GovTwin / Institution
Joypurhat District
Local Gov
Joypurhat is Bangladesh's smallest district by area, a Barind-tract agricultural economy in the far northwest built on rice, sugar (with the country's largest sugar mill), and intensive farming with almost no surface water. It is the poorest district in this set and one of the poorer in the country.
Wealth rank 20/64
(1 = poorest district)
Warming +0.48°C
(1980s–2020s)
Air NO₂ #26/64
(1 = most polluted)
Night-lights +62%
(2014–23 activity)
Built-up 28 km²
Forest loss 9 ha
(2001–23)
Rainfall 1,754 mm/yr
Indicators: Meta RWI (HDX); ERA5-Land; MODIS; Sentinel-5P; VIIRS night-lights; GHSL; Hansen v1.11; CHIRPS v2.0. Exposure: GloFAS v2.1, FABDEM, MODIS LST, ACAG PM2.5, WorldPop 2020.
Problems and issues
- poverty The poorest district in this set by a wide margin (RWI -0.124, 20th poorest of 64). So what: Persistent low household wealth in a small agrarian district makes it highly vulnerable to crop and price shocks and a priority for targeting. Source: Meta Data for Good Relative Wealth Index (HDX), ~2.4 km grid
- water Effectively no permanent surface water (0.0 km2), the only such district here, leaving agriculture wholly dependent on Barind groundwater. So what: Total reliance on groundwater for irrigation exposes the district to depletion, arsenic and rising pumping costs with no surface buffer. Source: JRC Global Surface Water (permanent water) via Google Earth Engine
- air quality Very high aerosol loading, ranking 8th of 64 nationally despite being a small rural district. So what: Severe particulate pollution, partly from brick kilns and regional haze, raises health risks even outside major cities. Source: MODIS MAIAC aerosol optical depth (550 nm) via Google Earth Engine
- economy Weak economic-activity momentum: nightlights grew only 62%, ranking 58th of 64, the lowest in this set. So what: Stagnant growth in an already-poor district signals limited diversification beyond rice and sugar and few off-farm opportunities. Source: VIIRS nighttime lights (annual radiance) via Google Earth Engine
- climate disaster Air temperature has warmed 0.48 C in a district with no surface-water buffer and groundwater-only irrigation. So what: Warming raises crop water demand exactly where there is no surface storage, deepening the groundwater stress problem. Source: ERA5-Land reanalysis (Copernicus/ECMWF) via Google Earth Engine, district mean
Probable solutions
- Combine social-protection targeting with off-farm livelihood and value-addition programs (sugar, rice processing, agro-SMEs) to lift the poorest households. Responsible: Department of Social Services / SME Foundation · policy proposal
- Promote groundwater-conserving irrigation in the Barind: alternate wetting-and-drying for rice, buried-pipe networks, rainwater/pond harvesting, and metered solar pumping. Responsible: Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) · real program/policy
- Enforce conversion of brick kilns to cleaner technology and regulate seasonal biomass and agricultural-residue burning. Responsible: Department of Environment · policy proposal