Impact of water deficiency on agro economy: a case study of Northwest Bangladesh

This study examines the effects of water shortage on agricultural wages in Northwest Bangladesh. For this study, meteorological data including information on the monthly temperature, precipitation, wind speed, hour of sunshine and humidity of six weather stations have been utilized during the monitoring period from 1985 to 2005. With the objective to analyze water surplus and water deficiency, a simple soil-water balance model and the modified Penman formula were applied to the Northwest Bangladesh. The seasonality of Mann-Kendell trend statistics has been used to identify the spatial variation of water surplus and deficiency throughout the region. For micro level verification of the result, a detailed field survey has been conducted within the study area. The results showed that the values of the potential evapotranspiration estimated by the modified Penmen equation were negative for certain periods. In this instance, the water deficiency of the district of Rajshahi was observed significantly in the period of pre-monsoon and post-monsoon. The field study also verified that because of such deficiency in water, the agricultural scenario of the area was widely influenced which lead to less agricultural production and less economic benefits.