Chowka Para and people are very friendly by nature and
love to live in peace.
3.9.17 Communication, Transports and Electricity

In front of the Para there is a kaccha road. The link road between the
Paras of the village is paved. Main transport in the Para is rickshaw and
tempo. Recently the people of the Para received electricity.
3.9.18 Birds and Animals

We didn’t find any special birds in the Para. We have found crow and
shalik. Among them we have found chicken in almost every house. Some cats
were seen laundering around the Para.
We have found some domestic animals such as cow, goat. But this is not
common for every house holds.
3.9.19 NGO and others

Many NGO are involved in this Para such as BRAC, ASHA, and
PROSHIKA etc. Among them BRAC, and ASHA are mentionable. They are
involving with villagers in both social and economic aspects. They are helping
women by giving handy craft work and micro credits in some cases
3.9.20 Sanitation
Almost all the toilets of Chowka Para are located behind the houses. This
is because of their convenience. According to our questionnaire survey, we
can declare that about all the toilets in Chowka Para are ring slab latrines.
The toilet houses are made of tin, bamboo sticks, straw.
3.10 MAJOR FINDINGS

As my personal finding and observation, the point I am considering as my
major findings are given below:
❖ 100% people are Muslims in our Para
❖ Most of the villagers are farmer.
❖ People are getting aware of children education
❖ Recently electricity came in this Para.
❖ Tube well is the only source of drinking water and almost all tube well has
arsenic or iron contamination.
❖ There are two well in the Para.
❖ A good number of the family type is Nuclear.
❖ Maximum toilet type of the households are Ring Slab
❖ Most of house has been found surrounded by trees with jackfruit and
others.
❖ No mosque, haat, market etc. found in our Para but these are available in
other Para of the Katigram village. Para and those facilities are used by the
people of our Para.
❖ Most of the people believes the period of Ex-President Hossain
Mohammad Ershad was good and lots of positive social changes
happened during that time
❖ There is a canal flowing behind the Para which is almost dead. This canal
is known as Katigram canal.
❖ People trough garbage in the canal
❖ Dowry is common in the village.
3.11 TRANSECT MAP OF CHOWKA PARA
The area of CHOWKA PARA is very small compare to other Para of
Katigram village. As a result to get an overall idea of the land use pattern
‘Transect Mapping’ has been selected as a contrivance. Transect mapping is
a selection technique, in which a small portion of Para has been selected as a
representative of the Para as a whole. The main aim of transect mapping is to
have a general idea about the resources of the Para. We have taken 200
steps from the end of the Para. At the starting point of our transect map there
was a mobile phone shop. We observed the features of right hand side.
3.11.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE TRANSECT MAP

❖ To identify the common resources of the Para.
❖ To identify the soil type, land use, types of crops.
❖ To identify the household, forest and vegetation.
❖ To categorize different varieties of tree.
3.11.2 DESCRIPTION
To make it convenient to describe this transect walk, the transect map has
been drawn by dividing in to five zones: zone-1, zone-2, zone-3, zone-4, and
zone-5. Then, we have tried to describe these zone in terms of their soil type,
land use patterns, and tried to sort out different types of trees. The problems
of each zone and the solutions of them in our limited understanding have also
provided. In the following paragraphs the zones have been described
respectively.
Fig 3.12: Transect Map
3.11 .3 FINDINGS OF THE TRANSECT MAP
We have taken 200 steps for our transect map. The findings are given
below and pictures of the transect map are given in appendix.
3.11.3.1 Zone-1: Communication and Residence (Steps 1 to 40)

SOIL TYPE : The soil type of this zone is sandy loam.
LAND USES : This land is used for Residential, cultivation and road.
TREE SPECIES : Mango, Mehgani, Banana, Koroi
PROBLEM : Arsenic contamination, excess iron in drinking water
SOLUTION : Deep tub-well and arsenic filter.
3.11.3.2 Zone-2: Low land and Residence (Steps 41 to 80)

LAND USES : This land is used for Residential purpose.
TREE SPECIES : Shimul tula, Neem, Rain tree, Mango, Coconut
PROBLEM : N/A
SOLUTION : N/A
3.11.3.3 Zone-3: Low land and houses (Steps 81 to 120)

LAND USES : This land is used for vegetable gardening.
TREE SPECIES : Banana, Mango, Shimul tula
PROBLEM : Mosquito breeding ground.
SOLUTION : Use pesticide for killing the larva.
3.11.3.4 Zone-4: Low land and houses (Steps 121 to 160)

LAND USES : This land is used for home stead forestry and lemon
gardening.
TREE SPECIES : Rain tree, Date, Mehgani, Neem, Mango, JackFruit.
PROBLEM : N/A
SOLUTION : N/A
3.11.3.5 Zone-5: home stead gardening and houses (Steps 161 to
200)
LAND USES : This land is used for vegetable gardening, Corn field,
Lemon garden.
TREE SPECIES : Coconut, Mango, Mehagani, Epil epil
PROBLEM : N/A
SOLUTION : N/A
3.12 Major findings

❖ All the five types of zone have same type of soil, which is sandy loam
❖ Mixed varieties of trees were identified during the transected area.
❖ The land of this area is high in arsenic contamination
❖ There is one mobile phone shop in this area.
❖ There is some low land which is mosquito breeding ground.
❖ There is some home stead forestry which is specially use for lemon
gardening. And this lemon is used for business purpose.
3.13 CONCLUSION
In conclusion I would like to conjugate that, village mapping and transect
mapping both plays an important role to describe the overall features of a
specific area/village. Moreover, mapping is also interlinked with other features
like social activities, environment and sanitation, market condition and so on.
4.0 Social Change Process
4.1 Introduction
Social Change can be defined as a continuous process which usually
indicates the chronological change of the local environment, social structure
and local economy of a place over a certain period of time. Within this process
the change is slow, gradual in nature and it causes the modification in
people's living pattern. Human beings are always in search of improvement
and sophistication in living standards and Social change is invoked by
multitude of factors either external or internal in character like technological
advancement, innovative thinking, acculturation and diffusion resulting from
new life circumstances and contacts between different cultures over time.
4.2 Objectives of the Report

We tried our level best to examine and analyze what kind of social
changes have occurred within our assigned area Chowka Para of Katigram
village by applying the political regime of different political parties as my
community timeline and using some basic parameters like change in land use
pattern, occupational diversity etc. I mainly tried to focus on what socio-
economic factors are behind this process of change and development, when
did the changes occur, what kind of impact these changes are making in rural
Peoples’ lives and how much the natives are in control of these changes. To
have a better idea about social change process the objectives of this study
are
❖ To examine and analyze what social changes have occurred in the

village according to the community time line used.
❖ Which socio-economic factors are behind this process of change and
development.
❖ When did the changes occur, what impact these changes are making
in rural Peoples’ lives.
❖ What kind of variation present in gender division of labor according to
Season & Income group.
4.3 Procedure and Description of the Village
In order to identify the social change processes that have occurred during
the different political regimes, we have performed a time line analysis and
used it to represent any change with respect to time. In this kind of processes
the orderly people are usually chosen by researchers because of their
complete knowledge of the previous happenings of the particular area, which
helps to compare the present situation in order to find out the significant social
changes. Rapport building is one of the first steps to gather base line data. By
choosing different political regimes (i.e. Mujib 1972-1981, Ershad & Khaleda
1982-1995, Hasina 1996-2001, Khaleda Zia 2001 onwards) as our community
time line as means of visualizing the major events that have occurred in the
study area over time, we tried to jot down the social changes through identify
different parameters. Different PRA methods like semi structured interviews,
one to one interviews, FGD and questionnaire survey was carried out to
gather relevant information about our assigned area. We collected
information of the past 35 years of the v illage to identify the
changes pattern. Then, we organized our findings and finally we
represented them through a Map of Social Timeline Analysis, which
was the primary ground of our topic analysis. Our assigned study
area was Chowka Para of Katigram villa ge which falls under the
jurisdiction of Manikgonj District.
Fig 4.1: One to one interview with an elderly member of the Para
4.4 The Purpose of Our Social Condition and
Change Process Study
The purpose of this study was to find out and analyze some important
characteristics of the Para that have altered over time with relation to one
another.
4.5 Time Division

In order to extract information from the villagers easily we divided the
community time line according to the political regime in power during post
liberation period. They are:
❖ Mujib & Zia Regime (1972-1981)
❖ Ershad & Khaleda Regime (1982-1995)
❖ Hasina Regime (1996-2001)
❖ Khaleda Zia Regime (2001-onwards)
❖ Hasina Regime (till present time )
In order to diminish confusion among the respondents we narrowed down

our community time line of political regimes from six periods to four periods.
4.6 Parameters with the Characteristic of Our

Social Change Process Analysis
❖ Demographic (Population and Sex ratio, family size, No of house holds,
migration)
❖ Infrastructure (communication, Structure of house, utility)
❖ Environment (Wild life, Land size, tree, Plant species, Animal species)
❖ Social ( Education, Religion, occupational diversity, Income, effectiveness
of female rights, marriage, dowry, law and order)
❖ Food and health (food habit, public health, sanitation, drinking water,
family planning )
❖ Agriculture (Productivity, crop diversification, use of fertilizer, pesticide,
irrigation and technology)
❖ NGO-GO activities
❖ Gender division of labor.
Social Change Process Analysis
4.7 Demographic
4.7.1 Population and Sex Ratio

The population of the village Cowka Para is increasing gradually. Just
after the liberation, during Mujib Regime the population was very low. There
were only 3-4 houses in the Para. The population of the Para was about 40-
50 at that time. During the Ershad & Khaleda Regime, the population was
increasing day by day but it was up to the threshold level. At present there are
about 200 people living in the Para.
4.7.2 No. Of Household

During the Mujib regime there were very few families living in Chowka
Para. Most of the places were agricultural lands. At that time, population of
the village was increasing slowly but the number of households almost
remained the same because there were more extended families at that time.
But during the Ershad & Khaleda regime number of households started to
increase dramatically. Extended families started to breakdown into nuclear
families and thus the number of households at present became lot more than
that of previous regimes.
4.7.3 Family Size

The family size was very large during the Mujib regime and in this period
the average size of a family was about 13-15 members per family. Most of the
families were joint family at that time. For various source of earning, parents
perceived that a large number of children would help them with work and in
the process of earning. But this perception is changing in new generation
parents due to the wide publicity of Family Planning. Different government
and non-government organizations help them for planning their family. Family
size in Mujib regime was bigger because of family planning was introduced in
Chowka Para in late 80’s. When the people of Chowka Para started to
become conscious about family planning and its importance, the size of the
family started to decrease. Now average family size of a family in Chowka
Para is 4 members per family.
4.7.4 Migration
Migration is the recent event in Chowka Para, which is increasing day by
day. People are migrating to the big cities especially in foreign countries for
better earning. Men are going outside the village for government job as they
are being educated, for business purposes, for rickshaw pulling etc. Women
of this village are not at all going out side the Para for earning purposes
exception in the case of one or two.
4.8 Infrastructure
4.8.1 Structure of Houses

Households and shelters have drastically changed in Chowka Para as
times went by. The villagers have changed their houses because of many
economic reasons and as well as to get rid of natural calamities and to cope
with nature. During the Mujib regime, there were very few houses in the
village because at that time it was basically a vast crop field and very few
people used to live during that period. The house structure was simple. As
their income was low, they used cheaper materials to build their houses. Mud
and Clay made houses were very common. The villagers used straws for roof
and floors used to be made of clay. During the Ershad & Khaleda regime,
people began to build their houses with tin. During this time, there were 4 to 5
tin shed houses. After that, they began to build concrete houses. Now there
are 2 concrete houses and rest of the houses are of tin shades. There are no
kachaa houses in the Para at present.
4.8.2 Communication
During the Mujib regime, the communication structure was not better as
today. People had to walk to go from one place to another or use the canal
beside for their travel purposes. The paved road up to the Para was
constructed during the late 80’s of Ershad & Khaleda regime, to be more
precise after the 1988 flood. Before that People used to walk on the iles of
their crop-fields. After the construction of the paved road during the late period
of Ershad & Khaleda regime rickshaw and paddle driven vans were
introduced. During the early period of the present political regime, use of
mobile phones was introduced, which is one of the best ways of mass
communication according to the villagers.
4.9 Utilities
4.9.1 Electricity
Our assigned village Chowka Para was enrolled under rural electrification
program in the year 2005. Before that people’s life was habituated life with out
electricity.
4.9.2 Market
People of Chowka Para used to go to the local Katigram Bazar since pre
liberation but now a days they are going to the near by Noya Bazaar. Noya
Bazaar is just a small market in the Karigor Para consisting of 4-5 permanent
shops. During the present political period this market has been developed in
order to access of the female members of the near by Para. Watching TV in
the bazaar area is a common phenomenon since early 90’s
4.10 Environment
4.10.1 Land Size pattern

