|
Rubaiya Murshed
1, *
and Mohammad Riaz Uddin
2
|
| 1 Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| 2 Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies [BIDS], Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| * Corresponding author |
The development of organic agriculture in Bangladesh has been slow. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2018), approximately 12,000 farmers in Bangladesh produce organic crops on around 7,000 hectares of land. The transition from conventional to organic farming has been an issue of debate, especially in the context of developing nations such as Bangladesh. The debate stresses the urgency for the transition to preserve environment and health and to ensure a safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly food production system, but also emphasizes the pressure of maintaining food production for a large growing population. We focus on the debate in the context of Bangladesh, and question whether it is the proper time and stage in the development process to attempt the transition from conventional to organic food production systems. We ask why the organic rice market is not expanding in Bangladesh and explain the slow market growth through the two main factors of income constraint and lack of awareness among people about the environmental and health detriments of non-organic farming. The exploratory study finds that it is not mainly the lack of awareness but the income constraint that can be principally attributed to the slow expansion of the organic rice market in Bangladesh. Through exploring consumers’ awareness about organic farming methods and their demand for organic products, this study shows how income as a major constraint, besides price, affects consumers demand for organic and non-organic rice in Bangladesh. Income being identified as the major barrier reveals the potential of the organic rice market to grow in the future, as Bangladesh continues its journey towards becoming a middle-income country.
|
Verena K. Hansmann
1
,
Otto Volling
2
and Volker Krömker
3, *
|
| 1 Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Microbiology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover, Hannover, Germany |
| 2 Ökoring e. V., Visselhövede, Germany |
| 3 Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Section Production, Nutrition and Health, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark |
| * Corresponding author |
|
Paul Francis Lovatt Smith
1, *
and Gavin Nobes
2
|
| 1 Farmer, East Sussex, UK |
| 2 School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK |
| * Corresponding author |
Traditional farming in South East (SE) England is presented as a highly-evolved form of sustain- able farming. The carrying capacity of traditional farming on a 2.75 ha family smallholding in SE England is assessed from production data recorded over a period of 8 years. The key elements of the farming system were mixed farming (livestock, dairy, arable and horticultural), self-sufficiency in terms of inputs and organic principles. Ten types of food were produced with the aim to comprise all the elements of a balanced diet. The holding and farming system are described and an analysis of the food produced is presented, in terms of weight and energy content, for the years 2010 to 2017. An average carrying capacity of 0.64 people ha−1 was demonstrated on the basis of food energy content alone. Carrying capacity increased to 1.09 people ha−1 when production was re-proportioned to align with the UK Government’s currently recommended balanced diet. The latter figure is similar to carrying capacity estimates, derived from national statistics, for the UK’s total farmland in the middle part of the 20th Century but significantly lower than theoretical predictions of national carrying capacity.