1 Introduction

After fifty years of independence, Bangladesh embarked into a developing country and Vision-2041 calls for the Bangladeshi socio-economic environment to be transformed from a high-income economy by the year 2041 (Planning Commission, 2012). Overall consensus exists among development thinkers, policymakers and academicians that the country has made significant progress on education, poverty reduction, and health and the concurrent report shows that Bangladesh's economy is the fastest-growing economy in the world. Sen and his followers have debunked the myth of GDP growth as a trimmed measure of development (Nowsin, 2020). Despite the success story of GDP growth in Bangladesh still, villages have been most neglected as far as facilities for life such as fast connectivity, public utilities, medical care, educational institutions, shopping centres, recreational centres, etc. Over the years the Bangladesh government has been pursuing to establish this goal with limited resources but people of all statuses and all areas do not equally benefit from spatial opportunities due to distributional disparities. In the financial year 2021–22, about 63 percent of the total annual development program (ADP) budget was allocated to three metropolises: Dhaka, Chattogram, and Gazipur, while only 37 percent went to other metropolises and rural areas throughout Bangladesh (63% housing, community dev”, 2022). Likewise, a study conducted by Jobaid and Khan (2018) shows that in the distribution of funds for the annual development program from the fiscal years 2012–13 to 2017–18, the Dhaka division received nearly 40 percent of the entire allocation, Chattogram division received 27.75 percent and all other districts received less than 11 percent. Rural areas sometimes remain neglected because of lack of proper plans and programs. A balanced growth strategy can lead to more income by enhancing factor mobility, which requires a better communication system. These circumstances push our attention to rethink balanced spatial distribution.

A growth centre is an infrastructure element that has a profound effect on the rural economy. The Planning Commission of Bangladesh identified rural markets as growth centres based on socio-economic criteria for further development investment (LGED, 1995). There are in total about 14,451,215 rural markets (known as hat or Bazar) throughout Bangladesh (Agricultural and Rural Statistics, 2018). These hats and bazaars are the nuclei of the rural economy. It has immense importance in the rural development process. A comprehensive rural development strategy must be needed to recognize the importance of sustainable development. Well-infrastructured, good communication facilities of growth centres trigger a dynamic environment of the rural economy that creates more employment, and women empowerment for the unprivileged group of the nation.

In Bangladesh, rural markets serve as a crucial place of social and cultural events for rural people. Due to location and arrangement, all growth centres are not performing equally in our country. The research question is; what are the challenges and opportunities of growth centres that exist in the study area? Thus this study aims to ascertain the prospects and challenges of growth centres in Bangladesh and to propose probable recommendations from a rural development perspective using Kushtia district as a case study. Kushtia district of Bangladesh was chosen for this study as it has served as one of the country’s surplus zones. Moreover, it is one of the most important western corridors of Bangladesh and its untapped potential remain also unexplored. Considering the importance of growth centres in the rural economy it is worthwhile to assess the weaknesses and prospects of growth centres of Kushtia for further development investment on a priority basis. In addition to that, a modest attempt has been made to detect which factors of growth centres are crucial and also play as a catalyst of rural development. The paper has been organized into six sections. Following the introduction, the subsequent sections bring a description of literature review. The next section provides the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the study. Then section four presents the methodology. Findings and discussions are in section five. The final part deals with the conclusion and recommendation.

2 Literature review

Rural development has long been discussed in development and regional planning literature (Heyer, et. al., 1981; Mondal, 2000; Wegulo, 2018). Moreover, how rural areas can be linked to urban areas spatially or how spatial inequality can be reduced is of great interest among planners and researchers (Adugna & Hailemariam, 2011; Bryceson, 2006; Wegulo, 2018). Consequently, in response to reducing spatial inequality and fostering rural development, many theories and models have been developed that link rural and urban development such as the growth pole theory (Perroux, 1955; Hirschman, 1958), central place theory (Christaller, 1933; Losch, 1940), Grameen model (Alaisa & Isah, 2015; Saad, 2021), Cumilla model (Steven, 1972; Karim, 1985) and so on. All these theories and models have been advocated to promote rural and urban development by bridging gaps in regional differences. However, balanced spatial development is yet to be in reality in many developing countries. Bangladesh, a developing country, is aiming to have LDC Graduation by 2026 having high regional disparity likely to hinder LDC graduation in making (Hasnath, 2020). To attain LDC graduation, Bangladesh requires a spatially balanced distribution of development, and suggestions have been made to utilize its urban and rural growth centres as the place of development (Ferdous, et. al., 2019; Barua & Rahman, 2021). Recently, the government of Bangladesh has initiated a project “My Village My City” under the Local Government Engineering Departments (LGED) to facilitate local markets with planned development and necessary logistics assistance aiming to boost the local economy and create new jobs (Akther & Rahaman, 2021). In such cases, the distributional disparity in investment is more likely to hinder the aspiration of rural development.