During the Mujib regime, the villagers of the Chowka Para had enough
cultivable land without forested land, as the population of the village was low.
They use to cut whatever forests available to build houses and thus the
amount of land increased a bit. However, later during Ershad & Khaleda
regime, when the number of families increased due to migration from different
part of the country but basically from the river bank erosion prone area and
family division, per head cultivable land became smaller and it still is getting
smaller as the inherited property of a father is being divided amongst his
children.
Fig 4.2: different land use patterns
4.10.2 Trees
Chowka Para is a relatively new Para which is about 40 years old. There
used to be a lot of fruit species (i.e. mango, jackfruit, black berry, banana etc)
in the Para in the past. But during the devastating flood of 1988 a lot of the
tree species were affected especially the jackfruit trees. In order to restore the
tree coverage of the area many timber yielding trees like Mehgani, Shegun
Raintree were introduced under the community forestry project, which are
now the dominant species here along with other fruit trees & medicinal plants.
4.10.3 Wildlife
In Chowka Para wildlife is decreasing in an alarming way. Because of the
rise in new settlements habitats for wildlife is getting fragmented day by day.
In the past the new settlement area was an agricultural land which was
abundant with lots of foxes, snakes, different types of birds such as sparrow,
crow and kingfisher. But today the number of this wildlife is declining. At
present some foxes and lizards are found which can be classified as wildlife.
Other than these there isn’t much wildlife available in the Para.
4.11 Social: The Gender Role
During the Mujib regime, the role of male was the main factor in
society. As because of the education rate was very low, it is very much
imaginable that only male used to be educated in war-affected area, as whole
Bangladesh, the village atmosphere was not friendly for female education up
to 1980. Then in the decade of eighty during the Ershad regime female along
with male education was being increased as, a high school and some NGO
school have been established near by the village. Now a days, both of the sex
having almost quite prominent role in the society as education impresses their
lifestyle.
4.11.1 Education
During the Mujib period, people of Chowka Para were not much
conscious about education though few people used to send their children to
Moktob or Madrasa (Islami School). This scenario was more or less same up
to the early period of Ershad regime. The scenario began to change during
the late period of Ershad & Khaleda regime when these regimes introduced
the scheme ‘primary education for all’. Later, the Khaleda regime (1991-1996)
influenced the people to become educated as they made education of girls up
to class eight free of cost. Mass media visual and electronic have played role
in enhancing literacy among all level of people. This caused the villagers to
concentrate on education. Moreover, during the last and present political
regime, literacy rate of the village began to increase. Making primary
education mandatory and free worked in convincing the villagers to send their
children to school. Now people are more conscious about education and they
send their children to the school. Almost 80% of the villagers are considered
as literate now. The following table from questionnaire survey depicts a brief
picture on child education:
Table 4.1: SUGGESTED MINIMUM LEVEL OF EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN
EDUCATION No % No %
Primary - - 2 8
Secondary
- - 2 8
(Non SSC)
SSC 10 42 13 54
HSC 4 16 3 13
Graduation 5 21 1 4
Masters 5 21 3 13
TOTAL 24 100 24 100
Fig 4.3: children in front of the Government school
The villagers of Chowka Para are more conscious about female education
but still they do not expect women to get proper education and become self-
independent and empowered. According to the current scenario of education,
suggestions have been made by the villagers that men should go for higher
education and in case of women studying up to S.S.C level is more or less
enough for them. The respondents implicitly suggested that as long as women
are going to get married and going to do the household jobs, higher education
is not necessary for them. But there are some villagers who support female
education and have faith on empowered women.
But as it is mentioned in the previous chapter that there is no such
infrastructure like school, madrasa or college within the jurisdiction of the
Para, most of the school going children attend the near by Sharkar Para
government primary school.
4.11.2 Religion
At Chowka Para 99% of the village people are Muslims. Most of them are
the believer or murrid of the Pir, Fakir (who are devoted to ALLAH). The
older people go to the mosque for their daily prayer and most of the villagers
are religious as they depend on Allah to get rid of many of their sufferings.
4.11.3 Effectiveness of Female Rights

“Female rights” is the recent phenomenon of today’s world. Women of
today’s world are more concern about their rights not only at the town but also
at the remote village. Now they have achieved to cast vote, to go to a
relative’s house and to go to watch television at neighbor’s house without their
husband or a relative. Some of the village women can go to the village market
or can watch VCR/Movie without taking anybody as their companion.
However, it was not possible at past. The condition is being changed at
patronizing rate now a days which is a positive step towards the woman
rights, according to villagers point of view we have tried to make a pictorial of
the effectiveness of female rights at the following table
Table 4.2: EFFECTIVENESS OF FEMALE RIGHTS
RESPONSE
ISSUES YES NO
No % No %
CASTING VOTE 23 96 1 4
SHOPPING IN THE
5 21 19 79
MARKET PLACE
VISITING RELATIVES
23 96 1 4
OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE
WATCHING TV AT THE
15 62 9 38
NEIGHBOUR VCR/ MOVIC
WATCHING VCR/ MOVIC 6 25 18 75
OTHER - - - -
4.11.4 Marriage
During the Mujib period, the rate of early marriage was very high.
According to the villagers, they used to arrange their daughter’s marriage
within the age of 9-14 years. Because the social structure was such that it
bound them to think that if the girl is more than 15, they are getting much
older for marriage. In Ershad period people’s perception in early marriage
started to begin to change. As the people became more educated, they
started to understand the problems in early marriage. Beside this, girls also
became conscious about that. According to the villagers, the marriage range
for female and male should be 18-20 years and 25-30 years consequently.
Now the marriage range for girls is 18-22 years and for the boys is above 25-
27. However, some families give their daughter’s marriage early because of
poverty.
Minimum level of education and age at the time of marriage is given
below:
Table 4.3: SUGGESTED MINIMUM LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND AGE AT THE
TIME OF MARRIAGE
MINIMUM AGE MINIMUM EDUCATION
SEX Belo Class Class

18-20 20+ SSC HSC BA MA
w 18 V 10
N
o % No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No %
3 2 2
MALE - - 4 17 20 83 - - 1 4 9 7 5 2 8
8 9 1
FEM 1 1 5
6 25 15 62 3 13 3 3 14 2 8 1 4 1 4
A-LE 3 3 8
We can see that the mostly suggested minimum age of marriage for
women is 18-20, which is now a days a standard age for women for getting
married. On the other hand, men are suggested to be more than 20 years old
before getting married. This data supports that people of Chowka Para are
conscious about the minimum age of marriage for both men and women.
4.11.5 Occupation
During the Mujib regime, most of the villagers were peasant. There were
also few other occupants who used to work in the Dhaka Match Factory.
However, nowadays the village has wide varieties of occupants. In course of
time occupation of the Para diversified into shopkeepers, van drivers,
rickshaw-pullers, teachers, NGO workers and office goers along with
traditional occupation of firming. In the last 10 years a big chunk of young
people have gone abroad in search of better income. This transition of
occupations has occurred for various reasons like population growth, less
cultivable land, modern education and many more.
As population is increasing in the village, more and more arable lands are
sacrificed paving the way for living of increased population. As a result,
peasants have less land than ever before for their cultivation purpose.
Scarcity of cultivable land has prompted many farmers to switch their job into
other fields of business. To ensure livelihood people are taking up new
occupations like van-driving, shop keeping, fishing, animal husbandry, poultry
etc.
4.11.6 Dowry System
During the pre liberation period, the groom used to give many things to the
bride during marriage. This is an ancient concept. Generally, groom had to
pay entire amount money or gift items, which would set by a mutual
agreement between two groups, before the marriage would take place.
It was actually a Muslim practice, which is reduced during the post
liberation period. This system is not followed in Bangladesh any more. Later,
during the early days after our liberation bride used to give many things to the
groom but they did not give cash. However, during Mujib period the bride also
gave cash and later the bride started giving cash, TV, freeze, motorcycle,
furniture etc as dowry. Dowry is not only demanded during the marriage time,
sometimes groom demands dowry after marriage. Previously, they called it
dowry but now a day they call it “gift” or “upohar”. Now a day’s people of
Chowka Para are concern about this factor and brides family are not
interested now to give dowry to the groom's family but still they have to give
some dowry in order to get their daughters married. But till today a marriage
without dowry is quite unthinkable within the community.
4.11.7 Law and Order Situation
Crime is a horrible social disease of today’s society. Corruption is

everywhere. Some time the law and order situation are detoured and for that
the villagers facing some problems. To cope up with this type of problem
villagers are used to sit together which is locally known as salish. Present
government introduced gram sarkar for the better situation and they also
introduced the concept of “Gram Police” which is getting popular day by day.
The last time any official person of police visited the Para was like 7 years
back. As it is a small village and people around here know each other through
kinship, present law & order situation of Chowka Para is satisfactory.
4.12 Food and Health
4.12.1 Food and Nutrition

Since the Mujib period, the villagers of Chowka Para regard rice as
their main food. They take it in all of day’s three major meals. During the post
liberation period the water quality & flow of the Katigram canal was good
enough for the fish population so the village people used to get sufficient fish
for their daily protein requirement. But at present the quality of the canal has
deteriorated so much that there is almost no fish resource there. So the
villagers have changed their food habit form fish to homestead vegetables.
The fish they eat now has to be bought from the Katigram Bazaar or haat. On
the other hand there is a huge increase for poultry; for that reason villagers of
Chowka Para now have more chicken and eggs as their food item. They also
have domestic animals like cow and goat, which provide them milk. During
mid 80’s fruits and fishes have decreased but vegetables and paddy have
increased because of the use of chemical fertilizer. Last but not the least
consumption of fruits is more or less the same with the village people, the
difference is that previously they used to consume fruits but at present they
are more into commercial use of them like selling in the haat beside self
consumption.
4.12.2 Drinking Water

During Mujib period, the villagers used to have their drinking water from
pond. The scenario began to change during the Ershad & Khaleda regime.
Afterwards, they became aware about drinking water and started to collect
their drinking water from the tube-wells. From the questioner survey it s stated
that 100% of the households in the village are using tube well water for
drinking purposes.
4.12.3 Public Health

In the past population of the village was very less. However, in
proportionate to that plenty of foods were available at a reasonable price.
People had access nutritious items of foods, as a result then people were very
strong and hardworking. However, poor nutrition value of foods and scarcity
for a balance diet as well as population growth reflect in the present health
condition of the villagers. After independence and during the mid 80’s, number
of poor people is increasing day by day but now people are more aware of
their health condition. People can access Upazila Sastho Kendro for their
treatment. Pregnant mother can take prenatal and as well as postnatal care
from the health care center. Besides these many NGO's are working for
health purpose.
4.12.4 Sanitation
There were no proper sanitation systems up to 1990 in the village. The

villagers used to go behind the bush and in the cultivable lands during Mujib &
Ershad regime. Later, in the first Khaleda period people started to change
their habit. They used to use hanging latrines till Hassina period but now they
are using better latrines like pit latrine, ring latrine and sanitary latrine. At
present about 92% of the villagers are using ring slab latrine in their houses,
which indicates their growing awareness about health & sanitation.
4.12.5 Family Planning

Practice of family planning has increased rapidly. While using PRA
methods to gather information on our assigned area it was observed that most
of the families consist of two offspring (even 2 girls), which is a positive sign of
practicing Family Planning. This also indicates that they understand that a
large family would mean poverty and suffering. It was also found that most of
the villagers are using different types of family planning method. But in the
past just after liberation and throughout the Ershad & Khaleda period practice
of Family Planning was not that much popular. Within the last few years
media and NGOs have played a vital role in popularizing Family Planning.
4.13 Agriculture
4.13.1 Productivity
During Mujib period, the main crop of the village was rice. However, the
villagers did not use to get enough yields from their fields. The story remained
same until the innovation of new type of rice with high yield in mid 80's. Now
they cultivate high yielding varieties of rice like ‘IRRI-11’ & ‘BRRI-29/28’ and
they get a better yield from their crop field. This has improved the economic
condition of the farmers of the village as well as per capita income.
4.13.2 Crop Diversification

Throughout the Mujib period peasant of Chowka Para used to cultivate
mainly local variety of paddy like T Aman, Deep Water Aman etc. But during
Ershad period HYV like IRRI-11, BR29, BR28 was introduced, which used to
produce twice the amount than local varieties. At the later part of Hasina
regime peasants switched in to other cash crops like corn which gives more
production in per capita land use than paddy and have a higher price in the
market than that of paddy.
4.13.3 Use of Fertilizer, Pesticide & other Technologies
Use of artificial inputs like fertilizer and pesticide has increased over last
few decades, especially with the introduction of high yielding varieties. During
the Mujib period farmers used to go with natural fertilizer like compost but
during the mid 80’s they started to use chemical fertilizer in order to get more
yield from their crops which is ultimately leading to decrease in soil fertility and
scarcity in soil nutrients. Use of pesticides has also increased over the years.
Increased use of fertilizer and pesticides are not only decreasing the soil
fertility but also degrading the water bodies near by, which is ultimately
destroying the fish population of the canal affecting on the food habit of the
Para people.
Technological advancement over the years has led the agricultural sector
to adopt with the new technologies. The peasants of Chowka Para are now
using power tillers and automated irrigation pump for better yield of their crops
with less physical labor. From the PRA survey we found out that the first
power tiller came to the Para around 25 years back. Since than use of
technology in the agriculture sector has increased
4.14 Social Change Map

The parameters on which we focused in order to identify the changes that
had occurred during political regimes are jot down below through the social
change map.
Fig 4.4 Social Change Map
4.15 Government Organization (GO) and Non

Government Organization (NGO)
GO - refers to the actual and nascent forms of pro-poor civil society
organization, which seek to enunciate the 'voice' of poor people.
NGO - the key structural and cultural characteristics of the NGO, which
determine whether 'voice' is 'heard'
4.15.1 NGO-GO Activities

Even ten years back there was not much active participation of NGOs in
this area. But during the last four to five years NGOs like BRAC, ASA and
Proshika has expended their activities in the Para. The NGOs are providing
the villagers with micro credits. Village people are getting benefit of the Micro
credit systems as they are taking money from the NGOs for buying seeds,
poultry animals, domestic animals etc. Sometimes they take credits for
offspring’s' marriage ceremony. From the benefits, they return the credited
money to the NGOs. Sometimes, they fail to return the credited money. As
they are poor people, they take money for one reason but spend the money
for other causes. So, they fall in money crisis again. And they are bound to
return the credited money with high interest rate anyhow within the limited
time. For this, sometimes, they sell their own property. This is a big problem
for the poor people.
Both government and non-government organizations are taking part in the
improvement of health sectors. They are doing a good job for family planning
program, vaccination program, sanitation program etc. But, there are some
problems as for the lack of proper health care from Thana health complex.
For poor people, it is also difficult to buy medicine at a high price rate. This
kind of development done by the NGOs was not found during Mujib & Ershad
regime. Though the NGO movement started during the 80s, they came in
Chowka Para during the last couple of years. Still the works of NGOs are very
limited in the area regarding their fast spread all over the country.
4.16 The Key Changes That Occurred in Chowka

