Life in Rural Bangladesh: A Field Experience Report

LIFE IN FIELD EXPERIENCE REPORT-SUMMER 2010
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1.0 Introduction
Live-in-Field Experience (LFE) is a program of Independent University, Bangladesh designed to
give knowledge and experience about village culture, life styles and economic condition to
students thorough a fieldwork. Bangladesh is a developing country. 80%of the population of
Bangladesh lives in the rural areas and this population contributes one third of the country's gross
domestic product and more than 75% people depend on agriculture for sustenance. LFE gives the
idea about these villages which is very important for our country. LFE is not only about the study
of rural life, it is also about the study of the principal culture and mode of production of
Bangladesh. We observed our Gokul village and collected data on our village. Report writing
will start after completion of fieldwork. And including of village resource mapping and
transects social change process, economy and rural production cycle, health and environment,
and rural market.
1.1 Objective of LFE
The main objectives of the LFE are given below:
To know about the resources of the Village
To understand the rural life
To know the rural production cycle
To know the health and environment of village people
To know the social change process over the period
To find out different NGOs activity etc.

1.2 Limitation of the Report
There is a page limit in this report. So I can con briefly discuss all the matters.
The report is based on 25 household. So the information is may not proper for lower
number of sample
Time was only 10 days. Its hard for to get real information from this short time period
Lack of privacy during interviewing the respondents
Sometimes, respondents were found to be unwilling to answer some specific questions.
Misinterpretation

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2.0 Methodology
Both of the qualitative and quantitative method is being used to collect and analyze the
information for this report. We, a group of five IUB students conducted the study in a Para
named sardarpara. The Para is under Gokul village in Bogra district. The questionnaire survey
is being used as the quantitative method to collect information about the demographic variables,
health condition, environmental condition and the economic condition of the village community.
The Participatory Rural Appraisal and some open ended questions were being used as the
qualitative method to collect information about the physical condition, social condition,
economic condition and market of the village.

2.1 Quantitative method
Some structured, closed ended questions were being used to collect information about the
demographic variables, health condition, environmental condition and the economic condition of
the village community. This information was being analyzed in this report by using different
tools.

2.2 Qualitative method
The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is being mainly used as the qualitative method. Some
open ended questions were also being used to analyze the market.

2.3 Participatory Rural Appraisal
Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) is a particular form of qualitative research used to gain an
in depth understanding of a community or a situation.. It has helped to get introduced with the
villager and village itself, to collect information on the physical condition, social condition and
economic condition of the village.

2.4 Observation
We have also used observation method when surveying PARA. For environmental effect,
Sanitation, water sources, we tried to use observation method. We also captured a lot of pictures
which is also a part of observation and used to describe the actual scenario of the PARA.
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3.0 Village Resource Mapping and Transect
3.1 Introduction
Bangladesh is a developing country. There are 86038 villages in this country. In the proportion
with cities the villages comprised eighty percent of our whole territory. However being a
developing country the improvements of the infrastructure are highly concerned with the cities.
But the development of the rural areas is far too slow. Eighty percent of our people live in
village. In our LFE program, we have visited Gokul (Sardarpara). Here I will try to discuss the
structure of that village and too many extents; I think it will represent the present scenario of the
situation of Gokul (Sardarpara).

3.2 Objectives
Map is a representation of any geographical location by which one can generate a mental picture
instantly. The main objective of Village resource mapping is to establish a picture view of the
village and para in the mind of the reader. The drawing of village map helped us to know-

About the villagers.
About area and location
About school, college, Mosque Etc.
About the high and low zone of the village
About the usage of land

3.3.1 Selection of village
The village assigned to our group was Sardar Para - South (The North side went to
Group-02). Since it would have been tough for a single group to cover the whole village, So our
information is based on the Gokul (Sardarpara).

3.3.2 Rapport Building with Villagers
Rapport building is a major aspect of PRA technique. In the first day, our honorable supervisor
took us to the Gokul village. She introduced us to Shahjahan Sardar and Asad ali, who are the
most knowledgeable persons in the village, they know everything about village mapping. We
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also meet with other villagers. We approached them very politely and persuaded them to speak
about their village. We kept one thing in mind - we will have to come to the village for the next 7
to 8 days for gathering other relevant information. At one stage we took some pictures with
them. The environment was created in such a way that the villagers did not feel uncomfortable
and did not hesitate to share their feelings with us.

