GovTwin / Institution

Shailkupa (Jhenaidah)

Local Gov

A northern Jhenaidah upazila on the dry Ganges-floodplain belt, a large rural unit on the Kumar river with paddy, vegetables and tobacco.

Wealth rank 104/452 (1 = poorest upazila)

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 Household wealth is low, with a Relative Wealth Index mean of -0.188 (national rank 104 of 452, third-poorest decile), the poorest of the district's upazilas. So what: Deep rural poverty limits coping capacity and off-farm options. Source: Meta Data for Good Relative Wealth Index (HDX)
water Very little permanent surface water leaves the upazila heavily dependent on groundwater for dry-season irrigation. So what: Aquifer dependence sharpens dry-season moisture stress for Boro. Source: Department of Public Health Engineering
air quality Brick kilns and dry-season crop-residue burning over the dry plain drive particulate haze. So what: Seasonal haze degrades local air quality. Source: Department of Environment

Probable solutions

Expand dry-season surface-water harvesting through re-excavation of khals and ponds with monitored conjunctive use for Boro irrigation. Responsible: Bangladesh Water Development Board and Department of Public Health Engineering · policy proposal
Scale agro-processing of vegetables and date-palm jaggery with cold-chain and SME credit to add off-farm income. Responsible: Department of Agricultural Extension and SME Foundation · policy proposal