Para after Liberation
The following tables indicate the prime changes that have occurred in our
assigned Para according to the local villagers.
Table 4.4: POSITIVE SOCIAL CHANGE OCCURING AFTER LIBERATION
Changes/Response NO %
Development of roads 20 83.33
Crime Decrease 4 16.67
Education 16 66.67
Health Care 13 54.17
Agricultural Productivity 13 54.17
Technological Improvement in Agriculture 4 16.67
Communication (mobile Phone) 3 12.5
Entertainment and Media 5 20.83
Income Increase (Job Diversification) 7 29.17
Quality of goods increase 1 4.17
Economy & Market 3 12.50
Infrastructure 3 12.50
NGO 6 25
Tree Variety 5 20.83
No Response 2 8.33
Others 6 25
As the local people of Chowka Para were asked to reveal 5 positive

changes that had occurred during post liberation period , most of them
responded about the expansion of communication system specially
development of the near by roads. Some also mentioned about the revolution
with the availability of cellular phones, how this had made communication
easy. Second best response that was acknowledged by the people was
improvement in the health & education sector. When data from interviews
were cross checked with the questionnaire survey it was identified that major
changes occurred mainly in the communication, health and education sectors,
specially practice in sanitation and drinking water has the most dramatic
changes of all.
Table 4.5: NEGATIVE SOCIAL CHANGE OCCURING AFTER LIBERATION.
Changes/Response No %
Arsenic Problem in Water 22 91.67
Iron Problem in water 15 62.50
Deterioration of law & order 3 12.5
Early Marriage 4 16.67
Dowry increase 13 54.17
Product price increase 19 79.17
Health & Nutrition Problem 6 25
Channel Flow 6 25
Population Increase 3 12.5
Nuclear family 1 4.17
Job opportunity decrease 3 12.5
Infrastructure 1 4.17
Labor Price increase 1 4.17
Tree decrease 1 4.17
Women Right 1 4.17
Fertility of Land decrease 2 8.33
Others 7 29.17
No Response 2 8.33
According to the respondents from the questionnaire survey arsenic & iron
contamination within the ground water is the worst thing that has happened
after liberation. The second worst thing is increase in price of daily use
products. Another problem about which the respondents have mentioned is
the decrease in channel flow of the near by canal, which has led to
destruction of fish recourses affecting on their food habit. While asking the
local people about the significant negative changes of their area after
liberation, most of the respondents tried to describe problems related to
national level. To them above mentioned three problems are the major ones
in their area
4.17 Gender Division of Labor

With the intention of to understand how men and women of households
allocate their seasonal works and labors in different income groups we have
conjugated the following table.
Table 4.6: Gender division of labor according to seasonal variation and income
group
Season Activity Women Men Activity Season
Crop Income
processing generating
Summer (5) activity (12)
Summer
Other house Other activity
hold activity (12)
(19)
Crop Income
(5) activity (8)
Rainy Rainy
hold activity (16)
(24)
Crop Income
(5) activity (10)
Winter Winter
hold activity (14)
(19)
HOUR 6 12 18 24 24 18 12 6 HOUR
Crop Income
(6) activity (4)
High High
hold activity (20)
(18)
Crop Income
(5) activity (10)
Medium Medium
hold activity (14)
(19)
Crop Income
(3) activity (12)
Low Low
hold activity (12)
(21)
Seasonal variation has great influence on gender division of labor

especially in the case of women. In our assigned area women spend a big
portion of their daily working hours in crop processing. Above all, during
winter and summer, harvesting goes on so women have to spend big portion
of their daily allotted time for crop processing. But in rainy season there is no
harvested crop within the household so they spend almost no time behind
crop processing. The scenario in the case of man is quite different. They
spend more or less the same time all through three seasons for their income
generating activities. For example a farmer works as a part time rickshaw
puller or vender during the rainy season as they have less work in the field
then. That’s why there is less variation in allotted working hours related with
income generating activities for men.
When gender division of labor is carried out according to income groups, it
is found that women in high income group spend more time in crop
processing because families in high income group has more crops of their
own which the women of the family has to process by them selves. The
scenario is more or less the same for both high and medium income group
women. But women from low income group spend less time in crop
processing and more in other household activities because they have almost
no land or little land from where they would get crops to process. In the case
of men, those from low income group has to spend more time in income
generating activities as they have less cultivable land. So they depend on
working in other peoples land as well as working part time on other job. Men
from high income group spend less time in income generating activities as
they own cultivable lands as well as they get remittance from their relatives
living abroad.
4.18 Major Findings

❖ Development in communication sector
❖ Drastic change in Health & sanitation.
❖ People getting more health conscious.
❖ Rate of education has increased significantly over time.
❖ Practice of Family Planning has increased.
❖ Availability of electricity.
❖ Gender mobility has increased.
❖ Though father and son living under the same roof they are
consuming from different stove.
❖ Crop yield has increased with the increased use of fertilizers and
pesticides but it has decreased the land productivity
❖ Cropping intensity has increased. Where there used to be 1 crop,
now 2 to 3 crops are cultivated.
❖ Channel flow of the canal has decreased vividly due to siltation in
the up stream area of Dhaleshwari.
4.19 Analysis of the major findings

Our assigned Para is a small one which is not old in age. That’s why
developments that occurred around the whole country during post liberation
affected the development of the Para. One of the significant changes occurred
round here where in communication, education, health & sanitation sector. All
the political regimes who came to power after liberation believed in
“Connectivity is Productivity:” and tried to develop the communication sector.
Influence of this belief ultimately led to the development of communication
sector, as a result there is the access of paved roads up to the Para and use
of cellular phones became common within the Para. From the transect map
we saw that there are only two shops in the Para of which one is a cellular
phone shop. This is a good indicator of the how radical change of
communication has influenced the life style of Para people. Access to visual
media has also increased which is letting the media to play a vital role in
spreading the messages regarding better sanitation & Family Planning. As a
large portion of the Para people has access to the visual media, they are
getting familiar with the Family Planning concepts as well as with the slogan
“100% sanitation by 2010” which is influencing their mind state ultimately
resulting improvement in these sectors. The visual media is also helping in
improvement of education status and level within the people. More children
are now enrolled in school than ever before as their parents are acquiring the
knowledge of benefits of being educated. Based on the information we have
collected it can be concluded that the social change process in the Para is not
a slower one rather it has been geared up with the development of the
communication sector. Media is playing a key role in influencing the Para
people.
4.20 Conclusion
Social change is not a new phenomenon. In the past, the changing
process was very slow. Now the process is so fast that it may be called
revolutionary change. The gender role is the main factor of this so-called
revolutionary change. Role differentiation among our women is in the offing. It
is markedly apparent among the middle class and the lower class. Generally,
they were confined to the kitchen and house keeping. Now with the increasing
number of female educated personnel entering the job market, a increasing
number is going out to work while taking up the responsibility of
accompanying their children to and from school with the added responsibility
of taking care of utility bills and also shopping in village market and the haat
as well. All these activities used to be exclusively man's domain. The role and
functions of our women are changing and this change is taking place slowly
but significantly.
5.1 Introduction
The economy of Bangladesh mostly depends on rural economic activities
though Bangladesh is now following the industrial development and service
activities as a strategy of economic development. The distribution pattern of
population between rural and urban area is asymmetric. Major portion of our
total human resources are now in rural areas. Most of them are acquiring their
livelihood by doing agricultural activity. As the term “Rural Development” is
now finding much more concentration of the governing body of Bangladesh,
many of the rural population are also joining themselves with other economic
and production related activities. So the knowledge about rural economy, their
living of standard and their production cycle is required to understand the
dynamic aspect of economic condition and development stage of Bangladesh.
This chapter will help to explore the different income groups and their
sources and amount of income of Chowka Para. The variation of resources
and wealth (land amount, house type) of different income groups has been
discussed here. This will also discuss about how the rural production cycle of
different professional groups is influenced by seasonal variation. The
identification of lean period of farmer and other professional groups has also
been incorporated in this chapter. This chapter will give an idea about the
seasonal cropping pattern along with contractual agreements on land and
other input (fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation pattern, land preparation cost, labor,
credit etc) and output (price of the product, transportation cost, loan
repayment) cost.
5.2 Objectives
Major objectives of doing such kind of study in Chowka Para are:
❖ To identify the different income groups and their occupation.

❖ To investigate the living standard of the residents of the assigned
Para.
❖ To acquire knowledge about their different economic activities.
❖ To know how the village people continue their production cycles all
through the year.
❖ To identify the different resources that villager possesses and how
these resources are being used in their economic activities.
Finally, this assessment and analysis will help to gather knowledge about
the rural economy.
5.3Economic conditions of Chowka Para
5.3.1 Explorative method for the study and discussion on

income assessment and wealth ranking
To identify and categorize the different income groups we have used
several determinants and parameter. Mainly, based on their amount of
income (yearly) and by ranking their wealth / resources we have determined
three income groups (high, middle, lower income group). One thing needed to
be mentioned that the whole assessment and estimation of income earned by
the different professional groups have been derived from questionnaire survey
and the respondents were only 24.
5.3.2 Income assessment
5.3.2.1 Findings from the assessment
5.3.2.2Income groups and amount of income

Most of the residents of our Para are in low-income group. This group
contains more than fifty percent of the residents. Remaining fifty percent
encompasses other two income groups.
Table 5.1: Percentage and yearly income of different income groups
Amount of income
Income groups Percentage (%)
(Tk./yearly)
Low 0 – 40,000 54
Medium 40,001 – 80,000 25
High >80,000 21
Talking about their amount of income, high-income people earn above

80,000 Tk and we found only five respondents belonging to this group. Low-
income people that include thirteen respondents earned less than 40,001Tk.
5.3.2.3 Profession
According to our field survey in the primary employment sector 61% is
income earner. Of which 57% are men (as it mentioned in Chapter 3). As the
income earning member, men are involving themselves in different primary
and secondary professions. Dominating profession in the village is agriculture
and the next one is petty business/ shop. In the high-income groups most of
them are rich peasant and involve in service activities.
Table 5.2: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PROFESSIONS OF THE INCOME
EARNIMG MEMBERS
OUTSIDE OUTSIDE
IN THE IN OTHER
THE THE
PROFESSION VILLAGE DISTRICTS
COUNTRY VILLAGE
No % No % No % No %
Agriculture 9 36 - - - - - -
Agriculture
1 4 - - - - - -
Labor
Poultry/ Duck - - - - - - -
Cattle/ Goat 2 8 - - - - 1 20
Petty
business/ 5 20 1 20 - 2 40
shop
Vendor - - - - - - - -
Transport
3 12 - - - - - -
worker
Construction
1 4 - - - - - -
Worker
Garments
- - 2 40 - - 1 20
Worker
Service 3 12 2 40 1 50 1 20
Industry - - - - - - - -
Other 1 4 - - 1 50 - -
The professions of middle-income group are transport worker, peasant,

service holder, garment worker. Transporters are rickshaw puller; they earned
in a year around 45,000 on an average. During our survey we have noticed
three people are rickshaw puller. Among these transporters two of them work
as agricultural labours as their primary profession. The category of peasant in
this income group is middle peasant. Those who are involved in service
activities in the locality are medium income earner people. The people are
occupied with service activities they mainly do job in steel mill and also in
private organization out side the village and in other district. A small number
of members of middle-income group are garment worker. They are doing it as
their primary occupation.
Among the 54 percent of low-income earner people most of them are petty
business / shop holder and poor peasant. Poor peasant act as agricultural
labour of rich peasant and some of them hold a small plot of agricultural
holdings. In this income group petty business holder does banana business.
They take it as their primary occupation.
5.3.3 Wealth ranking
5.3.3.1 Amount of land

We have conducted a FGD (Focus Group Discussion) and PRA
(Participatory Rural Appraisal) to gather numeric data on the land amount and
thus we set a basis to estimate a summation of land amount of both
agricultural and dwelling house of different income groups.
The range of amount of land size of high-income group people is generally
in between 360-420 decimal. Rich peasant holds a significant amount of
agricultural land. Other professional members of this group contain relatively
small amount of agricultural land.
In the middle-income group land amount varies from 150-210 decimal.
Those are occupied with service activities and do job in garment industry hold
a big plot of land of dwelling house compared to agricultural land. According
to our findings some of them have their agricultural land more than the
amount of agricultural land of middle peasant.
The land size of the members of low-income group differs
significantly from other two income groups. Most of them do not acquire any
agricultural land. Poor peasants cultivate their homestead land to produce
subsistence crops and vegetables for their own consumption.
Fig 5.1: Wealth Ranking

5.3.3.2 House type
There is no significant difference between house types among different
income group people except a negligible exception. Most of the houses had
tin roofing. The wall of the houses is also mostly made of tin. Among the 24
respondents 80% of the residents of the locality had tin wall. Around 92%
respondents had earth floor.
Fig 5.2: A tin shad house in the entrance of the Para
Table 5.3: HOUSE TYPE

ROOF WALL FLOOR
TYPE
No % No % No %
Tin 24 100 19 80 - -
Bamboo 2 8 - -
Wood - - - -
Concrete 2 8 2 8
Earth - - 22 92
Other 1 4 - -
The house types of high-income group those are in upper tier of the
social class and living standard differ from other income groups only in
material of wall & floor. During our fieldwork we explore that among the five
members of this group two of them have concrete wall and floor. This special
feature of the house type generally uses to differentiate from other social
groups to get position in high economic and as well as social status.
It is possible to create an average picture on the house types of
middle-income earner residents of our assigned locality. Most of them build
roof and wall of their houses with tin. Nevertheless those who are consisting
low tire of this group make wall with bamboo and floor as other income group
with earth of their houses.
The house type of low-income group is not significantly different from
the previous income group. Most low income people build their house roofs
with tin and wall with bamboo and jute straw.
5.3.3.3 Furniture and other luxury material

