Abstract It is often questioned whether cooperative agriculture by smallholder farmers can replace individual agriculture. This paper draws on a case study of rice farming in Kurigram district, Bangladesh, and provides insight into cooperative rice farming and potential of mechanization. Various cooperative practices (e.g. group rice harvesting and threshing) have been collectively adopted and used by small-scale rice farmers in Kurigram Sadar ever since the Liberation War of 1971. Rice farming in Kurigram Sadar is characterized by informal community-supported agriculture, which is both labor intensive and inefficient. Agricultural mechanization and institutionalized cooperative farming can reverse the situation and indirectly contribute to food security. Applied scenarios demonstrate potential benefits of cooperative farming, ranging from an estimated 12.6% rise in rice production due to reduced post-production losses and 41.5% increase due to intensified cropping to 92% cost savings through labor substitution. Kurigram Sadar rice farming is of great relevance to other parts of rice-growing Bangladesh as well, as most of the country is dominated by smallholder farmers employing similar agricultural practices.

中文翻译：

---

孟加拉国农村合作水稻种植

摘要人们经常质疑小农户合作农业能否代替个体农业。本文以孟加拉国库里格拉姆地区的稻作农业为例，对合作稻作和机械化潜力提供了见识。自1971年的解放战争以来，库里格拉姆·萨达尔的小规模稻农普遍采用并采用了各种合作方式（例如集体稻谷的收割和脱粒）。库里格拉姆·萨达尔的水稻种植以非正式的社区支持农业为特征。既劳动密集又效率低下。农业机械化和制度化合作农业可以扭转这种局面，间接地促进粮食安全。应用场景说明了合作农业的潜在好处，从减少的生产后损失估计稻米产量增加12.6％，由于集约化种植而增加41.5％，通过人工替代节省92％的成本。Kurigram Sadar稻米种植业与孟加拉国稻米种植的其他地区也息息相关，因为该国大部分地区都是采用类似农业作法的小农户所主导。