Rapport building with villagers
3.4 Village Map
3.4.1 Definition of Village Map
A village map helps us to be familiar with the village. It represents the whole area of the village. This map
gives us a clear idea of the entire village and also helps us to know about the various establishments of the
village. This map gives us an approximate picture of the village and we can know about the village
properly. From the village map we can know about the area, total households, household structure, social
structure, social resources, natural resources, geographical feature, demography etc of the village.
3.4.2 Overview of the Village

Name of the Village: Gokul
Location: The village is situated under the:
Union: Gokul
Post office: Gokul
Thana: Bogra
District: Bogra

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3.5 Para Map
3.5.1 Definition of Para Map
The Para map represents the whole area of that Para. From this map anyone can get a clear idea
about that place. A Para map explain the overall idea about different resources of the Para
including; structure, position of natural resources, social resources, local resources and the
physical demography of a particular area. This also helps us to know about its population, area,
use of land, size of the Para, education system, religion organization, agriculture sanitation
system, tube well, ponds, mosque, madrasa etc. The route through which we had the walk to
draw the transect map is also shown in the Para map.
3.5.2 Area and Population
The area of Sardar Para is not so large. The population growth is also low. There are around 50
households and approximately 300 people lives in the Para. There are nuclear families as well as
joint families. From our survey we found that all of them are Muslims.

3.5.3 Ponds and Tubewells
There is a shortage of ponds in Sardarpara. There are only three ponds in this para. But there
was no water in the ponds. Villagers are totally dependent on tubewell water. We found that
most of the house hold have a tubewell.

3.5.4 Schools & Colleges
There are no school and college situated in this para. But there are 3 schools near the para under
the Gokul Village. Its need five miniutes to go there by walk. There are two hogh schools. One is
for boys and another one for the girls. There is also a primary school in this village.

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3.5.5 Trees
Trees are the beauty of the village. In our Para we saw the two sides of the road and the most of
the houses surrounded by several trees. These trees are helped people by many ways. We divided
trees into four kinds according to their origin. One is local tree and another one is Foreign tree.

3.5.7 Lands
Inour village we found paddy fields. This village people Largely used their land mostly for
agricultural purpose likes potato, and paddy.

3.5.8 Shops
There are two small shop situated in the village. The shop placed in front of a house. The
available goods were soap, biscuits, chips, chocolates, tea, beverage, kerosene etc.
3.5.9 Animals
Most of the household have their own domestic animals. Without domestic animals we hear
theres some wild animals like fox, mongoose, snake etc.
3.6 Transect Map
3.6.1 Definition of Transect map
Transect is one type of PRA technique which presents the structure of the whole village in terms
of its components. To get the micro view of the whole area we do transect. It has overall impact
on the relationships between the different important components of the village. It includes soil
type, land used patterns, the types of trees and crops, etc.
3.6.2 Methodology
I have decided to walk 200 steps to prepare my transect map. I recorded information on the
mentioned topological features that I found along the path. I took every 25 steps to complete my
200 steps. I started from a cropa field and ended up to a house.
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Transect Map
3.6.3 Findings from Transect Map
From steps 0-25:
Here I found the crops field. The soil type is Doash. The land level is low. I did not found any
house here. I found the cultivation of sweet potato, grass, paddy, cucumber etc. I also did not
found any livestock here.

From steps 25-50:
Here the situation is as like as steps 0-25. I did not found any change here.

From steps 50-75:
Here the soil type is Doash. Here I found the different kinds of trees. The land level is plain. I
found a mud made house here. I also found livestock like as chicken, cow etc.

From steps 75-100:
Here the soil type is also Doash. Here I found the different kinds of trees likes guava, olive
bamboo etc.. The land level is plain. House type is Tin shade. I also found livestock like as
chicken, cow, goat etc.

From steps 75-100:
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From steps 100-125:
Here the land is used for tubewell, open toilet etc.Here the soil type is also Doash. Here I
found the different kinds of trees likes guava, olive bamboo etc.. The land level is plain. House
type is Tin shade. I also found livestock like as chicken, cow, goat etc.

From steps 125-150:
Here the soil type is Doash. Here I found the different kinds of trees. The land level is plain. I
found a mud made house here. I also found livestock like as chicken, cow etc.

From steps 150-175:
Here the land is used for tubewell, open toilet etc.Here the soil type is also Doash. Here I
found the different kinds of trees likes guava, olive bamboo etc.. The land level is plain. House
type is Tin shade. I also found livestock like as chicken, cow, goat etc.

From steps 150-175:

3.7 Problems
1. Roads are narrow
2. Roads are constructing so the pollution is high
3. No mosque in this para
4. Shortage of pond
5. Level of load shedding is very high

3.8 Conclusion and Recommendation
We have learned a lot of things throughout LFE program. Bangladesh is a village oriented
country and we should know about the village condition a bit. We have found lots of problems
from the village mapping which need to improve for the betterment of the village. The roads are
too narrow so the road should be wider than past. We also found there are only three ponds in the
para with no or less water. So more ponds should be dug with high depth.
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4.0 Social Change Process
4.1 Introduction
The word social indicates People living together. In an elaborate sense, it means the life style,
the feelings about the surroundings of a group of people and as well as their acceptance to the
conditions of life (social behavior). So, social change is called the changes in the social
conditions and social behavior. Social changes indicate changes in thinking, attitude, culture, and
life style etc and in other words, social developing is the feedback of social changes. Any kind of
change in the society is usual that is initiated both by natural processes and actions oriented by
the members of the society. This report contains the data of social changes through different
periods