This is an important indicator to rank the assets according to different
income groups. High-income people possesses some furniture such as
showcase, chair. In the house of Md. Shadhon (age 60) we found television,
fan, VCR. Considerable amount of income allow them to by these luxury
materials. Some of them also got mobile phone. Middle-income group contain
similar furniture except the luxury items like television and VCR. But a few
numbers have mobile phone. Significant difference appears when we enter
into the house of low-income residents. They have only chowki (bed) other
daily necessary material bear for sustain or living.
5.3.3.4 Cattle and poultry

In High-income family those are professionally related with agriculture
possess cow just for consuming milk. On an average these families have 1-2
cows. They also hold a little number of poultry birds, which are also used for
their own consumption. Among the middle income family most of the family on
an average possess 3-4 goats and 8-10 poultry birds. In the low income family
most of them have goat and poultry birds. But the difference is low income
family possesses good number of poultry than high-income family. Low-
income families don’t have any cow but on an average they have 5-4 goats
and 7-10 poultry birds. They some time sale eggs during local Haat day to
earn some money.
Table 5.4: DOMESTIC ANIMALS

YES NO
TYPE
No % No %
Cow 11 46 13 54
Ox - - - -
Goat 8 33 16 67
Poultry Birds 21 87 3 13
Others - - - -
5.3.3.5 Sources of loan & amount of borrowings

Response on borrowings shows that 54% respondents take loan. They
take loan from various sources. NGO, relative and bank are providing the
financial support by giving them loan. Based on our findings we can make a
comment that different NGOs like BRAC, ASA are dominating as a source for
taking loan for the residents of Chowka Para.
RESPONSE ON BORROWINGS
46%
Yes
54% No
Fig 5.3: Response on borrowings
Upper income families usually don’t take loan or borrow money. They
allocate money for the investment from their savings. Middle income earning
family some time take loans from various NGOs. They utilize it for the
investment in agricultural sector or other business purpose and for the
consumption. Members of low-income group mostly borrow money from
NGOs. Among the 54% responses on borrowing most of them have came
from low-income family. They also borrow money from relatives with interest.
Table 5.5: SOURCES OF LOAN & INTEREST RATE

Amount Borrowed (In Thousand Taka)
Sources 11- 21- 31- 41- No %
1-10 51+
20 30 40 50
Local Money
- - - - - - - -
Lender
Relatives/Friends 2 - - - - - 2 0
NGO/Shamity 8 4 - - - 1 13 17
Banks 1 - - - - - 1 12
No Borrow - - - - - - 10 -
Others - - - - - - - -
Average Interest Rate of Various Sources
20.00%
15.00%
Rate
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
NGO's Bank Relative Others
Source
Fig 5.4: Average Interest Rate of Various Sources

On an average the amount of borrowed money of low-income family from
different NGOs is within the range of 1-10 thousand taka. They usually use it
for the consumption and sometime take loan for the loan repayment of other
NGO. Most of them face problem during the loan repayment.
5.3.3.6 Remittance
According to our field survey we have identified that around 11-income
earner member of different family are involve with various professions out side
the village and country. In high-income family two-income earner members
are out side the country and these migrants they save and remit home
relatively large amount of money. According to our estimation they send
around 80,000 taka in a year to their family as remittance. In remaining two
other income groups this feature is absolutely absent.
5.3.4 Analysis of the findings

From our major findings we discover dynamic aspects of rural economic
condition. Diversified professional groups among working age and income
earner member do exist in our assigned locality. From the assessment of
amount of income we have categorized the whole Para into three main
income groups. Amount of income vary significantly among different groups.
The distribution of income is skewed. Agriculture remains the largest
employer. Unemployment is not a great problem in our Para. Dependency
ratio is quite similar among male and female members in our Para. For
successfully providing food security to their family income earner members of
different income groups are occupied with different kind of jobs. According to
my own point of view influences of diffusion of garment industries are creating
job opportunity especially for the youth community. It also reflects positive
impact in our assigned Para. Tendency to migrant to other district to acquire
job in an industry has also been discovered in our locality. Movement of rich
residents for job abroad has also identified. Usually they migrate to Middle
East countries as they remit relatively larger amount of money than from other
countries. These remittances have brought about greater economic changes.
Middle category of peasants in our Para is sharecropper.
We have also accumulated primary data on wealth and resource holdings
and ranked them according to different income group people. The per capita
land holding in our locality is very poor. High-income people acquire these
lands from their ancestor. Cultivable lands of high and medium income are
used for the production of cash crop and subsistence crop. Most of the rich
families utilize their agricultural land to produce rice, maize etc. They earn
money by selling these produce, which increases their level of income. Thus
they accumulate capital by saving money from this high income and invest it
in order to augment future income. It increases the ability to provide essential
services such as education, health care to the family members, which finally
increases their living standard.
The 2001 population census found that the rural houses had only 6.3 %
semi pucca and 2.3% pucca. This spectacular small percentage has not yet
been improved over the four years. This is absolutely a true perception if we
make average comment on the house type on the basis of our field survey.
During our fieldwork we have discovered that only two resident hold a semi
pucca house. Expenditure to build a semi pucca or pucca house can afford
only high-income family. As the sector of expenditure of low and middle-
income family is limited, with the continuous influence of seasonal variations
on the little amount of cash inflow make them unable to improve their
accumodition and living condition.
According to traditional definition of economic status in our rural areas
those who possess more domestic animals and quality furniture and luxurious
items are categorized as rich people. In order to move away from traditional
life style people of our Para stated to adopt new technology such as mobile
phone, television, VCR etc. For assessing the countries stage of economic
development extent of mass communication is an indicator. The existence of
new technology of communication in our assigned Para is a sign of county’s
improving economic condition. To improve the social mobility and quality of
living conditions a good ambient environment is necessary. Domestic animals
serve the daily necessary dairy products (milk, egg). These also act as
household assets. As some time it helps to plough the land.
From our questionnaire survey we have found that most of the inhabitants
of our locality lend money from different NGOs other than government
organization-bank. Interest rate varies between NGOs. Mostly they take loan
for consumption. Few of them take loan for investment to increase the
income. Effectiveness of financial institutions is an economic variable for
development. In our Para the banking system is weak so it inhibits the growth
of credit, which can be used for investment. Low-income group borrow money
giving much more concentration to the interest rate for various ceremonial
activities.
5.4 RURAL PRODUCTION CYCLE

Rural production cycle refers to the entire production process that is
needed in producing a product such as rice or vegetable follow a certain type
of cyclic manner. In rural areas of Bangladesh production oriented
professional groups have an individual annual production cycle. It is essential
that some inputs from the producers be required to sustain the production
cycle. There are inter-regional and inter-class differences with regard to type
of product, production methodology and consumption patterns of the rural
people of Bangladesh. The dynamic aspects of production and sale were also
apparent in our study area, Chowka Para.
5.4.1 Explorative method for collecting primary data and

discussion on findings and analysis
We have used broadly PRA tool and we have also conducted a
homogeneous Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of 12 members for collecting
and analyzing information for this purpose. From our previous assessment we
find that as profession agriculture remain as the highest one. Other
professions are not directly related with production, as they are not producing
any thing. So my discussion and analysis will be on agricultural production.
Fig 5.5: Focus Group Discussion
5.4.1.1 Agricultural product

The peasants in our assigned Para cultivate different crops in their own
agricultural land. Types of crops are rice, corn, jute, pulse, mastered, etc.
These are extensively produced by the different category of peasant. The
dominating rice varieties in the crop field are IRRI, BR29. As the weather of
Manikganj is suitable for corn, it has now become popular agricultural crop in
our Para. Most of the middle peasants deal it as cash crop.
5.4.1.2 Frequency of cultivation

Cultivator produces paddy and corn thrice a year. The peasant in a certain
size of arable land produces multiple crops at a time. In a medium land farmer
mainly produce two crops. Rice and corn are available in most of the medium
high land. In high type of cultivable land one can produce three crops (rice-
corn-pulse). As low land experience inundation by local rainfall which allow
the peasant to cultivate only one crop (rice).
5.4.1.3 Seasonal cropping cycle

Most of the peasants mainly produce paddy, corn, eggplant. They also
produce seasonal vegetables like jute, lal shak(local name), pulse etc. The
cycle begins with the cultivation of transplanted ‘T’ Aman (variety name BR29)
in January. As soon as they harvest BR29 they start land preparation for
Deep Water Aman in July. The harvest period for Aman is December. After
that they prepare the land for different winter vegetable. The choice of
plantation of seasonal vegetable is very subjective. They select the vegetable
according to their own needs and by looking the market demand. Those who
produce subsistence crop they consume their own produce. During our survey
we have identified that some fields were being utilized for multiple crop at a
time. Some of the peasants produce corn and paddy at a same time. Time of
rotation for corn is short (3-4 moths on an average) which leads to three-time
corn cultivation in a year. Thus the peasants of our Para continue the inflow of
cash by selling their agricultural produce.
Fig 5.6: Cultivation of different type of crops
Table 5.6: seasonal cropping cycle

Seasonal Mid October— Mid April— Mid June—
pattern Mid November Mid May Mid August September
(Cultivation)
Crop Mula, corn, T- Corn Lean BR11
Aman(seedbed) period ( Nazir Shar)
5.4.1.4 Production cycle of three main crops

Production cycle include different stage of production processes. It
provides knowledge on chronological order of diverse activities of a
production system or process.
1) Rice (BR29): For producing BR 29 peasant has to grow seedlings in
seedbed in last week of November. Then they transplant it into the main
agricultural land. During the growing period irrigation is needed, as water
supply is scarce in February. The peasant also does fertilization and weeding
in this period. In the first or second week of May they harvest the T-Aman
(BR29). For Deep Water Aman (IRRI) peasant has to sow their seeds during
the last week of May and harvest the crop at first week of October.
2) Corn: one of the emerging popular crops of our Para is corn. Most of
the peasants earn money by selling the corn. The short rotation period of this
crop able the peasant to produce twice or thrice a year. Land preparation
occurs during the last week of October. And then they harvest it in the third
week of March. Again they sow the seed in first week of April and harvest it in
the first week of July. Corn has become a popular cash crop because
production cost is less compare to other crop and it’s very profitable for the
peasants.
3) Pulse: in winter season pulse grows very well. In the list week of
October cultivator has to prepare the land and after that in first week of
November they has to sow the seed. The harvesting time for pulse is last
week of March.
Fig 5.7: Production Cycle of Three Major Crops
5.4.1.5 Type of contractual agreement on land
Distribution of agricultural land among the peasants is unequal. Rich
peasants are like capitalist farmers who have enough land to produce. Middle
category of peasants acquires land from the rich peasants of other Para of the
village. They had to return fifty percent of the crop production and land to the
landlords. Middle peasant hire land for 2or 5 years after that they had to return
it back to land owner. This type of agreement on land is locally known as
‘Borga’. Under this type of agreement, the landlord leases the land to
sharecroppers to cultivate. The sharecroppers bear all the cost, and then after
production return half of the harvested crop and the land with it, if their time of
contract is over. The sharecroppers are allowed to keep the hay with them in
this agreement.
5.4.1.6 Investment for the production

Cultivator invests labour and capital. For the sharecropper land is also an
investment.
Labour – Labour input is the most important component in traditional
agriculture system. According to our findings lack of cheap labour during the
harvest period distort the production systems. Inward migrations of labour
also exist in our study area. They mainly come from Rangpur, Dinajpur.
During the productive period the wage level remain in between 130-150
Tk/day. In the unproductive period it is in between70-80 Tk/day. Rich
peasants primarily depend on wage labour for cultivation and they pay them in
cash. Sharecroppers some time employ family labour during the harvest
period they hire workers and pay them in cash.
Capital – Is the essential element for the production. Quantity of output
from the production not necessarily depends upon the capital input. Because
soil fertility, moisture content in land also influence the amount of output
produce. From the previous assessment we find that most of the residents do
take loan from different NGOs. Peasants allocate capital from savings and
credits that mainly come from NGOs.
5.4.1.7 Sectors of cash outflow

Expenditure is associated with the production. For collecting different input
cultivator needs to expend cash. The elements of input cost for the
agricultural production are fertilizer, pesticide, water, seed and power tiller. It
can be present as:
Costs
Fertilizer Pesticide Water Seed Power tiller
Input
Agricultural Land
Fig 5.8: Associated input cost in the agriculture production system
During our field survey we have identified that cultivator mainly use
inorganic fertilizers (TSP, Uria, Zinc etc). Some farmers mentioned that cow
dung could be used as fertilizer. 50kg of Uria fertilizer cost 200Tk. The price of
50kg organic fertilizer is 400-700Tk. Producer use fertilizer to increase the
production. But the long-term negative impact will be on soil productivity. The
farmer also used pesticide to control the pest (Reepcot). Crop disease is not
very common problem for the cultivator.
Level of modernization techniques in agriculture is the economic variables
to determine the economic growth. We have discovered that the farmer for
irrigation purpose and land preparation use modern technology. One of the
remarkable features that we have explored was the introduction and increase
in the use of power tiller for land preparation. Engines of small tiller (tractors)
are now using for irrigation purpose in our study area. The peasants use
shallow and deep tube-well for irrigation purpose. Peasants expend 80tk for
irrigation of one hour in eleven days. Some time cultivators give power tiller
holder one third of the total production or give the payment in cash.
Producers collect seed from local market. They usually preserved the seed
in their home for further production. Price of corn seed is 120tk/kg.
5.4.1.8 Output from the production