In line with this thought, Unwin (2017) strongly suggests that geographically dispersed investment especially in rural areas ensures a strong link between rural and urban which further helps minimize spatial disparity. Despite the high importance of growth centres in bringing dynamism to the local economy, scholarly evidence on growth centres and rural development is scarce and often confusing as to which factors underpin rural development (Darwent, 1969; Wegulo, 2018). In connection with growth centres considering the rural development perspective, a few studies have been carried out in Bangladesh. For instance, Nowsin (2020) raised a question about the present doctrine of the notion of concurrent development. She further opined that to reduce poverty, ensure food security, mitigate the adverse impact of climate change, and reduce pressure on the urban sector, rural development should be prioritized and set a broader vision for the development of Bangladesh. In the same vein, Haq (2020) survey on growth centres at Baruraupazila in Cumilla district reveals that the growth centre not solely serves as a market, it is also a prime source of earnings, employment and domestic resource mobilisation of Bangladesh. In addition, a study conducted by Parna (2011) found that there is a dearth of minimum facilities and inadequate infrastructural facilities in those growth centres.

However, it also reveals that the untapped potential of a growth centre can be even more if it is connected with the rural development process. Mondal and Das (2010) explored in their study that a growth centre has a profound effect on developing the economic and social aspects of rural communities. At the same time, they found that growth centres entangle many problems which are mostly associated with infrastructure. Khan and Akter (2000) in their paper “The Role of Growth Centres in the Rural Economy of Bangladesh'' found that a deficiency of infrastructure creates the backwardness of the rural economy. Additionally, their study indicates that the provision of infrastructures in the rural markets actually paves the way for employment generation and contributes to increasing the number of traders and customers, market lease rate and market turnover. Momen (1997) explained in his research paper, “State of Rural Centre’s and their Planning for Rural Development'' the overall condition of rural markets and highlighted the role of markets as a different service provider. In a past study, Islam (1992) showed that hats and bazaars (rural markets) work as a channel through which traders and craftsmen engage in trading and most of the urban-based products, agricultural inputs and daily needs enter into the rural economy. This happens through both horizontal and vertical linkages with other commercial entities. Moreover, his study found a functional relationship exists among different sectors of rural development with the markets where the rural market positively contributes to the development of rural Bangladesh. Though he summarized that the rural markets or growth centres contributed to integrating rural development in Bangladesh, how efficiently these growth centres operate and contribute to the rural economy is not explored in detail.

Moreover, some institutions such as the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) and Bangabandhu Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development (BAPARD) have initiated and adopted activities aiming at foster rural development linking growth centres. The Planning Commission of Bangladesh (1984) framed and implemented a rural development project at the beginning of January 1984. There were three components for rural development, i.e., development of physical infrastructure including roads, storage and markets; irrigated agriculture, minor drainage and flood control works; and production and employment programs for the rural poor. In 2004, LGED identified a few more growth centres to the existing number of growth centres due to the increase in population and regional growth in view of the natural potential of the regions. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), provided a project under the title of “Role of Growth Centre: A Rural Development Perspective” where detailed rural centre planning was sketched. The work identified rural centres as the focal points with a specific level of facilities. The World Bank (1996) prepared a report the title “Rural Infrastructural Strategy” in association with LGED, LGRD and the Planning Commission of Bangladesh to set up the criteria to identify growth centres. They also ascertained that the growth centre approach undertaken in 1984 was a success and strongly urged for the continuation of infrastructure development in and around growth centres. This study proposes some new approaches to examine the challenges and prospects of growth centres from a rural development perspective in this region.

