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Despite the widespread use of microfinance programs since the early 1990s, there is little empirical research on the effects of microfinance on recipients’ livelihoods in rural areas. We therefore compared the effects of governmental and non-governmental microfinance on livelihood and empowerment in rural Bangladesh. Data were collected in two phases from the same 300 microfinance beneficiaries and 200 control respondents using face-to-face interviews. Both descriptive and inferential statistics (propensity score matching, Rosenbaum bounds, and ordinary least squares) were used for analysis. Fixed effects instrumental variable estimates were also designed to minimize spillover effects. Microfinance significantly contributed to different livelihood and empowerment dimensions to ultimately improve livelihoods, with the greatest improvements seen in non-governmental rather than governmental microfinance recipients.

In this study, we critically analyze the general and climate-smart adaptation strategies used by farmers in four sub-districts in southern Bangladesh to address the effects of soil salinity in agriculture. Data were collected from 360 respondents using face-to-face interviews and were analyzed using multiple analyses (variance inflation factor, ordinary least squares, Tukey’s post hoc test). The adaptations used by farmers to manage the impacts of soil salinity in agriculture were significantly influenced by their age, education, family size, farm size, level of contact with agricultural extension department officials, and their training experience. Farmers found adult education programmes particularly useful, since they focused on smart technique(s) rather than traditional approaches for agricultural development. Adaptation was comparatively more common in ‘early adapters’ and ‘early majority’ (slower to adapt) farmers. Our analysis suggests that climate-smart agriculture (CSA) programmes should be implemented in all affected sub-districts and similarly affected parts of the world. Extension workers should provide face-to-face demonstrations to affected farmers and support them with self-help programmes, which can help to attenuate and minimize the effects of soil salinity on agriculture. It will also be important to provide agricultural innovation support to affected farmers to cope with the adverse effects of soil salinity. Effective extension services are key to increasing farmers’ access to innovative information and advice. Key policy insightsA philosophy of ‘learning by viewing’ for climate-smart agricultural innovations may encourage them to adopt adaptation strategies to minimize the impacts of soil salinity on agriculture.Training programmes could be offered to farmers by the Department of Agricultural Extension, especially to target innovators and early adopters of climate-smart practices, supporting them with a ‘self-help’ approach.A motivational approach and good communication skills play a vital role when introducing new adaptation strategies.A climate-smart investment plan could identify policy opportunities to further develop agriculture actions to combat climate change. Building resilience to global climate change would help to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes across farming communities. A philosophy of ‘learning by viewing’ for climate-smart agricultural innovations may encourage them to adopt adaptation strategies to minimize the impacts of soil salinity on agriculture. Training programmes could be offered to farmers by the Department of Agricultural Extension, especially to target innovators and early adopters of climate-smart practices, supporting them with a ‘self-help’ approach. A motivational approach and good communication skills play a vital role when introducing new adaptation strategies. A climate-smart investment plan could identify policy opportunities to further develop agriculture actions to combat climate change. Building resilience to global climate change would help to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes across farming communities.

Southern part of Bangladesh is one of the most affected areas confronting the effects of climate change especially in agricultural sector. The study was planned to examine effect of climate change on agriculture in the saline prone areas, and estimate the level of contribution of the selected characteristics of the farmers to the effect of climate change on agriculture. For this reason, data were collected from 88 farmers under study group and 30 farmers under control group from 16 March, 2017 to 15 April, 2017. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression, t-test were used for data analysis. There was a negative effect of climate change on agriculture comparing the study and control group changed score from 2015 to 2017. In case of study group, 61.4 percent of the farmers had medium effect, 17.0 percent had low effect and 21.6 percent of the farmers had high effect of climate change on agriculture. It was also found that out of eleven factors, seven namely age, level of education, annual family income, farming experience, training exposure, agricultural knowledge and knowledge on climate change had significant contribution to the effect of climate change on agriculture in the saline prone areas. It is concluded that climate change may play a significant role in decreasing the yield of cereal crops, yield of vegetables, yield of pulses and increasing number of adopted new varieties of agricultural crops by the farmers. It is recommended that the Bangladesh government and NGOs should take initiative for reducing effect of climate change on agriculture for a sustainable agricultural development.