The distribution pattern of the output product can be drawn as:
Crop sale
Loan repayment
Output Stock for better price
Production
Transport cost
Ceremonial
production
Household consumption
Other Expenditure
Fig 5.9: Distribution pattern of the output product
The above figure shows the distribution of final product. To take the
product into the central market of the village producer had to face transport
cost. For corn, producer needs to spend 10tk/mon. To avoid the substantial
loss most of the peasant community sale their product as soon as they
harvest the crop. As they are in need of money by the time the crops are
harvested, and they cannot wait till the price rises. People who have storage
capability wait for the price of the product to rises. Once the price of the
product goes up then they start to sell their good.
Storage facility
37% 37%
40%
Parcentage of use
35%
30% 25%
25%
20%
12%
15%
10% 4%
5%
0%
Macha Ber Dol Motka no
facility
Type of facility
Fig 5.10: Storage facilities available in peasant community
From the above figure we can see that only 37% people store their product
in Macha and 37% people don’t have any storage facility. The Para is the
least developed in transportation and storage system and the development of
this sector is essential for further growth in trade and agriculture. Those who
borrow money for production development they need to repay the loan to the
financial institution. The main purpose of the production of the peasants is for
household consumption. They use the profit to increase the production in
future. Peasant needs to expend money for medical treatment and other
family needs.
5.5 Conclusion
In this chapter we have discussed about the income assessment, wealth
and production cycle. Income assessment is required to know about the stage
of economic growth. The economic condition of our Para is not developed. It’s
a semi-developed Para. Distribution of wealth among the residents is
asymmetric. Discussion on production cycle gives us idea that cash inflow is
not equal all through the year. Corn has become most popular crop in our
Para along with the rice. If the government can able to create the market for
corn it will be a profitable cash crop.
6.1 Introduction
Health and environment are one of the most important factors, which
influence human life. When we consider a country such as Bangladesh health
and environment are one of the most neglected aspects within the majority of
the populace. In rural areas, the environment gets polluted mainly due to
unplanned and technologically backward methods of agricultural activities,
improper waste disposal, and combustion of fuel wood or biomass. However
the reasons behind the continued destruction and degradation of the
environment and human health are due to lack of education, awareness,
ignorance of the rural people. While visiting Chowka Para, the later reasons
were not an exception. The following section of this report deals with the steps
taken by the village people to lessen their health problems, how much they
are aware of the health related problems and the difficulties they face with the
government. This section also talks about the activities of the villagers, which
creates environmental hazards leading to loss of agricultural produce as well
as increasing health risk factors.
6.2 Objective
❖ To learn about the changes and current situation of health and
environment of Chowka Para.
❖ To identify the parameters influencing the health and environment.
❖ To identify the different and common types of diseases experienced by
the villagers and there causes.
❖ To find out the availability of health facility center and frequency of
access.
❖ To find out the level of awareness among the villagers about the
present environmental threats and occurrences.
6.3 Data collection
We collect information by using the following method:
❖ Interview method.
❖ Questionnaire Survey method.
6.4 Current situation of Health and Environment in

Chowka Pare
6.4.1 Health Care Facility

The people of Chowka Para do not have access to proper health care
facilities. There are no health care infrastructures within the para. To get
proper treatment the villagers need to go to Katigram Bazaar or go to the
nearby Dolly member’s house which is situated in Sorkarpara. Field workers
from the NGO’s do not come to the village to immunize the children and follow
up the pregnant women. So the women are facing problems all the time. The
places visited by the villagers for treatment are given below.
Table 6.1: PLACES VISITED BY THE FAMILY MEMBERS FOR MEDICAL

TREATMENT
Destinations Number of households Percentage
Public Health Care
14 58
Facilities
Local Public Health
1 4
Worker
Local NGO Health
1 4
Worker
Local Pharmacy 9 37
Local Priest (Hujur) - -
Homeopath - -
Herbal treatment 1 4
Others 6 25
The people of Chowka Para in times of illness or health problems go to the

various places for health or medical care as mentioned above. From the
above table it can be observe that out of 24 households 58% goes to the
Public health care facilities, 37% goes to local pharmacy and 25% goes to
other local and independent sources of health care like clinics in Manikgonj
town and Dhaka city. It is quite evident that the majority of the villagers attend
the public health care facilities and the rest go to the local pharmacy.
Government hospitals provide free treatment this is why many of the
villagers prefer to go there. But the villagers do have complains against the
Government Health care facilities and they are illustrated below through the
following table 6.2.
Table 6.2: Problems related with the government health care facilities
Problem Number of household Percentage

Not Close to the home 4 17
Transport facilities are
3 12
not available
Timing of the is not
4 17
suitable
Staff/Services are not
10 42
good
Facility is not clean 2 8
Waiting hours are too
6 25
long
Medicines are not
13 54
available
Medicine cost is high 3 12
Offers no privacy 1 4
No problem 4 17
Don’t go at all 4 17
Others 2 8
During the questionnaire survey it was found that the majority of the
people complained about shortage of medicine (54%), some also mentioned
that the services are not up to the standard (42%) and many of the women
mentioned other problems (8%) such as; the religious women do not prefer to
go to other people for their medical check up. They also said that the waiting
hours are too long in the government medical facilities; basically the women
are facing this problem because they have to maintain their family, while
others mentioned the problem about cleanliness. Some people also
mentioned about the long distance of the facilities as well as high price of the
medicines which are not affordable by the poor people.
6.4.2 Vaccination of children
The following table shows the number of households whose children have
been vaccinated.
Table 6.3: Vaccination of Children

Response Number of households Percentage
YES 20 83
NO 1 4
NOT APPLICABLE 3 13
While carrying out the questionnaire survey on 24 households, children

were found in 21 households among which only one of which was not
immunization. The other 3 households didn’t have any children within
immunization age group. As more or less 80% of the children have been
immunized by the 6 essential vaccines it can be concluded that though there
is no health facilities within the Para, people of Chowka Para are quite aware
of their child’s health care.
6.4.3 Family planning

Practice of family planning has increased rapidly. While using PRA
methods to gather information on our assigned area it was observed that most
of the families consist of two offspring (even 2 girls), which a positive sign of
practicing of family planning. This also indicates that they understand that a
large family would mean poverty and suffering. It was also found that most of
the villagers are using different types of family planning method. Media is
playing a vital role in the family planning sector. During our survey the
respondent said that women use different types of pills such as Femicon and
condoms. The majority of couples are dependent on pills.
The above mentioned parameters were all anthropogenic, but some
environmental parameters also influence the health and environment of
Chowka Para. One of such parameters is Seasonality and it is described
below.
6.4.4 Seasonality
Seasonality is one of the major factors that influence the economy,
agriculture, life style, health, food pattern of the villagers. All the phases of
agriculture starting from ploughing, up till the harvesting of crops follow the
seasonal cycle, the slightest change in the seasonal cycle may have both
positive and negative effects on the crop production. Crop production also
requires adequate sunlight for which the farmers depend on the seasons and
depending on the availability of rainwater, sunlight the farmers follows a crop
cycle.
Beside agricultural activities such as diseases, storm, drought is controlled
by the seasons. During the dry season the underground water table goes
down. Therefore, some of the tube wells go out of water during dry season
causing harm to the crop production. The factors influenced by the seasons
are described below through a seasonal calendar.
Table 6.4: Seasonal calendar
Legends: High  ; Low ; Moderate 
Factors Diseases Storm Drought Flood Temperature Rainfall
Season
Baishak 

Jaishto 

Ashar  
 
Sravan   
  
(Diarrhea)
Bhadro   
  
Arshin   
  
(Cholera)
Kartik 

Augrahain
Paush 

(Fever)
Magh  
 
Falfun
Chaaitra 

From the above mentioned seasonal calendar it is visible that, the intensity
of rainfall is highest during Ashar/ Srabon, where as during Chaitra the water
deficiency occurs. During this period ground water table goes below 100 feet.
This causes shortage of irrigation water. This also intensifies disease during
Chaitra, because during this time measles, dysentery, chicken pox occurs and
during Ashar/ Srabon due to excessive rainfall, dysentery, diarrhea breaks
out.
6.4.5 Food and nutrition
In the village people get fresh food and fresh air. They produce
vegetables, fruits and some of the villagers have cows so they get milk from
there. Now a day the villagers eat rice with vegetables and pulses because of
the declining fish resources in the Katigram canal. From time to time they eat
meat and fish. Corn is becoming a popular crop in the village, which is rich in
vitamins. So, it can be concluded that the people of Chowka Para are more or
less conscious about their food habit.
We know that there are different types of parameters, which have both
health and environmental effects. If we can identify those parameters properly
then we can understand the conditions of that area.
6.4.6 Sources of water

Safe drinking water and basic sanitation help prevent water-related
diseases. The distributions of water use, according to the source of water are
given below.
Table 6.5: SOURCES OF WATER FOR DOMESTIC USE (POSITIVE RESPONSES
ONLY)
Sources
Other
Purposes Piped Water Tube Well Well Pond
(canal)
No % No % No % No % No %
Drinking - - 24 100 - - - - - -
Bathing - - 3 12 - - 21 87 2 8
Washing - - 14 58 1 4.1 9 37 2 8
Cooking - - 22 92 - - 3 12 - -
Others - - - - - - - - - -
From this table we can say that majority of the activities such as drinking
(100%), washing (58%), and cooking (92%) are done with tube well water
which is Arsenic contaminated.
It has been found out that arsenic contamination has become the latest
evil to be added to the environmental problem of Chowka Para. But the
surprising thing is they are aware about this Arsenic problem and they are still
drinking this water. More surprising is that they are not getting arsenicosis. It
could be that the level of arsenic in the water is less than the tolarable level.
Along with the arsenic problem their water is also highly contaminated in iron.
During our survey we found most of the household having Iron filter to remove
iron from water.
6.4.7 Arsenic
The most significant problem identified in this para is all the tube-wells are
arsenic and iron contaminated. Although people use tube well water for all
purposes but still they did not face any symptoms of arsenicosic . From my
point of view, the Arsenic level is below the optimal level. And the other thing
should be that they have to take lots of vegetables and vitamins, which helps
to prevent arsenocosis. Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh
is now a well-known fact. Out of the 64 districts, 61 of them have arsenic
concentration above the WHO (world health Organization) permissible limit
(0.05mg/l), and therefore at least 21 million people are now exposed to the
arsenic poisoning. The number of people drinking arsenic contaminated water
in Bangladesh has increased dramatically since the 1970s due to well-drilling
and population growth. The impact of arsenic extends from immediate health
effect to extensive social and economic hardship that affects especially the
poor.
Fig 6.1: Arsenic contaminated tube well Fig 6.2: Iron filter
According to the villagers Government has checked all the tube-wells and
to get arsenic free water two wells was dug up by the government but later the
well water as found arsenic contaminated. We did find red mark over the
mouth of the tube well.
6.4.8 Sanitation
We know 88% of diarrhoeal diseases are attributed to unsafe water supply
and inadequate sanitation. Improved sanitation reduces diarrhoea morbidity
by 32%, reduces infant and child morbidity and mortality and also helps to
prevent water related diseases including diarrhoea, schistosomiasis, filariasis,
trachoma and helminthis. In Bangladesh a huge number of children die every
year due to diarrhoeal diseases. So, sanitation is an important parameter in
our health as well as for our environment.
TOILET FACILITY
Ring slab
Pit Catrine
Hanging Latrine
Other
92
Fig 6.3: Toilet Facility

The people of Chowka Para are becoming more concerned about their
heath and environment. According to the survey 92% people have access to
ring slab and only 8% use open place. This 8% people include a beggar and a
poor family. It shows that people of this para are aware of their health and are
less affected by the diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery etc. Structure material
of the latrines varies according to the income group. The villagers have no
financial support from the NGO’s for installing latrines. The beggar and poor
family could not install ring slab in their home. The economic conditions of
some of the villagers of Chowka Para are not good, but they still use the ring
slab latrine because they are aware of the use of healthy latrine.
Fig 6.4: Ring slab toilet

People’s having no latrines usually disposes their excreta on open places
or beside the water bodies. Some of the negative effects of improper
sanitation on human health and on the environment are described below.
6.4.8.1 Effects on human health

❖ Spreads odor
❖ Spreads harmful bacteria’s and worms which cause dysentery, cholera,
skin diseases etc.
6.4.8.2 Effects on environment

❖ Human excreta are discharged into open places results unhygienic
environment.
❖ Improper sanitation contaminated ground water.
6.4.9 Waste disposal

Soil is the receptor of large quantities of waste products- domestic, human,
animal and agricultural. According to the sources, the waste can be classified
into two groups in the perspective of the village.
❖ Kitchen residue
❖ Crop residue
Crop residues are easily manageable because after harvesting the crops,
the residues are either used as fodder for livestock’s or burnt to produce
manure. For cooking purposes they especially use corn straw and cow dung.
Fig 6.5: Waste disposal in a near bye detach
Waste disposal
100%
90%
80%
70%
Percentage
60%
50%
40% 37%
30% 25%
21%
20% 17%
10%
0%
0%
In a hole In the near In a specific No specific Canal
beside the by ditch place place
house
Waste disposal location
Fig 6.6: Waste disposal
Surprisingly the villagers of Chowka Para are aware about their waste
disposal. They are dumping their waste in nearby ditch (25%) and hole (37%),
instead of throwing them into the surrounding area. Lack of awareness and
education, many of the villagers especially the women dump their wastes at
the backside of their house that means into the canal (21%). This Variation of
waste dumping varies according to their different income group. Farmers
produce manure and use it as fertilizer for their agricultural land. But those
who do not have any agricultural land do not need to convert their waste into
manure; they only scatter the waste nearby their household. This has some
positive impact on the environment.
6.4.9.1 Positive impact
❖ Residue gets decomposed to produce organic manure.
❖ This organic manure has a positive influence on the crops as well as
on the soil.
❖ Keep the environment clean and hygienic.
Effects of such improper waste disposal are highlighted below:

