New Agricultural Technology and Instability of Foodgrain Production and Yield: An Inter-Temporal and Inter-Regional Perspective

Chapter 9 identified limitations of the methodological framework of Hazell (1982; 1984; 1985) and Mehra (1981) in investigating variability of Indian foodgrain production and yield, and examined the trends in absolute and relative variability in Bangladeshi foodgrain production and yield using an alternative methodology. In this chapter evidence from Bangladesh about changes in variability of production and yield of foodgrains prior to and following the introduction of the HYVs of cereals and associated techniques is outlined and investigated at a more disaggregated level. First of all, the methodology employed for analysing the data is specified. Trends in food-grain production and yield variability for Bangladesh as a whole, as well as for the main regions (districts) of Bangladesh, are then discussed. District (regional) data are also used to examine how variability of foodgrain production and yield have altered with the introduction of the new agricultural technology. Because rates of adoption and spread of the new technology by regions are uneven (see, for example, Alauddin and Mujeri, 1986a); Alauddin and Tisdell, 1988d; 1988e), this chapter investigates whether variability in foodgrain production and yield variability are systematically related to the rate of diffusion of the new agricultural techniques.