4.2 Objectives
There were various objectives of our LFE (Live-in-Field Experience) program. Among them,
one of the objectives was to observe the social change process in the area Sardarpara located
in the village Gokul of Bogra district. The main objectives of this section is:
To get idea about the social change process
To find out the socio-economic changes
To analyze the types of social changes taken place, the reason behind the changes and
interlinks between the changes
4.3 Methodology
We consider social changes in household types, house structure, occupation, trees, education,
food habit, health, agriculture, communication, crime etc. To get information about social change
process we used different tools like questionnaire surveys on specific topics provided by the
IUB, observation, discussions and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique to get
information from rural people. To find out the social changes we have made a time line analysis
according to the different ruling periods. For that reason we talked to different ages from 21
years to 70 years. From this I got a clear scenario of social changes from before liberation war to
present honerable Sheikh Hasina period.

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4.4 Timeline of Social Change
For my convenience, I divided the whole time frame into nine different timelines. The nine
different timelines are:
Post liberation Period (before 1971)
Shekh Mujib Period (1972-1975)
Ziaur Rahman Period (1976-1979)
Ershad Period (1981-1990)
Khaleda Zias 1st Period (1991-1995)
Shekh Hasinas 1
st
period (1996-2001)
Khaleda Zias 2nd Period (2001-2006)
Caretaker Government period (2007-2008)
Shekh Hasinas 2nd period ( 2009-Present)

4.5 Changes that I observed
4.5.1 House Structure
Before independence the houses of the Para were made of mud and straw. They built there house
with mud and starw because at that time there economical condition was very low. In Ziaur
Rahman period some dweller used tin in there roof instead of hey. Concrete house had been
introduced in Khaleda Zias first period. They used concrete for wall, tin for roof and earth for
floor. We have found that most of the house is made of mud and tin because most of them are
poor. Few houses have found which made of concrete. The owners of these concrete houses have
some foreign income.
4.5.2 Educational change
Before liberation war the percentage of literacy was very low. People were not concern about
education. At the Sheik Mujibs periods only boys were allowed to go to others Para school
while the number was a few. In the Ziaur Rahmans rperiod the scenario remained same. But in
the Ershads period a primary school were built in a nearby Para. For this reason, the number of
school going boys increased. During the Khaleda Zias period the scenario changed slightly.
Girls were being allowed to go to school along with boys. But now there are separate schools for
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both boys and girls. So now the literacy rate is high. Guardians are now also serious about theirs
childrens education.

4.5.3 Change in communication
For development of the village or rural area Communication is an important thing.
Communication is related to lots of thing such as if the communications improve people life
style is also improved. In Mujibs government period Sardarpara had a narrow road. Now the
scenario improved. The roads becomes brick built. Now the people have the access of bus, cng
auto rackshaw, rickshaw, votvoti etc. but in the past period they dont have access of these types
of transportation facility.

4.5.4 Food Habit
The economic condition of our Sardarpara people was not good. They could not eat various types
of food. Their menus were limited. In the past, they used to catch fish. They ate varieties of
fishes like tiny fish Pooti, Rui, Katla, Boal, etc. People liked to have Pithas (Cakes) in the winter
seasons. They made Vapa Pitha, Patishapta Pitha, and Teler Pitha etc. They also used to have
Muri, Khoi, and Chira. Now a day the economic condition has been increased so they can eat
various types of food item. Now they can eat mangoes, jackfruits, bananas, guavas, watermelons
etc. They can also have milk. The people are now conscious about the nutrition so they eat
nutrition food

4.5.5 Trees
Trees became the great friends of human being as they served us in many ways. In Sardarpara we
saw numerous types of trees. According to the Eldest persons information we got idea that in the
beginning of the Mujib period many big trees covered lots of land. Such as Tamarind (Tetul),
Banyan (bot), Ficus (pakur), Rose apple (jam). Shimul, Mango was abundance in that time.
Some other bushy trees like Litchi (lichu), Jackfruit, Karambola (kamranga) etc were available.
Bamboo bushes were covered a lot of area. But later on the number of trees become decresing.
But the people are now conscious about the environment. So now a days the varaity and number
of trees increasing.
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4.5.6 Child Marriage
Now a days child marriage is an important issue. In the past decade the rate of child marriage
was very high. Still now there are some child marriages in the village. But if the guardians are
educated they dont want to marriage their child. But day by day it is decreasing. Its a positive
sign. Now most of the guardians are well known about the problem of child marriage.

