TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND ITS SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ON FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN BANGLADESH: A REGIONAL STUDY

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62737/62f87c68

Keywords:

Tobacco cultivation, Economic impact, Environmental impact, Net revenue, Cost-Benefit Technique

Abstract

Tobacco cultivation has increased in Bangladesh over the past few decades, raising significant concerns due to its economic, environmental, and health impacts on farm households. This study explored the socioeconomic aspects of farmers' lives associated with tobacco production, calculated its costs and benefits, identified determinants of net revenue, and suggested potential improvements for related issues. Primary data were collected using a random sampling technique involving interviews with 420 tobacco farmers through structured questionnaires and face-to-face interactions. The financial analysis of tobacco production in Bangladesh employed cost-benefit and multiple linear regression techniques, while the economic analysis utilized descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics reveal that net returns average TK 30,466, with significant variation in production costs, particularly in land use, labor, and processing, highlighting the economic complexities of tobacco farming. The results of the regression analysis show that land use and labor costs significantly impact net returns in tobacco farming. Land costs reduce profits, while labor and processing costs increase them, explaining 76% of the variation in net returns. The analysis indicates a net return of TK 32,050 per bigha, with a profit of TK 71.22 per kilogram of tobacco produced. A majority of respondents believe that tobacco farming reduces soil fertility (49.29%) and requires significant fertilizer (76.19%), while a significant number view it as a lucrative opportunity (85.71%) supported by company encouragement (79.37%). Furthermore, 75.47% perceive tobacco farming as a health risk, with nearly half acknowledging its negative environmental impacts (49.29%). Although tobacco production offers higher profitability, it poses severe health and environmental risks. To mitigate these effects, tobacco companies should pay attention to this fact and provide healthcare subsidies to farmers so that they can contribute positively to the national economy. Thus, farmers will benefit, and our country's economy will improve with production as well.

References

Lawrence, S. et al. (2001). Persistence of Web References in Scientific Research. Computer. 34, 26-31. doi:10.1109/2.901164, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/2.901164

Smith, Joe, (1999), One of Volvo's core values. [Online] Available: http://www.volvo.com/environment/index.htm (July 7, 1999)

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style. (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan, (Chapter 4).

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton R. A. (2000). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51-59

Ali, M. Y., Islam, M. F., Rahman, M. R., Sheema, M. K., & Akhtar, M. R. 2015. Tobacco farming in Bangladesh and its impact on the environment. IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology, 9(12): 27-33. https://doi.org/10.9790/2402-091232733

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 2017. [Website]. Retrieved from https://bbs.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/bbs.portal.gov.bd/page/3acbc97e_6ba3_467b_bdb2_cfb3cbbf059f/Voluntary-National-Review-VNR-2017.pdf

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). 2020. Statistical yearbook of Bangladesh (28th ed.). Dhaka: Author.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. 2014-2023. Yearbook of agricultural statistics. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. https://bbs.gov.bd/site/page/3e838eb6-30a2-4709-be85-40484b0c16c6/Yearbook-of-Agricultural-Statistics

Barkat, A., Chowdhury, A. U., Nargis, N., Rahman, M., Khan, M. S., Kumar, A., & Chaloupka, F. J. 2012. The economics of tobacco and tobacco taxation in Bangladesh. Paris: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. https://tobacconomics.org/uploads/misc/2019/10/tobacco_taxation_r14102019-1.pdf

Cochran, W. G. 1977. Sampling Techniques (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

Faruque, G. M., Wadood, S. N., Ahmed, M., Parven, R., Huq, I., & Chowdhury, S. R. 2019. The economic cost of tobacco use in Bangladesh: A health cost approach. Bangladesh Cancer Society. doi: 10.33394/bcs.2018.2484

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2023. FAOSTAT statistical database. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data

Genilo, J. W. R., & Sharif, M. R. 2015. Tobacco industry governance and responsibility discourses in Bangladesh. South East Asia Journal of Public Health, 5(2): 13-22. https://doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v5i2.28308

Gilmore, A. B. 2005. Tobacco and transition: Understanding the impact of transition on tobacco use and control in the former Soviet Union. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3rw2c04c

Hassan, M. M., Parvin, M. M., & Resmi, S. I. 2015. Farmer’s profitability of tobacco cultivation at Rangpur district in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh: an empirical analysis. International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences, 3(2): 91-98. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijefm.20150302.13

Hossain, M. M., & Rahman, M. M. 2013. A socioeconomic analysis on tobacco cultivation in Kushtia District of Bangladesh. Social Sciences, 2(3): 128-134. DOI: 10.11648/j.ss.20130203.14Investopedia. 2023. Descriptive statistics. Retrieved September 20, 2023, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/descriptive_statistics.asp

Israel, G. D. 1992. Determining sample size. University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (IFAS), EDIS.

