10. Role of jackfruit based traditional agroforestry in farmers income and livelihood improvements: Evidence from Mymensingh district of Bangladesh

Abstract

The agroforestry production systems provide products and services to support the basic needs and augment the livelihood of millions of farmers all over the world. In Bangladesh, the benefit of the traditional agroforestry systems and their livelihood development approaches are often not systematically addressed. Thus, the goal of the study was to evaluate the impact of traditional agroforestry on income generation and livelihood improvement of the rural farmers in Bangladesh. The study selected one of the most common jackfruit agroforestry cases practiced in the Mymensingh region of Bangladesh. The study was conducted in Muktagasa, Ghagra and Birunia, three villages located in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. The outcome revealed that the most common significant feature of the jackfruit-based agroforestry system was to generate income and diversified products for the rural farmers. Besides, the BCR was an evident indication of the income and livelihood developments of farmers. The rural farmers were able to build their finical, physical and natural capital strongly, while the social and human capital developments would require further attention. Also, the local marketing system was a constraint factor for the farmers, thus, the farmers could not get the proper price of their jackfruit in the peak season. The scientific training on jackfruit-based agroforestry farming systems and local conflict resolution mechanism process from the government levels would speed up the income generation and livelihood development of the farmers in Mymensingh region. Therefore, the study suggests to minimize the constraints of the agroforestry production systems through training, resolve marketing problems and also enhance social relationship through government official interference would be very effective to make the jackfruit-based agroforestry a more sustainable land-use practice in Bangladesh.