Role of ‘one house one farm’ approach to improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers of ethnic and non-ethnic communities in Bangladesh

Abstract

One House One Farm’ (OHOF) was a poverty alleviation project launched by the Government of Bangladesh in 2009 to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. The research sought to investigate the impacts of OHOF project using the livelihood framework. This project was launched in Nalitabari sub-division of Sherpur district in Bangladesh as a pilot one with emphasize on smallholder farmers from ethnic and non-ethnic communities. A total of 148 households (68 from the ethnic community and 80 households from the non-ethic community) were selected through stratified random sampling technique. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview schedule administered through a face-to-face interview technique. The findings certitude that livelihood capitals such as human, natural, physical, social and financial of project farmers were found improved as compared to non-project farmers. The status of improved livelihood and overall improved livelihood outcomes for the non-ethnic project farmers were comparatively better than that of ethnic members. Since vulnerability contexts were different in each community, the project has intervened accordingly to reduce the extent of vulnerability. Though OHOF approach has improved the overall livelihood situation of smallholder project farmers and reduce their vulnerability to an extent, the project interventions were not equal for studied communities. Moreover, the project personnel were reported with more inclined to provide opportunities for the non-ethnic project farmers than that of ethnic ones.