4.5.7 Sanitation
At the earlier periods the villagers had lot of bushes and woods for that reason they used open
fields and bushes for the toilet purpose. Sanitation is a very noteworthy issue of the social change
process. In the Sheikh Mujibs period people tended to go near by bushes for their toilet. All
most all of the Para dwellers did not have any idea about the hygienic sanitary system because
most of the Para dwellers were illiterate. During the Sheikh Hasinas period people started pit
latrine and ring slab latrine. Now, people become more conscious about the health. At present,
Most of the house have ring slab latrine.

4.5.8 Electricity
Electricity plays a vital role in our of modern life. There was no electricity before Sheikh
Hasinas 1
st
period. At that time, they depended on oil-burners (kupi, haricane) for their
lighting purpose at night. Now the electricity facility available but the level of load shedding is
too much high.
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4.5.9 Crime & Addiction
In the past there was no crime or addiction in this village. But now a days the crime and
addiction is increasing. Some people says that they did not heard the name of heroin, gazza, yaba
etc before the khaleda zias period.

4.5.10 Animals
In the past the population of this area was very low. The area was covered by different types of
trees. So there was huge number of animal in this area. But now the population is increased.
Deforestation is increased. Thats why the number of animals in this area is almost nil. Only
different types of birds, snakes and fox are available.

4.5.11 Using of Microcredit and present condition
Microcredit plays an important role to remove poverty. Based on 25 household 56% people use
microcredit and 44% people do not use microcredit. From this 56 % people 85% people
improved their condition by using microcredit. And 15% did not improve their condition for
different reasons. I found that 30% people are the member of Brac, 35% Grameen, 20% Asa and
15% are TMSS. Brac is more active in this area because they started their operation in this area
in first time.

4.6 Conclusion
After surveying the Sardarpara of Gokul village and by of the villagers we found that though
there are some more improvement in these areas such as Progress of Female Education, decrease
child marriage, increase awareness about family planning, improvement of transportation
facilities, Irrigation System, Sanitation system but besides that there are some negative changes
such as dowry system, deterioration of law and order situation, Increasing price of necessary
goods, decreasing cultivable land associated with the time being. If these faulty sectors of the
society could be handled, Gokul will soon get the route towards the sophistication and
rationalism that will lead it towards the positive country for development.

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5.0 Economy and Rural production cycle
5.1 Introduction
Bangladesh is a agriculture based country. The economy has changed in last few decades due to
increase in modern sectors like manufacturing, construction and service sectors besides
agriculture. To know the economy of our assigned Sardar Para,Gokul village and the rural
production cycle different attempts have been made in our Live-in-Field Experience course.
People of various occupation live in this village among them agriculture and its related
occupation are the main ones. A PRA was performed among the villagers and questionnaire
survey was done among twenty five randomly selected families to find out the different aspects
of the economy of the village, the variation of resources and wealth of different income groups,
and the seasonal cropping pattern of this village that includes the land preparation, fertilizer,
pesticides, irrigation pattern etc.

5.2 Objectives
The main objectives of this part is given below:
To know the different income level people
Categorized them into different level
To discover their different lifestyles
To know the gender division of labor
To know the seasonal cropping pattern of the village
Categories of crops produced in different season
To have a clear idea about economic activity of the villagers

5.3 Methodology
For this chapter, we have surveyed 25 households by the questionnaire provided by the IUB.
Firstly we applied PRA technique to collect information of the issues .Through PRA we come to
know identified different issues of economy and rural production cycle after that we did our
question rise survey to collect data about different issues like crops calendar, crops processing
system etc.

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5.4 Economy
5.4.1 Wealth ranking
Based on land owned and income generation, we have divided the population of the survey in
three classes. The classes are
1) Upper Class
2) Middle Class
3) Lower Class

5.4.1.1 Upper level
The average yearly income is around Tk 200000-more than 200000 only. Yearly expense is
170000 and yearly savings is Tk. 30000. 20% people based on 25 household are in this type of
category. Service and agriculture are main source of their income. The people of this class can
afford TV, fridge,tube well, sanitary latrine, television, radio, cycle, cow, goat, etc. One or more
members of these families are working outside of the country especially in America some are
working in Dhaka and Bogra in private and government organizations. All these families are
referred as rich not only on the basis of land holding size but also on the basis of other income
sources. Apart from the crop production, the other sources of income of these villagers are the
remittances, tea stall etc.

5.4.1.2 Middle level
There are 12 households found in Middle Class during the fieldwork in Gokul-Sardarpara. They
are considered as a middle class because their yearly income is in between Tk.50000 to
Tk.200000. their yearly expense is around 45,000 and yearly savings is Tk, 5,000 if their income
is 50,000. Agriculture is their main source of income. They produce crop and vegetable in their
own land. They use vegetables and crop for their own, not for sale. The people of this class can
afford tube well, sanitary latrine, television, radio, cycle, cow, goat, etc.. Middle class peoples
literacy rate is good. The parent in this class tries to continue their daughters education till
H.S.C and son up to B. A or M.A.