3 Theoretical and conceptual frameworks

French economist Francois Perroux (1955) initiated the growth pole theory which has been considered the basis of the growth centre concept. This theory postulates that economic development or economic growth cannot be uniform in an entire region rather it takes place around a specific pole. A prime industry is considered a pole around which linked industries developed with the help of backward linkage and forward linkage industries. The growth pole theory is not similar to the growth centre concept as the growth pole theory is solely concentrated on the industries that stimulate economic development whereas the growth centre is related to spatial development (Moseley, 2013). Due to the top-down approach of development, the effectiveness of growth pole theory in developing countries is controversial. Against this backdrop, it has been said that a bottom-up approach should be adopted for the economic development of such nations. In 1930 German geographer Walter Cristaller laid down central place theory where he stated that one large city exists in a given region surrounded by a series of smaller towns, cities and hamlets. The central city supplies all of the things that meet the necessities of surrounding communities. For balanced socio-economic development, Cristaller's theory is much more appropriate in the growth centre concept. Professor Dr. Yunus, the pioneer of the Grameen Model, introduced a set of action rules in his bank- Grameen Bank that is regarded as the Grameen Model. These action tools are business development programs, health programs, housing loans, disaster relief and agricultural development centreed on microcredit programs. Alleviating poverty was the single most important goal of this model. It was first initiated in the rural area of Bangladesh and then expanded all over the country. The cooperative pioneer Akhter Hameed Khan initiated the Cumilla Model in 1959 because of the failure of the Village Agricultural and Industrial Development (V-AID) programme. This model asserts that to develop the Cumilla Model the transmission mechanism of production and sales of village farmers must be sharpened. The model also considered that the main obstacle in this transmission was inadequate local infrastructure. It was also assumed that if the government had enough resources to build this infrastructure, the problem would not be cured. Khan argued that once constructed, infrastructure must be looked after. According to his opinion, it was mandatory to develop vigorous local institutions for maintaining this infrastructure.

In general, the above theories and models have recognized the importance of rural development through various mechanisms. A summary table (see Table 1) is included at the end of this section to get a prompt understanding of the theoretical justification of growth centres. Clearly, growth pole theory has an effect from the centre to the periphery through forward and backward linkages and agglomerations. It works through the polarization of industrial units or growth poles that lead to overall development. Central place theory, on the other hand, stresses that one central place or city provides all the necessities of the surrounding circle, thereby connecting bottom to top. Generally, the central place theory stress linking small towns with a large city. As per the Grameen model, rural development should be concentrated in rural areas that confer benefits to the surrounding area. The Cumilla model has emphasized the importance of institutional support in promoting and maintaining infrastructures leading to village development. At this end, it is clear that these theories and models give us headway about the factors inducing rural development. However, how growth centres underpin rural development or the role of growth centres in rural development remains blurred in the above discussion.

Table 1 Summary of the theories and model contributing to growth centres
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Remarkably, the missing theoretical link between rural developments and growth centres is found in growth pole literature. The growth pole literature laid the foundation of the growth centres concept where the industry is termed as a pole and its location is termed as ‘centre’ and the growth centre notions seem to stress the distribution of growth and allocation of investment spatially (Darwent, 1969). In the growth pole literature, the growth centre is based on urban settings and refers to the city or urban area that creates a development force and spreads the force through socio-economic, political and infrastructural links (Sang-Arun, 2013). In contrast to the growth pole theory, if we consider the growth centre as a pivotal place then it is much similar to the central place theory which also gives us the basis for the theoretical underpinning of growth centres. Similarly, the other two models e.g., the Grameen model and Cumilla model, focus on poverty and infrastructure that link growth centres as the potential centres that transform Bangladesh into a hub of economic development because of their multifaceted nature.

