Impact of agricultural interventions on household well-being and poverty in the haor wetlands of Sylhet and Sunamganj, Bangladesh

Agricultural interventions have emerged as a pivotal mechanism for transforming livelihoods in the haor (wetland) ecosystems of Bangladesh. Despite growing policy emphasis on agricultural mechanization, empirical evidence on its impact on household poverty and well-being remains limited, particularly in climate-vulnerable haor ecosystems. This study examines the impact of agricultural interventions, with particular emphasis on mechanization, on household well-being and poverty reduction in the climate-sensitive haor regions of Sylhet and Sunamganj districts. The study employs a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach using repeated cross-sectional data from 200 households in Sylhet and Sunamganj, surveyed in 2018 (baseline) and 2023 (follow-up), to compare outcome changes between treatment and control groups. A purposive sampling strategy was used to select haor areas, followed by random sampling of farm households within those locations. The key explanatory variable, intervention intensity, captures the extent of adoption and use of mechanization and related support services at the household level. Household well-being and poverty were measured using a rice-equivalent consumption index, which standardizes household consumption into a common food-based metric to capture economic status. The findings indicate that agricultural interventions are significantly associated with improvements in household well-being and reductions in poverty levels in both regions ( p < 0.05). The magnitude of well-being improvement is greater in Sunamganj, whereas poverty reduction effects are more pronounced in Sylhet. Specifically, a one-unit increase in intervention intensity is associated with a reduction in poverty levels in both districts, with a relatively larger effect observed in Sylhet compared to Sunamganj. The findings highlight the potential of mechanization-driven agricultural interventions as a critical pathway for poverty reduction and rural development in climate-vulnerable haor ecosystems. The study provides empirical support for SDG 1 aligned policies and highlights the role of mechanization in enhancing climate resilience in flood-prone regions.