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5.4.1.3 Lower level
We found 8 lower level families in our study area. They are poor because their income range is below Tk.
50,000. Most of the poor people only have a piece of land to live. Many of them are day laborers. The
amount of land of the poor class is from 0 to 15 Decimal. We see that the rich has a huge amount of
land; it is not easy to cultivate 25/45 Pakhi at a time. So they give borga to the poor farmers. And
survive with cultivating that land. Main professions in this class are: Agri-labor, Rickshaw puller, barber,
brick field worker and carpenter. They take loan from others. Their houses are made with straw or earth
or bamboo. Mostly walls made of earth and roof made of straw or bamboo. Most of them have no
electricity. Because of poverty they cant send their children to school. But they try to complete their
children education at least high school level.

5.5 Division of Labor by Gender
In our survey we found different types of discrimination in male and female worker. The
following chart shows the drscrimination between male and female workers.

We found that the daily wage of a male worker is around 200 to 220 tk. But the rate of female
worker is only 80 to 120 tk. Its half of a male worker. The male worker gets foods two times per
day but the women worker do not gets any food during their working period. For the male
workers there is a specific place in the village but there is no specific palace for the women
workers. So there is a huge discriminacy between male and female worker but their working
capability is same.

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5.6 Rural production cycle
Our Bengali year consists of twelve month divided into six seasons- Grishma (summer) -
Baishakh and Joshtha; Borsha (monsoon)- Asar and Sravan; Sharat& Hemonto (the early and
late autumn)- Bhadra-Ashin, Kartik-Agrahayana; Sheet (winter)- Pous and Magh and Bashonto
(spring)- Falgun and Chaitra. Based on that the rural production cycle is given below.

5.6.1 Paddy
The proper timing for sowing is very crucial for achieving the expected level of production. The
perfect timing for sowing of Amon is Srabon(Jul 16-Aug 15). The seed bed needs to be prepared
properly before sowing. The seedbed preparation begins in the beginning of the Jaistha (May 15-
Jun14).The paddy is harvested in Agrahayan(Nov 15- Dec 14). The expenditure behind Amon is
less than IRRI .The cost of labor , fertilizer and pesticides is less. Besides for rainy season
irrigation is not that much necessary.
5.6.2 Vegetables Production
Peasants produce different types of vegetable. Vegetables have been produced mainly for their
own consumption.. The production process is described below.

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5.6.2.1 Summer Vegetables
The summer vegetables are perbol, gourd, balsam apple, snake-gourd, ladys finger etc.

5.6.2.2 Winter Vegetables
The winter vegetables are mainly brinjals, pumpkin, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, beans,
tomato, potato and turnip. Leafy vegetables such as lal shak, mula shak etc. are two most
common winter vegetables.

5.7 Pesticides
The different types of pesticides used in this para are FURADIN, BASHUDIN, NAGAG etc.
5.8 Fertilizer and soils fertility
Types of Fertilizers Applied in during cultivation are TSP, Potash, Urea. Cow dung etc. The
amount of fertilizers applied has correlation with seasonality. The amount of various fertilizers
applied during different phases of cultivation is much higher in case of IRRI. Because land is not
fertile during this time. One important thing that we have got that people is not aware of the bad
affect of using fertilizer.

5.9 Storage facility
Villagers store their crops on their home if the crops is not perishable but if the crops are
perishable then they store their products at Agonomy cold storage. But they told that charge is
very high.

5.10 Conclusion
Different types of crops are grown in this village from paddy to vegetables all throughout the
year and the main crops are Boro and Irri. These are highly profitable to the farmers. Fertilizers
and maintenance are the problem that farmers face during cultivation. The most significant
lesson learned from Sardarpara is that as a country is blessed with a soil and climate type much
contributing to agriculture.

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6.0 Health and Environment
6.1 Introduction
Health is one of the basic needs and rights of the people. Both health and environment are two
inseparable parts of human society. But, health and environment are two different terminologies.
The change of one can affect the other. Bangladesh is a country of more than 85,000 villages
with vast population. 80% of the people in our country live in rural areas. If we want to analyze
the living condition we should look at the health of a particular village first. Most of the rural
people are poor and live with little basic necessities of life, like food, clothing, shelter, pure
drinking water and sanitation facilities. Because of the poor economic background and lack of
education they dont know how to maintain the life in a healthy manner.

6.2 Methodology
For this chapter, we have surveyed 25 households by the questionnaire provided by the IUB.
Firstly we applied PRA technique to collect information of the issues .Through PRA we come to
know identified different issues of health and environment after that we did our question rise
survey to collect data about different issues like sanitation system, water supply, vaccination.

6.3 Objectives
To know the health condition of the villagers.
To know the environmental condition of the village.
To recognize the problems of the health centre
To find out the types of health care center available in the village.
To identify the sources of water
To know in how the villagers dispose their waste material.
To find out if NGOs or governments involved in development of the health and
environment

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6.4.1 Sources of Water
The villagers are totally depended on tube well water. There are three ponds in the village. But
during the summer season the water level is too low. So they can not access the pond water for
their daily uses. I found that every house hold have a tube well. Out of 25 house hold everyone
have a tube well.