From a rural development perspective, these theories and models meet all attributes that underpin growth centre concepts aiming to achieve rural development in Bangladesh. Though there remains plenty of scholarly evidence on urban-centric growth centres (Grimm, 1976; Wegulo, 2018; Benedek, et al., 2019; Ferdous, et. al., 2019), the replication of the growth centre concept in a rural context is still sporadic in rural development and regional planning literature. In the context of Bangladesh, it appears significantly important to know the role of such growth centres in rural development as here more than 70 percent of total inhabitants’ life and livelihoods are rural-centric (Nowsin, 2020). Attempts should also be made to identify the obstacle factors that hinder the full-fledged operation of rural growth centres and explore opportunities that may assist in restructuring the operative model of growth centres so as to outperform the old model. Therefore, this study seeks to fill a void in the literature by exploring the challenges and opportunities of growth centres for integrated rural development in Bangladesh and delivering adequate information to both policymakers and stakeholders.

3.1 Conceptualization of rural development, rural areas and growth centres

The concept of rural development according to the World Bank is “a strategy aiming at the improvement of economic and social living conditions, focusing on a specific group of poor people in a rural area (World Bank, 1975, p.3). Anriquez & Stamoulis (2007) summarized the concept of rural development as a process that evolved with time. Since the 1970s the concept modifies perceived mechanisms and developmental goals. The process of improving the quality of life of rural communities that are relatively isolated and sparsely populated is called rural development (Mosely, 2003). Robert Chambers, a British academic and development practitioner, defined rural development as a strategy of locally produced economic development process where specific groups of people such as small-scale farmers, tenants, landless and poor women and men are able to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. Mostly, the traditional rural development approach started with the development of agriculture and agri-food activities as the rural inhabitants’ jobs and income rely on agriculture and related works (Abreu et al., 2019). Islam (1992) has shown how rural development takes place centreing on rural markets where agricultural inputs and outputs are traded and inject money through various ways. Thus the development of rural markets spar the rural development.

Rural areas generally have spatial space which is clearly different from urban areas in terms of physical developments, availability of citizens’ amenities, and public utilities. In the context of Bangladesh, a rural area is an area outside those of City Corporations, Paurashavas and Upazila Headquarters in the country is considered a rural area (Economic Census, 2013). Rural areas offer urban city centres with raw materials for industries, food grains, vegetables, fish and meat and other consumption products. The place where these products are gathered and marketed for further distribution is the growth centre (Islam, 1992).

Theoretically, growth centres work as the hub for economic activities that link rural areas with towns. The concept of growth centres is evolved from the growth pole concept where the former is a well-communicated marketplace where agricultural products are brought from rural areas for selling. It is considered a spatial focal point of a rural community (Economic Census 2013). According to LGED statistics, there are 2100 growth centres operating all over Bangladesh, however, there remain questions about whether all these growth centres are well equipped with logistics and facilities (Ferdous, et. al., 2019). Moreover, the standardization of growth centres is different due to geological variation and spatial disparity (Islam, 1992; Wegulo, 2018). In Bangladesh, growth centres often underperform due to various challenges and sustainability issues e.g., weak connectivity, poor infrastructure, lack of technological diffusion and so on (Rana, 2011).

4 Methodology

4.1 Study area selection and data collection

Kushtia is a South-western district of Bangladesh situated between 23°42' and 24°12' north latitudes and between 88°42' and 89°22' east longitudes with a spatial area of 162,000 hectares. The Mighty Padma River runs along the northern part of the area. The average elevation of the study area is 18 m above the mean sea level (MSL) (SRTMDEM, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov). Kushtia district (see Fig. 1) was chosen for this study because it has functioned as a surplus zone for the country. Furthermore, since Bangladesh's founding, this area has served as a western corridor for connecting the country's centre and periphery. It is also clear that no studies on this topic have been conducted in the Kushtia district. Kushtia districtFootnote 1 has 29 growth centres spread over six upazilas. For our research, 12 of these growth centres were chosen at random (see Table 2).

Fig. 1
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Location of the study area: The Kushtia District. Source: Banglapedia.org

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Table 2 Sample size and distribution
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Each upazila has been assigned two growth centres on average. Table 2 shows the selected growth centres and corresponding upazilas and unions. The primary data were collected through a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informants Interviews (KII) comprising local farmers and shop-owners in growth centres, elected representatives of the concerned locality, members of the market committee, and inhabitants of the union. Furthermore, this study has applied observation methods to recognize the condition of embodied things of growth centres such as; the condition of physical infrastructure, local farmers' attitudes towards growth centres, surrounding environment etc. Secondary data were collected from different books, journals, published and unpublished thesis works, periodicals, and newspapers have been used as secondary sources to extract information on rural market statistics and also try to apprehend what are the prime areas of rural development for further analysis. In addition to that, this study has employed some additional sources which are; Economic Census data (2013), Agricultural and Rural Statistics (2018); and Official web portal of LGED.