❖ Those who dump their waste nearby their homestead suffer from
diseases such as diarrhea dysentery, skin problem as well as nasal
irritation and dizziness.
❖ Waste dumped on the back of the kitchen has the chance to get germs
spread towards the kitchen.
❖ Scattered waste makes the area unhealthy for human being.
6.4.9.3 Effects on the environment

❖ Wastes disposed in an improper way creates bad odor.
❖ Leaching occurs from decomposition of waste, which is responsible for
ground water contamination.
❖ Waste disposed into ditches and canals pollutes the water enhancing
breeding of mosquitoes.
6.4.10 Use of fuel

In Bangladesh, more than 80% of the total population still lives in the rural
areas where there are scarcities of electricity and natural gas. People who live
in the rural areas still use biomass fuel for cooking purposes, which are very
harmful for the total environment as a whole. The main fuel type for cooking
purpose which are used by the people in the country are cow dung, leaves,
twigs and straws and other types of biomasses fuel, variation also influences
the use of biomass. Usage of such types of fuel often affects the environment
by polluting the atmosphere. The uses of different types of traditional fuel are
showed below through a bar diagram.
Fuel consumption type

P100% 87%
90% 79%
e 80%
r 70% 62%
58%
c 60%
e 50% 46%
n 40%
t 30%
a 20%
10% 0 0
g 0%
Fire2Wood Leaves and Cow Straw Others (corn,
e Kerosene
1 3
Twigs 4
Gas 5 6 7 and
straw
dung (Jute)
residual)
Fuel type
Fig 6.9: fuel Consumption type
Fig 6.7: Straws are staged up for use Fig 6.8: straw are being dried
The uses of different types of fuels depend on the seasonal cycle and
also the economic condition of the villagers. Fuel wood is specially used
during the rainy season, because dry leaves, straws are not available at that
time. On the other hand the people who are rich use wood for cooking and
poor people are dependent on leaves and straw. Leaves and twigs (87%),
cow dung (58%) is used throughout the year.
The location of the cooking place influences the health of the villagers.
It has been observed during the survey that women are the groups most
vulnerable as they spend more time in the kitchen.
Cooking Place
96%
100%
90%
80%
70%
Percentage
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10% 4% 4%
0%
In the Kitchen In side the living Out side
Room
Cooking Places
Fig 6.10: Cooking Place
The villagers do not have kitchen inside their houses, only 4% have
this. Most of the cooking places are situated at the home yard outside the
house which they use as kitchen about (96%)
Whatever they used as their fuel, burning such fuels produces large amount
of smoke and other air pollutants, which have both health and environmental
effect.

On the above graph we can see that the women mostly suffer from eye
irritation (62%) and respiratory problem (17%). However when they were
asked whether they faced any health problems, all there answers were in the
negative. One woman specifically said “I have been cooking for 20 years and
till now I haven’t faced any health problems”. However when they were asked
individually about specific problems which were related to smoke and burning
of fuel wood, the answers came positive. Also carbon mono oxide discharged
due to the incomplete combustion of biomass causes Headache (4%). Due to
smoke formation they might also suffer different types of diseases such as
Lung cancer, Dizziness, loss of consciousness etc but they are not aware
about this problem.
Health effect due to fuel use
100%
90%
80%
parcentage
70% 62%
60%
50%
40%
30% 21%
20% 17% 12%
10% 4%
0% Headach
Respiratory
response
irritation
Problem
Problems
Eye
No
No
Health effect
Fig 6.11: Health effect due to fuel use
6.4.10.2 Effects on the environment

From this graph we see that the different opinion of the local people. A
majority of them have said lack of awareness causes most of the
environmental effect (29%). This point is further strengthened by 21% people
who suggested there is no environmental effect due to biomass fuel use.
Some of the people identified environmental problem such as lack of storm
protection due to illegal logging, reduction of fruit trees and loss of bird
habitats.
Environmental effect
100%
80%
60%
Parcentage
40% 29% 29%

21%
20% 12%
4% 4% 4% 4% 8%
0%
No problem
Smoke formation
No response
Storm protection
Fruits trees
Shade
Wood logging
Birds habitat
Lack of awareness
Type of Env. Effect
Fig 6.12: Environmental effect
Smoke formation is responsible for ambient air pollution. The following

flow diagram represents the air pollution sources and its effects.
Sources
Smoke and Gases

Contains Kitchen
Others
COx, SOx, NOx
Eye Lung Respiratory

irritation cancer diseases
Fig 6.13: Air pollution

6.4.11 Agricultural activities
40% people of Chowka Para are related with agriculture. For cultivation
they use their own agricultural instrument and different types of fertilizers such
as urea, potash, phosphate, gypsum etc. Application of these fertilizers varies
according to the type of crop and also according to the size of land. Pesticides
such as Reepcot are used to prevent pests. At present farmers prefer to
cultivate High Yielding Variety (HYV) instead of local rice varieties because
they give twice the yield than local varieties. Although agriculture is the base
of economic structure of the village, but use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides
are causing harm to the environment which is described below.
6.4.11.1 Effects on Environment

Agricultural activities are one of the major reasons of soil erosion. During
rainy season the chemical fertilizers also get washed into the ponds and near
by water bodies, causing nitrification and ultimately to algal bloom, reducing
the quantity of oxygen in the water, which is harmful for fishes and other
aquatic lives. Excessive use of chemical fertilizer causes hardness of soil and
reduces soil fertility. Application of pesticide on crop fields to prevent attack of
pests which might destroy biologically important pest. If we consider a system
then we find different types of aspects due to different activities, which have
several positive and negative impacts both on our environment and health.
These aspects and activities are given below.
Table 6.6: Aspects, Activities and Impacts of environmental problem
Activities Aspects Impacts
Cleaning and disposal of Creates odor
Solid waste disposal
domestic waste Leaching
Ambient air pollution
Emission of particulate
Smoke generation
Fire wood use for cooking matter
Toxicological effect
Plantation activities( Tree Support good ecosystem
Increase the green
species cultivating Decrease the soil erosion
coverage.
homestead land) Supply nutrition
Particulate matter generate (1)Respiratory problem
Crop processing
from residual (2) Eye irritation
From this table we see that all this activities are nicely related with daily life
style of the villagers. For those activities they faced some unavoidable
problem which is already discussed in several parameters. It has some
positive effects also such as sustain a good ecosystem, decrease in soil
erosion and supply nutrition.
6.4.12 Trees & wildlife

Trees and wildlife are important components of our environment. It can
play an important role to maintain the ecosystem. In our assigned area of
Chowka Para we found different types of plant and animals some of which are
given below.
Table 6.7: HOMESTEAD TREES
Tree’s Name No
Mango 43
Banana 20
Coconut 32
Betel Nut 25
Black Berry 07
Teak Tree 04
Mahogany 64
Neem 15
Date 05
Jackfruit 30
During our survey we observed that approximately 64 Mahogany plants

were there. These Mahogany plantations are mainly in front of those houses
who represent the high income group in the Para. And others have Jackfruit,
Mango, coconut, Betel nut, and also Neem, which is more or less common in
every family.
Now a day the scenario of trees of Chowka Para have changed. This
change is shown below
Table 6.8: Changes of tree species according to time
Past Present
Fruits: Fruits:
Jack fruit Mango
Black berry Coconut
Banana Date
Coconut Betel nut
Mango Jack fruit
Timber: Timber:
Teak Teak
Mehogoni Meghgoni
Medicinal: Rain tree
Neem Koroi
Medicinal:
Neem
Pipil
Also Kodom and Simul tula
Fig 6.14: Home state forestry Fig 6.15: Fruit tree
Fig 6.16: Road side plantation
From this table we can see that, timber trees are increasing day by day.
The only reason are commercial purposes, Alien species (Mahogany, raintree
tree) is also introduced in that time. For fruit trees, in the past people use to
plant fruit trees for themselves but now they are doing it for commercial
purpose. For medicinal plant Neem is common species and also Pipil trees, it
is used by the village women as cough medicine for their children. A lot of
Jackfruit trees died away due to the flood of 1988.
6.4.13 Wildlife
In Chowka Para wildlife is decreasing in an alarming way. Because of rise
in new settlements habitats for wildlife is getting fragmented day by day. In the
past the new settlement area was an agricultural land which was abundant
with lots of foxes, snakes, different types of birds such as sparrow, crow and
kingfisher. But today the number of this wildlife is declining.
Fig 6.17: Birds in the area
6.4.14 Food web

Several foods chains together and make a food web whereas food chain is
the interaction between human beings, plants and animals. Food web is an
important part in our environment, in order to maintain the ecosystem. An
example of the food web is given below.
SUN
MAN
FISH
COW
BIRDS
TREE
Fig 6.18: Food web
This was the general idea of a food web. However, in our assigned village
of Chowka Para the food web was affected due to decline of the fish
productivity. The fish productivity is declining because of reduce channel flow
due to siltation in the upstream. For that reason the canal, which is situated
behind the village, is becoming narrow gradually as a result the villagers are
loosing fish as well as water resource.
6.5 Positive findings of the whole study

❖ Most of the people of this area using ring slab, which are hygienic. The
overall sanitation system is relatively satisfactory of this Para.
❖ More or less the village people are aware of wastes disposal as well as
supply of drinking water.
❖ They are also aware about all health care family planning, vaccination.
Most of the women are aware of AIDS which was quite surprising.
6.6 Negative findings of the whole study
❖ The government health centers are not providing sufficient and
adequate services and medication to the villagers. As a result people
are more frequently use to go to the local or private health care centers
for treatment.
❖ Water that the villagers use for their daily purposes is Iron and Arsenic
contaminated.
❖ Habitat loss due to resettlement of people
❖ Reduced channel flow due to the siltation from upstream of
Dhaleshwari River
6.7 Recommendation
The villagers have been drinking Arsenic contaminated water for a long
time. Since the NGOs and the government does not visit the area. Therefore it
would be very helpful if they went there and created alternative means of
acquiring safer drinking water for the villagers.
The health officials similarly do not go to the village for vaccinating the
children nor do they go to check up on the women to address their maternal
problems.
The villagers are also suffering from economic problems, as some of them
want to do poultry but cannot do so because the last time they tried their
poultry died due to lack of training/vaccination from the local NGOs.
6.8 Conclusion
The area of Chowka Para is not a very large one, consisting of only 24
households. Since they are a very small community they lack many
provisions, such as hospitals, school, and college within the para. After
reviewing the situation in Chowka Para, it can be deduced that they are in
great need of support from both the local NGOs and the government in order
for them to prosper. This applies in terms of agriculture, where improper
technology and old methods have led to lower production and creation of
more environmental hazards. Then, in terms of health it would seem that
people are in need of more attention from the health officers for addressing
issues of vaccinating their children and other health related problems
especially maternal health care. Thus it would be very helpful if they were to
receive a considerable amount of attention from the concerned authorities.
7.1 Introduction
Market is the place where people come to buy there necessary goods
and services and a group of people come to sell their products to them.
Buying and selling has been going one in human civilization since it’s dawn.
But the form has changed in time from exchange of products to exchange of
valuable metals to present day money.
Market analysis is an important tool to see the change in the social behavior
and in the economy. Products in market reflect the spending power of the
local people.
Bangladesh is a developing country. Almost 65% of her people leave in the
rural area. The rural market is of three types Bazaar, Permanent shops and
Haat.
Rural Market
Haat Permanent
Bazaar Shop
Fig 7.1: Rural Market types
7.2 Objective
Our objective of the market analysis was
❖ To have a better understanding of rural market system.
❖ To identify the different kinds of products and services.
❖ To understand the different stage and media involved in production and
distribution process.
❖ To distinguish the buyer and sellers prospective of the market.
7.3 Methodology
To study the Katigram haat we had to study the producers, sellers,
buyers who attendee the weekly haat. For this part of work we have used two
techniques of PRA. Semi structure interview and one to one interview was
conducted to understand the rural market mechanism. Using these
techniques we tried to find out a detailed picture of the Katigram haat to
incorporate marketing’s four P’s (Product, Price, Place and Promotion). It is
also done for evaluating the socio economic condition of the village farmers,
entrepreneurs and other traders who come here.
7.4 Haat and Bazaar of the Study village ‘Katigram’

of Manikganj
7.4.1 Katigram Haat

Katigram haat is located 1.5 km. from Proshika campus. It seats
within the Katigram bazaar. It has an area of 40 bigha. More then 300 shops
and vender seats in this haat including more or less 100 permanent shops.
Many goods and service are available in Katigram haat. People from different
village come in this haat to conduct his treading. This haat is a major source
of income for may people. So this haat plays an important role in the rural
market economy.
7.5 Concept of Market, Haat and Bazaar
7.5.1 Market
Theoretically a market is a place where “A group of potential consumer
with similar needs who are willing to exchange something of value with sellers
offering various goods or services that is ways of satisfying those needs.”
(Basic Marketing, Macarthy/Perreault., Eleventh edition, 1993)
From social point of view, it is a place for socialization, gossiping, politics as
well as for relaxation. In the context of Bangladesh, There exist three types of
markets, i.e. Haat, Bazaar and permanent shop. In these markets all the
intermediaries like manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers play a prominent
role. Concept of haat and bazaar discussed here
7.5.2 Haat
Haat is a temporary form of market. It takes place on specific
weekdays, once or twice in a week where buying and selling of desired goods
and services go on in a large quantity. It is normally held beside the bank of a
river or under a big banyan tree. For the villagers haat is more important place
than the bazaar it is usually attended by the people of several villages.
It is usually held in the afternoon. But there are exceptions too. Some haats,
for selling clothes or cow held early in the morning. There exists some semi
permanent structure in a haat.
7.5.3 Bazaar
A bazaar is normally referred to a place that has a range of shops
where business transactions are held daily almost through out the week.
Usually in Bangladesh, rural bazaars are a cluster of “semi-pacca” and
“katchsa” shops, thatched or corrugated tin roofed with bamboo structures. A
rural bazaar consists few shops, which cater to the needs of the villager.
Bazaar is also a common place for the villagers to exchange their news and
views. The shops have to pay a small amount of taxes to the market authority
every year.
Table 7.1: Difference between Haat and Bazaar
Parameters Haat Bazaar
Frequency Twice a week Every day
Working
In general 12pm to 5pm From morning to night (9pm)
hour
Available More diverse and huge quantity Limited number and daily need
products of product product
Available
More then every day Average and few
service
Price Relatively Lower than Bazaar Relatively higher then Haat
Number of
Number of buyer and seller is Number of buyer and seller is
buyer and
high relatively low
seller
Competition High Low
7.6 Communication and Transportation Facilities
In Katigram haat the major actors are the primary producers, pikars or the
wholesalers, local traders and buyers. The common transports used by them
are bicycle, rickshaw, rickshaw van, bus, tempo and even truck. The bicycle,
rickshaw, rickshaw van and tempo are usually owned by the local people and
during the harvesting season they have heavy demand. Rickshaw and
rickshaw van are mainly used by the primary producer and the wholesaler to
bring the crop from there home to the market. The wholesaler also use truck
to carry there products to the warehouse and to different part of the country.
Transportation facility
 Rickshaw Van
 Rickshaw
 Tempo
 Truck
 Bus
Few farmers pull rickshaw or rickshaw van by themselves during the off-
season to have an extra income for the family.
Table given below will show the use of different transport by different actor.
Table 7.2: Use of Transports in Katigram haat by different Actors
Katigram Haat
Actors Transports
- Use rickshaw, rickshaw van, tempo to take products

