IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 11

COMMENTARY

A Decision Support System
to Assist the Rural Poor
in Bangladesh

angladesh is the world's eighth most populous country and has one of the highest
population densities in the world. The
country also has one of the highest rates of
population growth in the world, although the growth
rate in the country is moderating. Issues arising from
population density and growth are exacerbated by frequent natural disasters and an extreme vulnerability
to climate change linked to the physical geography of
Bangladesh as being built on the deltas of several very
large rivers. The percentage of the population living
under the poverty line decreased to 31.5 in 2010 from
40 in 2005, due to consistent economic and remittance
growth [1]. Despite important economic progress, the
country remains highly food-insecure. Bangladesh is
ranked 129th out of 169 countries in the 2010 Human
development Index (HDI), and 70th in a list of 80
countries in the 2011 Global Hunger Index (GHI).
According to government figures, around 40% of the
population is food insecure, meaning that more than
60 million people consume less than the minimum
daily recommended amount of food. Achieving gender equality also remains a challenge, as significant
disparities persist in health, education, and income.
Since independence, however, the country has
increased life expectancy significantly, achieved gender parity in education, reduced population growth,
and improved maternal and child health [2].

Agriculture in Bangladesh
(this section is primarily drawn from [3])
Bangladesh has a primarily agrarian economy.
Almost 80% of Bangladesh's population lives in the
rural areas, with 54% employed in agriculture and the
remainder in the rural non-farm (RNf) sector. The
rural economy constitutes a significant component of
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2013.2276638
Date of publication: 26 September 2013

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

fALL 2013

MICHAEL
GURSTEIN

the national GDP. Agriculture (including crops, livestock, fisheries, and forestry) accounts for 21%, and
the non-farm sector, which is also driven primarily by
agriculture, for another 33%. Because of Bangladesh's
fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can
be grown and harvested three times a year in many
areas. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's laborintensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in
food grain production despite the often unfavorable
weather conditions.

Profile of the Bangladeshi Farmer
Approximately half of Bangladesh's rural population is
classified as being poor, comprising about 85% of the
total population of the country. Achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty to
26.5% by 2015 will require a growth rate of at least
4.0% in agriculture and 7.0% in the non-farm sector.
Another challenge is a rapidly shrinking land base.
While the country's population is growing at the rate
of 1.6% per year, demographic pressures and increased
urbanization have caused cultivated areas to decline at
a rate of 1% per year. As cropintensity has approached
its limit (about 175% now), future growth will need to
come from intensification of cereal production, diversification into high-value crop and non-crop activities, and adding value to the agro-processing sector,
including storage, processing, and marketing. This will
require reforming the agricultural research and extension systems, and financial and other regulation.
Bangladesh is the terminal floodplain delta of three
large river-Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. Every
year about 20 to 30%, and every few years about 40%,
of the country is flooded, In addition to this flooding being the source of the fertility of the soil in
Bangladesh, it is also causes serious damage to infrastructure, crops, and the overall economy. Projected
climatic changes and a concurrent rise in the sea level
are likely to worsen the situation.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013