Here, the effects of length of microfinance borrowing, service provider and other factors on microfinance participation and outcomes in Bangladesh are investigated. Data were collected from 300 microfinance respondents using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Descriptive and econometric statistics were used for data analysis. The financing authorities gave preference to rural, powerless, illiterate and poor people in all groups of candidates. Spillover effects were minimized by considering endogeneity, attrition bias and unobserved bias. The fixed effect instrumental variable method was used to show that the microfinance effects changed over time, i.e. were greater in historical borrowing than in more recent borrowing. Farm size, repayment behavior, savings amount per week and annual household income were identified as significant factors that influenced recipients’ effective participation in the microfinance program. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Summary This paper analyzes the impact of different microfinance providers on basic rights and quality of life. Data were collected in two phases from 300 microfinance beneficiaries and 200 control respondents. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, multiple regression, propensity score matching, and treatment effect models were used for analysis. Microfinance appears to increase the basic rights of respondents and help improve quality of life; the positive changes are consistently higher in non-governmental microfinance recipients. These data may help to formulate new policies that help to improve rural livelihood.

We investigate the impact of microfinance providers on economic, family and social, and political empowerment. Data were collected in two phases from 300 microfinance beneficiaries and 200 controls. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, multiple regression, propensity score matching and the Rosenbaum bound method were used for analysis. In the majority of areas, microfinance increased recipients’ empowerment. Both econometric estimations showed the largest effects for family and social and political empowerment in recipients of governmental microfinance, while non-governmental microfinance recipients saw greater improvements in economic empowerment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The New Rural Cooperative Medical Service System (NRCMS) in China has been established to ensure improved medical care support for all categories of Chinese peasants to offset their burden of excessive medical care expenditures. The primary aim of this paper is to identify an appropriate alternative modelling approach for the patients’ medical expenditures. Data were collected from Jiaojiang city through cluster and multistage random sampling procedure, which was comprised of 4,630 enrolled rural people under NRCMS. The paper presented the fi rst comparison of common econometric medical expenditures modelling approaches. Major fi ndings reveal that the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) predictive accuracy appears to be better than the Finite Mixture Model (FMM) and GLM (log link) was the best performer among all approaches. It may be attributed due to the structural difference of medical expenditures between China and other developing countries compared to the developed countries. This suggests that the Chinese government may fi nd an alternative to choose GLM approach among others to minimize the peasants’ medical expenditures under NRCMS.

Bangladesh is a pioneer and home of conceptualizing micro-credit program. It has undertaken a number of such programs to reduce poverty and bring about socio-economic changes in the rural community. The main purpose of this paper is to give an overview about access to micro-credit for rural poor and its impact on their poverty situation and relevant factors related to income of the micro-credit recipients. Data was collected in two phases from the same respondents (April 2009 and April 2010) using a face-to-face interview schedule from a sample of 360 micro-credit recipients. Additionally, another set of 60 non-credit beneficiary respondents was also taken as a control group to compare the consequences of the program. Major findings reveal that positive impact was found on income, assets endowment, standard of living and poverty reduction. Utilization of credit appears to be major factor for credit recipients raising income compared to their control group. This shows that micro-credit tends to be an important factor to have an impact on household income which minimizes the poverty situation to a reasonable extent.

A study on vulnerability of ‘Monga’ a Bengali term referring to the yearly cyclical phenomenon of poverty and hunger was conducted in the northern part of Bangladesh. The specific objectives of the study were to identify the factors promoting the causes of Monga taking place in a particular area and in a lean season of the year and also to assess its vulnerability. The study area included five northern districts of Bangladesh where Monga affected people were mostly concentrated. Multistage and stratified random sampling procedure was followed for selecting 900 households from all the five districts where 900 household heads were interviewed from March/2009 to November/2009 by the researcher himself. About 69.76% of the respondents opined that Monga happens in the greater Rangpur region because of frequently occurring natural calamities and having no work opportunity in the lean season. Over 60% viewed that the timing of Monga commences in mid September and ends in mid November and it happens almost every year. About 86% of the respondents reported Monga either as ‘moderately vulnerable’ or ‘most vulnerable’ and 62% noted it as ‘increasing’. Almost 50% of the respondents could manage only one meal a day during the Monga period and 60% had to remain in occasional starvation very frequently because of lack of purchasing capacity. As a result, most of them adopted a number of coping mechanisms like taking loan, eating less, government relief etc. to encounter with Monga. Key words: Monga vulnerability, lean season, natural disaster, coping mechanism.