6.4.2 Uses of Water
I found that all of the villagers uses tubewell water for Drinking, Bathing, Washing and cooking
purpose. But some of them use pond water only for washing. But this percentage is only 20 %
based on 25 household.

6.4.3 Vaccination
The overall situation of the health and nutrition is not good in Bangladesh. Although the
government is taking adequate measures of vaccination, it is improving slowly. But the condition
of our assigned Para is a bit different. Since there is a government health complex near the
village, villagers can take their children for the vaccination. Government health complex
provides vaccination free of charge. This initiative is motivating the people. 95% people use
proper vaccination for their child.
6.4.4 Family planning
Out of 25 respondent households there were 15 women in the reproductive age group.
Among them, 40% of the respondent takes Pill. The rest of the respondents 13 % husbands use
condom as contraceptive. 33% of women use Kathi which is a new method to prevent from
pregnancy.14% women use menstrual regulation which is injection. It seems almost 100%
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respondent families of the village Bhanderpiker are more or less concerned about family
planning.

6.4.5 Common Diseases Suffered by Villagers
Some of the common diseases suffered by villagers are fever, common cold, diarrhea, diabetes
and allergy. Many of the villagers did not seem concerned about these diseases because they
think that it comes normally. Sometimes they ignore diseases due to lack of knowledge and
poverty. But some of the villagers seemed very aware and they visit the local health services
whenever it is needed.
6.4.6 Treatment Place
People who live in village dont have better facility for treatment. Therefore, they have to suffer
by various diseases. Basically, they were very poor and they have not enough money for their
treatment of major diseases. So they went to the local pharmacy and public health care center
which service was not up to mark. In our sardarpara I found that villagers went to the Gokul
Upojila Health Complex for their first aid and normal diseases that was free of cost. For
primary health care for mothers and children, they went to the Health and Family Welfare
center. It was also free of cost. For their major diseases, they went to Ziaur-Rahman hospital.
They also visit Rafatullah community hospital.

6.4.7 Problems of Government Health Care Centre
Although the villagers mostly depend on the government health care facilities but it also has
some drawbacks. They are compelled to go there because of some certain limitations. The
drawbacks of the public health care facilities are as follows:
It is not close to home
Services are not so good
Sometimes it takes too long
Sometimes medicines are not available
Facility are not so clean
Sometimes medicine costs are high
22

6.4.8 Toilet Facility
I found that people uses both Ring slab, Hanging Latrine, Septic Tank, Pit Latrine for their toilet.
They people of the village are health conscious. Based on 25 household 42% people use Ring
slab. 27% use pit latrine, 23% use septic tank and only 8% people use hanging latrine. Its a
positive side of the villagers. We found in a house that they have both septic tank and hanging
latrine. The hanging latrine is for the old person because he will make dirty in the toilet.

6.4.9 Waste Disposal
Waste disposal is a massive issue for the environment. In our para most the villagers dispose
their waste properly. 68% people dispose their waste in a hole beside a house. 23% people
dispose their waste in a specific place and 9% people dispose their waste in any place. Because
most of the villagers are conscious about their health and environment. Its based on 25
household.

6.4.10 Cooking place
Majority of the villagers have a specific place for cooking. Either they have a kitchen or at least a
specific place outside the home. Based on 25 house hold none of them cook their food in an open
place. At least they have a shed.
23

6.4.11 Fuel Usage
Most people living in village use straw, leaves, twigs, cow dung as the main source of fuel.
Some middle class people can afford firewood. The firewood they use as fuel is not that
enormous in amount. They used to trim the branches of the trees on a regular basis and that
branches or twigs they use as firewood. So it does not harm the environment like deforestation.

6.5 Activities of different NGOs for health care
The NGO and Government organizations are basically established with a view to help the rural
areas like Bangladesh. So like other villages of Bangladesh our Para also have seen some NGO
and GO, though they were here to do the well fare of the villagers. In our sardarpara villagers
depend on Government organization because it was free of cost but we found that post of
medical officer of local health complex was still vacant. NGO were more concern with the health
part like the sanitation and the family planning. We found that males care very less about family
planning and they didnt want to take the hassle for family planning. We found only 20%
couples understood about contraceptives matters. Actually, they cant afford to buy it. One
reason may be their financial problem and another reason Government supplies was not
sufficient. We found different NGOs were working about this matter. There were some women
NGO worker who comes to the village to visit the Para and she gives advice about the family
planning.

6.6 Conclusion
Sardarpara is situated just beside the Bogra Rangpur highway. Vehicles of all types were passing
through this road. So the environment was little bit dusty because the trees were covered with
dust. People who were living at the back side of the Para were basically lower income class.
Their environment of living was not well. Their houses were very small and congested. The
cooking place was very close to the living room causing many health problems.