Primary Producers
to haat
- Use bicycle, rickshaw, rickshaw van, tempo, bus

Local Traders
even truck to collect products from different sources
- Use rickshaw, rickshaw van, tempo and truck to

Pikars
collect products from primary products or from haat
- Use bicycle, rickshaw, rickshaw van tempo to carry

Local Buyers
and buy different products for their own consumption
7.7 Available Products and Services in Katigram
Haat and Bazaar
7.7.1 Service available in the Katigram bazaar
 Van service
 Doctors
 Blacksmith
 Barber
 Bank
 Insurance
7.7.2 4Ps
4Ps is one of the fundamental of a market system. 4Ps stands for Product,
Price, Promotion and Distribution. This are discussed below.
7.7.3 Product and Price
Product is divided in two categories
 Consumer products
 Business products
Product
Consumer Product Business products
Fig 7.2: Product category
7.7.3.1 Consumer products

Consumer products are of different category. The available consumer
products of Katigram haat and bazaar with there price list is given below.
Fig 7.3: Consumer goods Fig 7.4: Specialty Product
Fig 7.5: Unsought product

Consumer Product
Product Price
→Rice →17tk/kg
→Bettle leaf →18tk/ber
Convenience →Soap →18tk/pic
Product →Biri →3tk/pac
→Hair oil →45tk/pic
→Seeds →15tk/100 gm
→Cat fish →55tk/pic
Shopping →Sharee →120-
Product 400tk/pic
→Fertilizer →700-
1000tk/40kg
→Tin →300tk/pic
→Furniture →15000tk/pic
Specialty → Drill →1800tk/pic
Product machine
→Medicine →10-50tk
→Kafoner →35tk/yeard
Unsought kapor →12tk &20tk
Product →Contracept
ion’s
Fig 7.6: Consumer products and its classification with price at Katigram haat.
7.7.3.2 Business products
Different category of business product and product are given below.
Business Products
Capital Services Production
Carpenter, Barber, Doctor, Fruits, Livestock,

Tractors, Corn and
Laborers, Rickshaw puller Vegetables
Generators
Fig 7.7: Business products in Katigram haat
Fax-Phone, Photocopy
❖ Convenience Products: Villagers usually buy items like food,

dry food, spices, milk, candy, soap, cigarette, tea etc
frequently, immediately and with a minimum of comparison and
buying effort.
❖ Shopping Products: Clothing, Beverage, Cosmetics,

detergent liquid etc products are being less frequently
purchased on the basis of quality, suitability and price. The
villagers spend much time and effort I gathering information
and making comparisons.
❖ Specialty Product: For our studied are, this type of product

includes fuel, pesticides, medical and legal specialists. These
products have unique characteristics or brand identification that
creates a special purchase effort among the buyers.
❖ Unsought Product: The villagers know a little about these
products like the family planning materials or insurance but
don’t normally think of buying.
7.8 Distribution Channel

A distribution channel is a set of interdependent different component of the
market system which allows the consumer to enjoy the product or service
available for use or consumption by the consumer or for industrial user.
The distribution channel is a key element in marketing. There has to be a
synchronized effort in the part of all the participants of a distribution channel in
order to smoothly transfer the goods and services from producer to consumer.
Several types of products were being sold in the Katigram haat. We found
different types of distribution channel for different products. For some
products several parties were involved in the distribution channel.
There are mainly four participants in this market. They are-
 Producer
 Wholesaler
 Retailer
 Consumer
In most of the case we have seen the following distribution channel.
Where producer sells his products in the haat to the middleman or direct to
the local consumer. The middleman sells the products to the wholesaler who
in turn sells it in the different market retailer.
Local
consumer
Produce Middleman Wholesaler Retailer

r
Fig 7.8: Common distribution channel

Consumer
7.8.1 Distribution channel of agricultural products
The distribution channel of agricultural products depends on seasonal
variation. Different crop has different distribution channel. In Katigram haat the
main agriculture products are Paddy, corn, lemon, egg plant and other
vegetable. Paddy and corn is sold to the local wholesalers. They sell this to
the mill owner for preparation. Then they sell the final product to wholesaler,
who then sells it to the retailers. In the end the products reach the consumer.
Producers Wholesalers Local

retailers
Mill owner
Wholesalers
Retailers of
other area
Consumers
Fig 7.9: Distribution channel for the agricultural products
But agriculture products like vegetable are either sold to local

consumer or to wholesaler who sells it out side the village. As these are
perishable goods they are sold very quickly.
7.8.2 Distribution channel of manufacturing products

In case of most of the manufacturing companies such as- Keya,
Unilever, Aromatics etc. companies have their own registered distributors and
agents in this place. The companies send their products to these agents and
the agents meet the retailers at a regular basis, once a week and provide
them the products which have demand in this market.
Manufacturer
Company’s
agent
Retailers
Consumers
Fig 7.10: Distribution channel for the agricultural products
In the haat of Katigram, we observed both outflow (vegetables, corn, fruits,

crops as well as labors) and inflow of (rice, fish etc) daily necessary products.
7.9 Distribution Channel of Inflow and Outflow

Products
7.9.1 Distribution Network of Outflow Products

Following diagram shows the outflow of products in Katigram haat.
Farmers producing
vegetable and rice
Paikar/ wholesaler
Out side the Village
Retailers
Consumers
Fig 7.11: Distribution network of outflow products
7.9.2 Distribution Network of Inflow Products
Following diagram shows the inflow of products in Katigram haat.
Manufacturer
Company’s Paddy,
Wholesaler Retailers Consumer
agent
Fig 7.12: Distribution network of inflow products
7.10 Inward and Outward Products of Katigram

haat
In Katigram haat many goods and services are being bought and sold
every week. Many of this goods and services are produced in the village and
some are brought from out side the village. In the part it has been aimed to
identify some of this products there origin and destination.
7.10.1 Inward Products

The inward products of Katigram haat are rice, fish, consumer goods,
fertilizer and pesticides from different district. For example
❖ Rice is brought here from North Bengal particularly from Pabna, Bogra,
Rajshahi, Rangpur etc.
❖ Fish is brought from Mymensingh.
❖ The consumer goods, fertilizers and the pesticides are mainly collected
from Dhaka, Savar, and Manikganj town.
Table 7.3: Inward products and there origin
Products Origin
Rice North Bengal
Fish Mymensingh
Fertilizers and pesticides Dhaka and Savar
Consumer goods (e.g. Shop, hair oil Dhaka Manikganj town and other
etc.) places.
7.10.2 Outward Products
In the Katigram haat number of outward products are very few than the
inward products. Some outward products like paddy, maze, vegetables and
labor are going outside from the market. Those products mainly exported to
Dhaka and north Bengal.
Table 7.4: Outward product and its destination
Products Destination
Vegetable Dhaka, Manikganj, Savar,
Corn Dhaka, North Bengal
Paddy North Bengal
North Bengal
Savar
Mymensingh
KATIGRAM
HAAT
Manikganj and
other places Dhaka
Fig 7.13: Inward and Outward products of the Katigram Haat.

Fig 7.14: Inwards (Catfish) and outwards (Corn) products of Katigram gram
7.11 Value chain

In marketing, value chain is defined as a tool for identifying ways to create
more consumer value. In fact a value chain analysis evaluates each activity
of production processes at every stage that starts from the input selection to
the final distribution of products to the ultimate consumers. Starting from the
input selection to distribution, a wide range of activities is involved. For
example, in production the activities are
Input Production Processing Distribution

Selection Processes Activities
7.11.1 Current value chain for CORN

In Katigram haat we have seen several types of crops which are going to
different location for consumption. These are Rice, Corn, Lemon and
Eggplant. But some of these are seasonal especially lemon and eggplant.
Where else rice and corn are grown through out the year. So we have shown
here the value chain of corn which is a major crop in this area. In current
value adding system value is added mainly in the Input selection and
Production processes. Good quality seed, fertilizer, pesticides increase the
value of end product as this inputs determine the quality and quantity of end
product. In the production processes the sowing, ploughing, weeding and
others activity also determine the quality of end product. In the processing
activity value is not added. In some case it is decreased because if manual
husking, sun drying and storing which effect the quality of the product. And
the last step also added value depending on the number of middleman.

→ Land → Transportation
→ Seed → Husking
→ Haat
→ Fertilizer preparation → Drying
→ Pesticides → Sowing → Storing
→ Labor → Ploughing
→ Weeding
→ Harvesting
Labor
Fig 7.15: Current value chain of corn cultivation
7.11.2 Improved value chain for CORN

The present system of value chain can be improved if some small changes
could be made in the input selection, production processes and processing
activity.
In the input selection steep along with good quality seed and pesticides,
adequate amount of fertilizer and irrigation can be provided then the end crop
will have high quality and quantity. In the production processes if the seed are
sown with the help of dram seeder and proper weeding is done then it will add
value to crop as it will have high quality of crop and proper management of
seed.

→ Transportation
→ Seed → Land → Husking
→ Haat
→ Fertilizer preparation → Drying
→ Pesticides → Sowing using → Storing in
→ Labor dram seeder warehouse
→ Irrigation → Ploughing
→ Weeding
→ Harvesting
Labor
Fig 7.16: Improved value chain for corn cultivation

In the processing activity if the corn is husked with the help of machine
then the farmers will have more time to sun dry the crop. This will give them a
good price for the crop. And when the crop is stored in a warehouse this will
allow them to sell good quality crop. In this way value is added to the end
product/crop.
7.12 Bargaining power of Buyers and Sellers in

Katigram haat
Both the buyers and the sellers want to have benefits over a product in
their favor and at the end one who has strong bargaining power win the race.
It is possible for the seller to set high price only when he has a monopoly over
the product in terms of quality and availability. In case of reverse situation-
buyer will be benefited by paying less for a product with a good numbers of
suppliers in the market. It is the bargaining power that decides who is at an
advantageous position.
In the study area the market is mainly controlled by seasonality. One of the
major crop of this area is corn and lemon. The producer of lemon said the
price depends on the seasonality. In the winter they sell 20 piece of lemon for
40tk and during summer they sell same number of lemon for 80tk. It also
depends if the number of seller selling lemon is less than the bargaining
power is in the seller’s court. Again if the number of seller is high then the
bargaining power is in the buyer’s court. And another important thing in this
case the choice of alternative goods, if the product has any substitute, buyers
tend to think for that too. Same is in the case for chilly and other perishable
goods.
So in the end the bargaining power of buyers and sellers come down to
four major factors.
❖ Availability of the product
❖ Alternative product or power of choice
❖ Number of consumer
❖ Number of seller.
7.13 Price fixation
We found that there were some products, which were bought and sold in
almost fixed price. We found that most of the industrial products were in fixed
price. People thought that as there was no strong competitor, the
shopkeepers fixed the price based on availability of products. Sometimes
when the farmers come to sell their products, the third parties fix the prices,
which is again a disaster because there are not many buyers in that haat.
Therefore, the farmers are loosing their profit.
7.14 Promotion
Bangladesh is a fast growing economy. Most of the consumer products
are now being produced in side the country. The industries have recognized
the huge market in the rural Bangladesh as more than 70 percent people
leave there. The expansion of this market is highly motivated with the wide
spread media access. Like city in the rural area of Bangladesh media is one
of the major source for promotional activity.
In Katigram haat the depending on the product type the promotion activity
varies. The locally produced and non-brand products are promoted by
canvassing, providing free sample and through other attractive offers.
But products like Aromatic soap, Tibat soap, Wheel washing powder, Lux
soap, Sunsilk shampoo or food products like Ruchi, BD, RC cola etc. are
being promoted through advertisements in TV, radio, news paper and also
through posters, banner, bill board and free gifts.
7.15 Brand preferences & Brand Loyalty