4.2 Framework for assessing rural development

For this study, authors have developed a framework i.e., indicators-based assessment technique which has been applied to elucidate the connection between the growth centres and rural development. To ameliorate the quality of life of the rural masses, four key areas are being accounted for in this framework. The growth centre is the central focus of this viewpoint. The framework directs how growth centres effectively influence the rural economy. In the framework, key areas of rural development are suggested followed by sub areas of rural development and the major elements of rural development are also identified and presented in Fig. 2. In order to assess the issues of rural development, the ways we have proceeded, are explained now. Physical development in the rural community is one of the indicators of key areas of rural development, which hypothesizes more the physical development more the income of the community. Since the growth centre serves as a nodal point for rural communities in Bangladesh, strong connectivity and market-centric development works stimulate the dynamism of the periphery. In this respect, a Likert-type rating scale has been applied to gather people's attitudes toward roads and infrastructure at the growth centres.

Fig. 2
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Indicators based assessment for rural development. Source: The Authors’ compilation

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The second indicator or key area of rural development is cultural development where arranging cultural events is thought to spar rural economic activities. Traditionally the growth centre is the basis of rural culture; cultural values accrue from this place. Both religious and cultural institutions exist in growth centres almost all over Bangladesh. Temples and mosques are very common in those places. For a makeshift appraisal, the number of market associations has been used as a barometer of cultural development. Throughout the year a number of festivals and religious gatherings are observed under this platform. These gatherings uplift people's cultural and religious attitudes through which people's perceptions about income and wealth are changed. As a result, inequalities would gradually plummet from this settlement. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries, without social development it is hardly possible to sustain a vibrant society. Wider employment facilities play a vital role in this regard. For this, a number of micro/small/medium/cottage industries at the growth centres have been considered for wider employment opportunities. And, finally, political development can be achieved through growth centres. It attracts people from surrounding areas not only for selling and buying products but also to exchange views with each other. All of these activities develop the self-esteem of the rural community. This awareness empowers rural masses economically and politically. For this study, it has explained how far the empowerment of the rural community is ahead by analyzing the purpose of visiting the growth centre.

4.3 Priority index

A priority index (PI) has been utilized for further investment plans considering the growth centres' problems and prospects in the study area. However, calculating the method of priority index has been found changeable in nature. For instance, a previous work conducted by Prerna and Gangopadhyay (2015) used a priority index that seeks to identify priority households incorporating four factors such as number of family members, number of school goers, the volume of electricity load, and area of the household. This is simply calculated by summing the value of the ith factor divided by its maximum value. For a detailed description of this priority index, see (Prerna & Gangopadhyay, 2015). On the other hand, Karmokar et al. (2015) developed a priority index to identify and rank problems in agricultural marketing in the southwestern region of Bangladesh. Later Roy and Basu (2020) adopted this priority index to identify and rank the constraint factors that hinder livelihood diversification activities. The priority index (P.I) used in this study is followed by Karmokar et. al. (2015) and Roy and Basu (2020). The following formula depicts the construction procedure of that index.

$$Priority \,Index=\sum \frac{\left(Scale\, value \,of \,ith \,priority\right)\left(Frequency \,of \,ith \,priority\right)}{Total \,number \,of \,observations}$$

Or,

$$\begin{array}{cc}P.I=\sum {S}_{i}{f}_{i}/n,& (0 \le P.I \le 1)\end{array}$$
(1)

Where, P.I = Priority Index Si = Scale value of ith priority Fi = Frequency of ith priority n = Total number of observations. Table 3 shows a five-point matrix developed by Karmokar et. al. (2015) are used in this study, where the priority index values range from 1 to 0 with the priority of 1st to 5th correspondingly.

