Modeling energy and agriculture interactions—II: Food-fodder-fuel-fertilizer relationships for biomass in Bangladesh

The model developed by Parikh1 is applied to Bangladesh for which the situation in 1976–1977 is simulated first. This base case provides insights into the present behavior of different income groups with regard to choices of fuels and allocation of biomass for various purposes. It is shown that, due to high needs and prices of fuels, the biomass allocation for fuels takes priority over feed and fertilizers. In fact, the landless burn all, and small farmers burn 80% of animal dung rather than use it for fertilizers. The model also shows that, unless substantial amounts of fertilizers are used, the small and middle farmers would have feed and fuel shortages on adopting high-yielding varieties (HYV) that minimize straw-grain ratios. Similarly, by 1990, when the population increases further, middle farmers also become vulnerable in meeting their feed, fuel, fertilizer requirements. To mitigate these effects, improved stoves and other measures would be necessary to increase biomass use efficiencies considerably. Since Bangladesh is a very low-income and resource-scarce country, the choices of biogas, charcoal kilns, and alcohol distilleries, and the choices of mechanization, all of which require investment, play a minor role