24

7.0 Rural Market
7.1 Introduction
Rural market plays an important role in our economy because our economy is agriculture based.
Rural market is important for the buying and selling of agricultural products. Urban market is
also dependent on rural market. Rice, vegetable, crops and different types of hand made products
come to the urban market which is needed for the urban people. In the rural market we found
seller and buyer, middleman, retailer etc. and how they work, behave or the way they survive.

7.2 Mohasthan Haat
Mohasthan haat is placed in the play ground of Mahi Sarwar Degree College. The area is
approxmiate 1bigha. The haat day is every Wednesday and Saturday. More than 1500 buyers and
1000 sellers (approximately) come in haat. Peoples from different village like Baghopara,
Polasbari, Gokul and out side the Bogra districts comes in the Mohasthan haat. Mohasthan haat
is situated beside the Rongpur-Bogra high way. That why communication and transportation is
very good between the haat and the other district. So Mahasthan haat plays a significant role in
the north Bengal.
7.3 Difference Between Haat and Bazaar
Haat and bazaar are entirely different concepts. There are some difference between haat and
bazaar. The differences are given below:

No Haat Bazaar
01 Haat occurs once or twice in a week Bazaar occurs everyday
02 Haat is temporary Bazaar is permanent
03 Price is relatively lower in haat Price is relatively higher in bazaar
04 Quantity of products is high in haat Quantity is lower than haat
05 Haat is relatively large than bazaar Bazaar is relatively lower than haat
06 Here competition is higher Here competition is lower
25

7.4 Product classification
I classified the product in these four categories:

Brand Choice High Brand Choice Low
Buyers
effort
High
Specialty Product : Furniture,
Refrigerator, Television, Rice
Cooker, Motor Cycle
Convenience Product: Rice , potato,
Sweet potato, Onion , Ginger, Soap,
Detergent etc.
Buyers
effort
Low
Shopping Product: Shirt, Sharee,
Cosmetics, Sandal, Tube-well etc.
Unsought Product: Herbal Medicine

7.4.1 Convenient products:
Convenient products are products, which we usually use, in our day-to-day life. Rice, vegetables,
fish, oil, salt, flour etc are the convenient products in Mahastan Hut.

7.4.2 Shopping products:
Shopping products are products, which villagers buy on readymade basis. The shoppers from
outside import these products and they use a certain mark up & sell them. Shirt, Shrees,
Cosmetics, Shoes are some of example of shopping product.

7.4.3 Special products:
Special products are products which are not often bought by the villagers they are bought may be
once or twice a year or once in every 2-3 years. Special products are furniture, marriage costume,
medicine, etc.

7.4.4 Unsought products:
Products, which cannot be categorized in any category, are unsought products. They are used
sometimes very often or can never be used in life. Herbal medicine and insurance is the example
of unsought products.

26

7.5 Inward products and Outward products
7.5.1 Inward products
Inward products are products, which are imported to Mahastan Hut. In MAHASTAN HUT, we
found inward product. Inward product comes from Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Jessor etc.
Inwards products are rice, cement, beverage item, cosmetics etc.

7.5.2 Outward products
Products, which are exported outside of the districts, are called outwards products. The outwards
of this hut are Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Faridpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Chapai nabab ganj,
Tangail etc. Outwards products are rice, watermelon, cucumber, potato etc.

7.6 Distribution Channels
7.6.1 Distribution channel of Potato & Chili
There are two kinds of distribution channel. One is direct channel and another one is indirect
channel. Here potato and chili can be distributed in both ways. The following diagram shows the
flow of distribution channel.

Distribution channel of potato and chili

27

7.6.2 Distribution method
There are three types of distribution method. Those are Intensive, Selective and Exclusive.
Intensive distribution means products are given maximum exposure through positioning in as
many outlets as possible. Here the distribution method for potato and chili is Intensive
distribution method.

7.7 Value Chain Analysis of Paddy
In value chain analysis at the very beginning, the activity starts from the input selection to finally
distribute the product to the ultimate consumers. Starting from the input selection to the
distribution, a wide range of activities is involved. As for example in the input selection stage
decision on what type of seeds or fertilizer to be used in the cultivation process has a serious
impact on the cost structure and quality of crops. I have selected paddy for value chain analysis.
The value chain analysis of paddy is given below:

Output

PADDY
Distribution Channel
Farmer
Bepari
Chatal
Consumer
Processing
Harvesting
Trashing Paddy
Boil Paddy
Work in Process
Fertilizer
Pesticide
Irrigation
Clean weeds
Cost of Labor
Male : 60 to 80 taka
daily.
Female : 40 to 60 taka
daily
Earning ( selling
Costing ) :
For 1Bigha
(8750 3000)
= 5750 taka
Raw Materials
Land
Seed
Tractor
Labor
From Villagers