Karim, R., Nahara, N., Shirinb, T., & Rahmana, M. A. 2016. Study on tobacco cultivation and its impacts on health and environment at Kushtia, Bangladesh. Journal of Bioscience and Agriculture Research, 8(02): 746-753. https://doi.org/10.18801/jbar.080216.89

Khan, D. A., Bhatti, M. M., Khan, F. A., Naqvi, S. T., & Karam, A. 2008. Adverse effects of pesticides residues on biochemical markers in Pakistani tobacco farmers. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 1(3): 274.

Khan, D., Bashir, M., & Zulfiqar, M. 2005. Estimation of Net Returns from Main Crops in District Malakand. Journal of Applied Sciences, 5(9): 1564-1568. https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2005.1564.1568

Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. 1970. Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30: 607-610.

Kutub, M. J. R., & Falgunee, N. 2015. Environmental degradation due to tobacco cultivation in Bangladesh: A case study of Doulathpur, Kushtia. Geografia, 11(7).

Lecours, N., Almeida, G. E., Abdallah, J. M., & Novotny, T. E. 2012. Environmental health impacts of tobacco farming: a review of the literature. Tobacco Control, 21(2): 191-196.

Lopes-Ferreira, M., Maleski, A. L. A., Balan-Lima, L., Bernardo, J. T. G., Hipolito, L. M., Seni-Silva, A. C., ... & Lima, C. 2022. Impact of pesticides on human health in the last six years in Brazil. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6): 3198.

Magati, P., Lencucha, R., Li, Q., Drope, J., Labonte, R., Appau, A. B., ... & Zulu, R. 2019. Costs, contracts and the narrative of prosperity: an economic analysis of smallholder tobacco farming livelihoods in Kenya. Tobacco Control, 28(3): 268-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-054213

Nargis, N., Thompson, M. E., Fong, G. T., Driezen, P., Hussain, A. G., Ruthbah, U. H., ... & Abdullah, A. S. 2015. Prevalence and patterns of tobacco use in Bangladesh from 2009 to 2012: evidence from International Tobacco Control (ITC) Study. PloS one, 10(11): e0141135. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141135

Ochola, S. A., & Kosura, W. 2007. Case study on tobacco cultivation and possible alternative crops–Kenya. University of Nairobi. http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/73253

Prasad, V. M. 2007. Case study of tobacco cultivation and alternate crops in India. In the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Study Group on Alternative Crops, which was established by the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/searo/india/tobacoo/india-case-study.pdf?sfvrsn=143f1fae_2

Rahman, H., & Parvin, J. 2017. Ethics and economics of tobacco farming: A case study of rural Bangladesh. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 22(2): 56-65. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2202045665

Rahman, M. Z., Kabir, M. H., Alam, M. M., & Islam, S. 2020. Determinants of tobacco cultivation in Kushtia district, Bangladesh. International Journal of Agricultural Extension, 7(3): 239-246. https://doi.org/10.33687/ijae.007.03.2977

Sahadewo, G. A., Drope, J., Witoelar, F., Li, Q., & Lencucha, R. 2020. The economics of tobacco farming in Indonesia: results from two waves of a farm-level survey. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois at Chicago. https://www.tobacconomics.org/files/research/654/indonesia-economics-of-tobacco-farming.pdf

Sansone, N. 2014. Perceived Risk of Tobacco Products among Adult Tobacco Users in Bangladesh and India. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/8924

Statista. 2022. Tobacco products in Bangladesh [Statistical report]. Retrieved September 19, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/tobacco-products/bangladesh

Statista. 2022. Tobacco Products in Bangladesh: Market Outlook. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/tobaccoproducts/bangladesh. https://www.scribbr.com/statistics/descriptive-statistics/

Talukder, A., Haq, I., Ali, M., & Drope, J. 2020. Factors associated with cultivation of tobacco in Bangladesh: a multilevel modelling approach. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12): 4277.

World Health Organization (WHO). 2023. Tobacco. Retrieved June 8, 2023, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco

Downloads

Published

2025-01-14

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

TOBACCO PRODUCTION AND ITS SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ON FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN BANGLADESH: A REGIONAL STUDY. (2025). International Journal of Management, Economics and Commerce, 2(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.62737/62f87c68

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 > >> 

Similar Articles

1-10 of 14

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.