Cost-benefit Analysis of Different Agroforestry Systems and Practices of Kaharole Upazila of Dinajpur District, Bangladesh

A study was carried out to evaluate the costs and benefits of three agroforestry systems like homestead, cropland and orchard agroforestry of Kaharole Upazila under Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. An extensive field survey and measurements were conducted during July 2017 to January 2018 at different unions and villages of Kaharole upazila. A multistage random sampling procedure was followed in this study to select the survey area. A pre-structured questionnaire was used for collecting the benefits and costs data. A total of 60 agroforestry practices including 20 homesteads, 20 orchards and 20 croplands were evaluated for cost and benefit analysis. Initial three years costs and income data were collected from the field survey. A projection of seven years cost and income was also produced using regression model. Results of the production cost analysis showed that significantly maximum production cost was in orchard agroforestry system (Tk. 98987 per ha.) followed by cropland (Tk. 90238 per ha.) and minimum in homestead system (Tk. 10854 per ha.) in the 1st year. But production cost decreasing trend was recorded in the successive years in all the systems. In case of gross income analysis showed that though initial income was significantly lower in orchard agroforestry followed by cropland and homestead but after tenth year higher income was found in orchard agroforestry system (Tk. 564758 per ha.) followed by cropland (Tk. 251914 per ha) and homestead (Tk.234234 per ha) agroforestry system. However, the net income indicated that orchard agroforestry system was financially more profitable than cropland and homestead agroforestry systems, but the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was higher in homestead as well as cropland agroforestry systems and lower in orchard agroforestry system. On the other hand guava based agroforestry practice was more lucrative than all other practices. In spite of higher BCR of homestead agroforestry, farmers in the study area widely practiced the orchard agroforestry. It appears that the farmers’ decision regarding what kind of land use they will adopt depends not on the BCR, but largely on the net amount of income that they earn.