The impact of floods on the livelihood of rural women farmers and their adaptation strategies: insights from Bangladesh

This study examines the impact of floods on the livelihood of rural Bangladeshi women farmers, such as agriculture, livestock, energy, and water resources, and their adaptation strategies. This research utilizes qualitative and quantitative approaches, focusing more on the qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected using a structured questionnaire with a series of close-ended questions. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were mainly used to collect qualitative data. A total of 120 samples were drawn by applying snowball sampling from two flood-prone remote villages in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh. The sample units were rural women exclusively engaged in farming, different rural income-generating activities, and traditional household responsibilities. Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were mainly used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The study's findings reveal that floods devastate the four sectors of rural women farmers in Bangladesh. However, they apply different adaptation strategies to mitigate the detrimental impact of floods. Empirical evidence also discloses that local knowledge is the primary source among women farmers for developing different adaptation strategies in four sectors such as 60% in agriculture, 70% in livestock, 65% in energy, and 55% in water resource management. According to data, 54% of women respondents reveal that community practice is their primary source of adaptation for crop diversification; in contrast, 47% of participants disclose that family practice is their main adaptation source in gathering animal feed. 7% of interviewees report that their own experience is their major adaptation source in collecting dry leaves and branches of trees for cooking. At the same time, an equal percentage of women disclose that interaction with nature is their key adaptation source in making portable stoves for cooking food during floods. The result further shows that community and family practices are the most common and dominant local knowledge sources among women farmers. This study is expected to help the policy-making community in Bangladesh to incorporate local knowledge in significant climate change-related policy documents.