The list of product that have been provided from of a grocery shop of
Katigram haat (please see Fig-7.3), it can be easily identified out that the
availability, variety and brand of products at Katigram haat and bazaar. The
haat did not have more variety then Katigram bazaar. These grocery shops
contain wide range of branded products starting from food items to cosmetic
items. It can be assumed that due to modern marketing campaign, the
demand for variety of brands is increasing as well as brand preferences.
Above all the buying capacity of the consumers has also increased. The
villagers of these areas are very much loyal to there brand. When a villager
went to the shop to buy soap, he/she don’t ask that ‘give me soap’ but he/she
ask that “give me Tibet soap”. From the table (table 7.5) below we see the
brand preference and the change in choice of local people as well as the
brand loyalty of the local people.
Table 7.5: Brand preference and change in the choice of local people
Present preferred Past preferred
Product
goods (Brand) goods (Brand)
Salt ACI Molla
Buyer Soap (washing) Pocha Pocha
Biri Akiz Biri Akiz Biri
Detergent powder Wheel Jet
Seller Soap (bathing) Tibet Other local
Biri Akiz Biri Akiz Biri
7.16 Common Problems

All haat in Bangladesh has some sort of problem. Katigram haat has a few
problems which is affecting the sellers and the buyers.
❖ Water logging during rainy season due to lack of proper drainage
facility.
❖ Presence of hermaphrodite and toll collection by them.
❖ Disorganized
❖ Waist disposal
❖ Illegal toll collection by the bazaar committee.
7.17 Case story

To complete our market study we had to take interview of different people.
The interviews are given below as case story.
7.17.1 Case story of traders/businessman
Case study 1: Tree seller

One of the first person whom we interviewed for our case study is Md.
Sanawar hosen age 32 from Kanda Para. He studied up to class 4. He sells
seedling of different type of trees from his own nursery. His tree seedlings
price range from 3-8 Tk. (i.e. Mahogany (8tk), Rain tree (7tk.), Neem (7tk.),
Papaya (3tk.)). The price includes transport cost. He sells his products
besides the main road in an open place.
Beside this he owns 14pakhi (1 Pakhi =33 decimal) of land where he
grows lemon. He sells a pon (a Pon = 80 pice of lemon) of lemon for 20-30
Tk. This is his secondary income. He has 2 sons one in class 1 and another
one is an infant. He wants to educate his sons and don’t want more children.
He also wants to expend this nursery.
Case study 2: Grocery shop

Name of the grocery shop owner is Md. Chan Mia age 60, hails from
Katigram. He studied up to class 5. He started this shop 10 months back. In
the last ten month he made profit of 30,000-32,000 Tk. He acquires his goods
from Dhaka, Manikganj, and Savar. Some of the products available in his
shop are Hair oil, cooking Oil, Soap, Salt, Sugar, Molasses, Wheat, Rice and
etc. He is bringing his product by rickshaw van and truck. Consumer brand
preference in case of soap is Tibbet toilet shop because of the promotional
offer”Buy two get one free” and Wheel washing shop because of brand
preference. His daily sell is 300-500 Tk. and haat day 1000-1200 taka.
He owns 73 bigha of land. He cultivates IRRI rice and Corn. He has one
son and two daughters. Son works in garment and the girl work in Akiz
Company.
Case study 3: Corn wholesaler

One of the major crops of this area is corn. Minto a young wholesaler of
Katigram haat aged 26. He studied up to class 9. He leaves in Katigram. He
mainly buys corn, paddy, jut and mastered. He annually buys 300-500
maunds (1 maunds =40Kg.) of corn at the rate of 300-400 taka per maunds.
The price depends on the seasonal variation. Most of the cases price is fixed
by the mill owner. Beside this he said that jut and mastered have the most
profit margin. But this also includes high risk. This trading depends on the
seasonal variation. He collects his products from surrounding villages. Apart
for Katigram haat he also collect product from Koitta and Kamalpur haat.
Some time he collects his crops directly from the farmer or they come to him
with crops.
Case study 4: Sells Baskets which are used for Storing (locally know
as Dole)
In the haat among many items in one corner some seller was selling
locally bamboo made crop storage facility. Md. Shohidul Islam aged 33 from
Doia gram. He studied up to class 9. He uses bamboo to make dole. Bamboo
is from his village and also from his own house. He mainly goes to Katigram
haat and Shaturia haat. Every haat day he sell about 70 to 100 dole. Each
dole cost about 150-250 Tk each. He said that he didn’t want to carry on in
this business because of family problem. One of his family members is
mentally retarded.
Case study 5: Lungi and Ghamcha Seller

Md. Abdul Hosain age 38 from Golara, Poshim Para. He is a cloth seller.
He mainly sells Lungi and Ghamcha. He brings this product from Manikganj.
He sells a piece of lungi for 125-130 taka which he bought for 100-115 taka
and he sells ghamcha for 35-40 taka which he bought for 25-30 taka. He also
sells gangi. The prices range from 20-25taka. He only seats in haat days in
different haat of Manikganj. He has no permanent shop. He seat in a fixed
place with other cloth seller. He sells on an average of 1500-2000 taka. He
don’t want a permanent shop because, different haat has different demand
every time. He has two sons. They are studying in class 10 and class 4
respectively.
7.17.2 Case story of Buyers
Case study 1: Worker

Md. Shajghan Mia age 45 from Chor Krisnopur, he only comes to Katigram
haat in haat day for his shopping. He works in sawmill. He has studied up to
class 10. He has 2 girls and a boy. They go to school. His monthly
expenditure is 5000. He prefers this haat because of variety of products, fresh
good and cheaper price. He’s want to be a proprietor of sawmill. For this
purpose he has taken an amount of 30,000.00 Tk. loan from Grameen Bank.
Case study 2: Potato seller

A potato seller named Phakhalee Mia age 40 hails from Burin. He has his
own land. Land size is 1.25 bigha. He cultivates potato and rice. Rice is for his
own consumption and potato for commercial purpose. On the day of our visit
he brought 14 kg of potato. He carried it him self and saved any transportation
cost. On an average he sells 200-250 Tk. worth of potato. He said he sells at
the rate of 12-15 taka per kg.
He also has a cow. It provides 1.5-2 kg of milk daily. He sells the milk at
the rate of 15-20 Tk. per kg. Monthly expenditure comes from this milk and
potato. He has 3 children. All of them are student. He made a remark that
”NGO’s are bad”.
Case study 3: Bean Seller

In the haat we talked to a bean seller. His name was Md. Abbas Ali. His
age was 35. He was from the village, Bahir Kamta, He was illiterate. He has
one son and two daughters. He has only 12 decimal of land where he
cultivates only the bean and Chichinga. But he took 2 bighas of land as
Borga. For each bigha he has to pay TK 3000.00 for per year where he
cultivates some paddy like- IRRI, BR-11 etc. He had a loan from "Grameen
Somiti" of TK 5000.00. He uses different kinds of chemical fertilizer. He buys
these fertilizers from this haat. He has no power tiller and irrigation system
with his own. He is satisfied with the price he was getting. He also said that
he is very happy with the middlemen because he can sell a very little amount
of product to any wholesaler easily but if he has to go to urban area to sell
that product then his cost of product increase and the profit margin is reduced.
According to him the production cost for per kg was TK 3.00 and he was
selling at the rate of TK 5.00 - 6.00. He has no storing facility for his products.
His living style is poor. He didn't have electricity in his house.
Case study 4: Chili Seller
In the haat there were several chili sellers. We talked with a chili seller
whose name was Md. Alauddin. He was 35 years old. He was from Koitta. He
passed class three. He has one son and one daughter. His children go to
school of Koitta. He has 4 bighas of land. He cultivates chili, egg-plant and
paddy in his fields. He has no irrigation machine and power tiller. He was not
interested in taking any loan from NGO’s because he was afraid of their
interest rate system. He said that his yearly income was approximately TK
60,000.00 - 70,000.00 but he leads a very ordinary life. He has a Radio in his
house. Sometimes he goes to Manikgonj to enjoy cinema show.
He used Urea, DAP fertilizers in his chili fields. He said that the price of the
chemical fertilizers were high and also not available. He bought the seedlings
of chili from this haat. The cost of seedlings for per bigha was TK 150.00-
200.00. He said that per bigha total cost for the crops was TK 4000.00. He
has a storing facility for paddy. He believed that the middlemen were helping
them but they gave him less profit. He anticipates that he would be a well-
known farmer in the village Bahir Kamta within some years.
Case study 5: Paddy Seller

We found a famous farmer who is known to almost all shopkeepers. His
name was Chand Miya. He was from Railna Dokkhin Kashba. He was 40+
years old. He never went to school. He has 3 sons and two daughters. His
sons are helping with him to cultivate. He has 8 Bighas of land. He cultivates
IRRI, BR-11 and sometimes Jute also. He cultivates Jute in one Bigha. He
uses chemical fertilizers like- Urea, TSP, Potash, DMP etc. He has his own
power tiller. He also gives this for rent. He also has a shallow Tube well for
irrigation. He has been farming from 30 years. So, he knows a lot about the
whole process of production. He produces his own seeds as well as plants.
He uses different types of pesticides. Per bigha he gets at approximately 20
maunds paddy. Total cost per bigha is almost TK 3000.00. He was selling
paddy at TK 450.00 - 480.00 per maund. He never took any loan. His yearly
income was TK 80,000.00 - 100,000.00 He has a stocking system called
"Dhangola" in which he can store at least 100 maunds paddy. He said that he
was happy with his children. In future he wants to increase his land property.
He thought that he was not getting exact price from the local wholesalers. He
wishes that next time he will try to sell paddy directly to wholesalers,
7.18 Conclusion
By analyzing the rural market, we discovered new identity of the farmers
as well as businessmen of our country. Though we could not give, afford for a
whole days but within the short time we tried to find out some interesting
things, which will be never get out from our mind. We observed that each
farmer and businessman was leading different interesting lifestyle. Buying
and selling style different from the urban market. We gathered lot of
experiences, which will help to continue for the next important steps in our life.
From the economic point of view, we did an important job, which was gather
information from fields and then we analyzed to understand rural market
system.
8.0 Conclusion
On the basis of the above discussions in the concluding remark we could
say that the population and area of the locality is small. Value of family among
the residents has declined. Due to the increasing sense of individualism
people are more willing to build nuclear family. Perceptions of the local people
in terms of education, health and sanitation have changed, which indicates
their ability to adopt new cultural practices. Thus the para reflects a modern
society. The economic condition of our para is not that much developed. The
stage of economic development is semi-developed. Distributions of assets
among the residents are not equal. Income and rural production cycle are
highly influenced by seasonal variation. Among the agricultural crop corn has
become popular cash crop. Development in health sector has been drastic
with the help of NGOs but the influence of government development program
was very negligible. Residents of our locality are very much concern about the
arsenic contamination in the tube-well water. From the local market
assessment we found out that the internal export of vegetable products has
increased. Middle men are playing key role in the rural market. Buying
capacity of the local people has increased which is reflected in the market.
Future study in this Para as well as the whole village would help us to
establish a broader understanding of the trends of social, economical and
environmental changes.
9.0 Bibliography
1. http://www.proshika.org/ (PROSHIKA)
2. THE BANGLADESH BUREAU OF STATISTICS, APRIL 29, 2002,
3. Economic Geography of Bangladesh/Haroun er Rashid. Reprint.
Dhaka, The University Press, 2005
4. Basic Marketing, Macarthy/Perreault., Eleventh edition, 1993

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THE OFFICE OF LFE

22nd September 2022

We the undersigned, would like to submit here with the "Live-in-Field

By using PRA methods, questionnaire survey and observation, we tried our

We would be glad to clarify any matter whenever you required so.

We express our heartiest gratitude to our teachers, NAME OF FACULTIES for

ASA - Association for Social Advancement

5.3 Economic conditions of Chowka Para 54

and wealth ranking

5.3.2.1 Findings from the assessment 54

5.3.2.2Income groups and amount of income 54

5.3.3 Wealth ranking 57

5.3.3.1 Amount of land 57

Table 3.6(B): Educational Background of other Members 19

1.2 Limitation of the Study

Review and Data Compilation

Data Analysis Secondary Data

Fig 2.1: Methodology flow chart

3.1.1 Para Profile

Chowka Para at a Glance

3.5 History of the Para

3.6 Overview of the village and Para

3.6.1 Name of the village

3.6.4 Major religion

Fig 3.2: Map of Manikganj

3.8 Village mapping

Fig 3.5: Final Village Map

Fig 3.7: Participatory Para Mapping

3.9.1 Age and Sex distribution of study population

Number of total Male population

It means there is 1 woman for every 1.05 man.

Population under 15 year + Population above 65 year

This is the common formula of dependency ratio. But in Bangladeshi

AGE MALE FEMALE

3.9.2 Marital Status

Income Range Chart

Income range (In thousands (TK) per year)

Fig 3.9: Income Range Chart

Table 3.5: Yearly Income of Various Families

Table 3.6(B): Educational Background of other Members

3.9.7 School/ College/ Madrasha

3.9.9 Religion, Mosque, Grave Yard and Eid Gah

3.9.10 Sources of water

Fig 3.10: Iron filter Fig 3.11: Arsenic contaminated tub-well

3.9.12 Health Care Center

3.9.13 Environmental Pollution and Source of Fuel

3.9.15 Sports and Recreations

3.9.16 Administration, Laws and Politics

3.9.17 Communication, Transports and Electricity

3.9.18 Birds and Animals

3.9.19 NGO and others

3.10 MAJOR FINDINGS

3.11.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE TRANSECT MAP

3.11.3.1 Zone-1: Communication and Residence (Steps 1 to 40)

3.11.3.2 Zone-2: Low land and Residence (Steps 41 to 80)

3.11.3.3 Zone-3: Low land and houses (Steps 81 to 120)

3.11.3.4 Zone-4: Low land and houses (Steps 121 to 160)

3.12 Major findings

4.2 Objectives of the Report

❖ To examine and analyze what social changes have occurred in the

4.5 Time Division

In order to diminish confusion among the respondents we narrowed down

4.6 Parameters with the Characteristic of Our