Climate Change, Markets, and Smallholder Farming in Bangladesh: Questioning the Technological Optimism

• In Event: 124 - Regular Session. States and Social Movements: Contesting Land, Food, and Resources

Abstract

Climate change presents a grave threat to agricultural communities in Bangladesh, a tiny, low-lying and geographically precarious landmass that is home to more than 150 million people. This paper offers an in-depth sociological analysis of how the intersection of markets, institutions and nature – both the immediate ecosystem and the broader climate system – shape peasant livelihoods in Bangladesh. The underlying objective of this paper is to question the technological optimism inherent in mainstream policy discourse by highlighting the historical structural vulnerabilities of smallholder peasants in Bangladesh. I posit that these vulnerabilities emanate from the specific configuration of the market, institutions and agricultural practices, and the way in which these factors, individually and collectively, act upon environmental variables. I conclude by demonstrating the need for a fundamental rethinking of and an eventual departure from the current rice monoculture pivoted on chemical dependence and an unsustainable use of water resources. This paper is primarily based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in early 2012 in three Bangladeshi villages.

Author

• Manoj Misra, University of Alberta