From Traders

From fellow
farmers

Spending pattern
*Fooding
* Clothing
* Further Investment
* Saving

28

7.8 Promotional Activities:

By using microphone
By singing a song
By dancing
Announcement
Poster & leaflets

7.9 Bargaining power of the buyer and seller
Bargaining power depends on various issues like price of the products, supply and demand of the
products, products quality, availability of the products etc. Bargaining power of buyer is high on
some products like vegetables, meat, fishes etc. These are perishable products that why seller
tries to sell as much as possible to the buyer before ruin. In this situation buyer bargaining power
is so high. Furniture is other products where buyers power is high. Transportation cost is high to
carry furniture in haat and they dont want to take back home. So seller tries to sell in the haat.
Thats why bargaining power of the buyer is high. Again if the number of seller is high then the
bargaining power is in the buyers court.

7.10 How the prices are fixed and what factors affects the price level
For sell and buy every products or services need price. Without price no one can sell or buy a
single product or service now a day. Price of the product depends on demand-supply of the
market, production cost, transportation cost, promotion, distribution system, whether the product
is perishable or non-perishable, middlemen involvement, purchasing power of consumer and
many others. In Mohasthan haat we found that there were some products bought and sell almost
fixed price. Mainly industrial products prices were fixed. People thought that as there was no
strong competitor, the shopkeepers fixed the price based on availability of products. Third party
involvement creates problem for the local producer of vegetables or paddy or farmers to get
proper profit. These middle-men get profit and on the other hand farmer looses their profit. In
this way price are fixed.

29

7.11 Fake products
We found different types of fake product in this haat. Though the name is chane but the
packaging is same. Most of the people of the haat are illiterate. They dont know the bad effects
of the products. Even they cannot recognize the fake products. So they by fake products as
original products. Some examples are Ting, Mitu & Lovely, Rata etc.

Fake Product

7.12 Problems of the Mohasthan Haat
Thre are some problems in the haat that I found. The majors problems are given below:

Though the space is large but it is smaller than demand
The rent (Khajna) is high
Poor drainage system
Unhygienic toilet facility
Creates problems during college hour
No permanent shed for the seller and buyer
Good storage facility is not available

7.13 Conclusion
As I mention earlier that there are some problems in Mohastan haat. Local government should
necessary steps to make improve the drainage system, make good storage system, make
permanent shed etc. If these can be adopted the seller and buyer of the haat will get more benefit.
30

8.0 Conclusion
The objectives of LFE were to get the experience of the rural area of Bangladesh and to
understand the rural development process. After completing our visit to the village Gokul we
came to know about various features of the village i.e. geographical location, village community,
social classes, culture and behaviors of the people. We have collected all these information
through PRA and questionnaire. The village Gokul is situated near the Bogra district town. The
condition of that village is not so bad, in the village the education system, health care, diseases,
literacy and standard of living are satisfactory in comparison to urban area. During the PRA we
tried to find out the untold stories of that village. We have divided that information in to five
different parts- village mapping, social change process, resource and wealth ranking, seasonality
and lastly market analysis. We tried to come up with some analysis in every part to show how
the society has been changing over the years, how the seasons affect the lifestyle of villagers and
how the rural market is functioning. If we go through our findings, first of all, we see that Gokul
is a developing village on perspective of Bangladesh. We saw schooling facilities in that village.
One is primary school and two high school in that village. Most of the children in fact all the
children of that village goes to school. And they are also interested to do so. Elder people also
pressure creates on their children to go to school. We have found a lot of working NGOs in this
village. Village people are borrowing money from the NGOs and invest that money in personal
business like buying cows, goats, sewing machine, powertillier to improve their family
condition. Through this system economical move is going on very swiftly. And village people
are also creating an alternative income sources. Through NGO women can go outside without
any type of barrier and they are also earning money. But through NGOs, lower class cant
improve their family condition because after borrowing money, first of all they try to fulfill their
basic needs like food, cloths, repair their home etc. In agriculture, they are using different types
of fertilizers, pesticides and power tiller. They dont grow same crops in same land
consecutively. Because they know it is bad for crop as well soil through their experience. We
have found that, they rely mostly on artificial fertilizer. Most of them are using artificial fertilizer
and least of them are using compost or organic fertilizer. And another thing is, they are not
satisfied with their income from the agriculture. Because they are not getting as much as they
should after their investment on cultivation. However, in doing the report, I have experienced the
realities of rural areas of Bangladesh.
31

Bibliography

Books:
Principles of Marketing (7
th
edition)
Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong

Basic marketing A global-managerial Approach (11th edition)
E. Jerome Mc Carthy, William D. Perreault.

Introduction to Sociology (6
th
edition)
Henry L. Tischler

Websites:
www.tmssbd.org
www.bogra.info
www.banglapedia.org

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