Table 3 Scale value of priority index
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5 Findings and discussions

The section presents survey findings and necessary discussions accordingly. At first, information on the basic aspects of growth centres is tabulated and discussed. Then, the problems, which have been detected in the field study, are stated. Finally, from the rural development perspective, a few indicators-based analyses are delineated to explore the potential prospects of growth centres in our rural economy.

5.1 Basic information about growth centre

Table 4 demonstrates that most of the growth centres in Kushtia district are retail. Although, there are a few growth centres that serve as both wholesale and retail for supplying agri-products like; onion, chili, betel leaf, tobacco etc. These are Taragunia hat at Daulatpurupazila for chillies and onion, Chitholia hat at Mirpur upazila for tobacco, Kuchiamora hat at Bheramaraupazila for betel leaf and Harinarayanpur hat for jute.

Table 4 Profile of growth centres
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There are wide varieties of agro-product being sold in our selected growth centres. Most are locally produced products. Onion, jute and pulse are the highest-selling products along with tobacco and chilies in terms of percentage. Sellers were found to use mostly local motorized vehicles and rickshaw vans to fetch their products in the market. Still, traditional means of communication prevail in the rural community. Local aggregators (Faria, Bepari, Aratdar etc.) were found to have the most buying agents (100%) of growth centres at those localities. Consumers and processing companies are second and third in buying agri-products from those growth centres. The large part of products that are sold in growth centres mostly bring on the surrounding areas and zila sadarmarket for further sale. Besides these, buyers from Dhaka, Khulna, Rangpur, Sylhet, Chattagram, and other divisional cities take part in buying seasonal products in those hats. Table 2 also presents the market land owner in terms of land volume. LGED, local unions and private individuals were found to be the main owners of market land. The distance traveled by sellers to sell their products was found to be varied from 5 to 50 km. However, the highest frequency was found 10 km away from the market where to sell their product. Previous studies such as Islam (1992) and Ferdous et. al. (2019) found almost similar profiling of growth centres in Bangladesh.

5.2 Last auction (Dak) price of the market

Table 5 shows the auction price of twelve growth centres in Kushtia. In terms of auction price Kuchiamara Hat is the biggest market then Bashgram and Ujangram hats respectively.

Table 5 Last auction (Dak) price of growth centre
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5.3 Total approximate value of sale in a bazar day

Table 6 reveals that HarinrayanPur hat and Kuchiamura hat have the highest turnover market. In the time of field visit it has been seen that Taragunia hat has more economic activities than all other markets but its turnover is not shown in that picture. Obviously daily market turnover has increased by more than fifty percent than five years ago.

Table 6 Sale value in a bazar day in Taka
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5.4 Number of permanent shops

Table 7 shows the growth of shops in the year 2021 compared to the year 2016. The highest number of shops was found to have Harinarayanpur hat. Panti hat and Bashgram hut are also performing as second and third highest secondary markets. Moreover, it shows that a noticeable amount of business entrepreneurs entered into business.

Table 7 Number of shops
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5.5 Number of street shops in a bazar day (approximate)

Table 8 shows the floating shops on the bazaar day of the twelve growth centres. It is seen that the highest street shops are found in Taragunia hat at Daulatpur upazila due to its catchment area. It has a bigger catchment area than all other growth centres in our study.

Table 8 Number of street shops in 2021
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5.6 Problems and opportunities

The following sub-sections briefly discuss the problems and existing facilities of our selected growth centres. This survey result extracted the information from 35 key informants from 12 growth centres that were visited. There are so many issues that are detected as current market problems which are almost similar in all growth centres in Kushtia district. Table 9 shows the problems faced by buyers and sellers in the growth centres; the lack of drainage facility, storage facility, loading facility and toilet were found to be major problems faced by buyers and sellers.

Table 9 Major problems identified by KIIs
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5.7 Requirements for further investment

Investment in growth centres in rural areas can provide a significant boost to their overall growth and development. Access to markets is a significant challenge for businesses in rural areas. Investment in market linkages can help rural businesses connect with consumers both locally and globally. This will enable them to expand their customer base and increase their revenue streams. Moreover, it is necessary to promote market-oriented production, processing, and distribution of goods and services in rural areas, enhancing their competitiveness. With the use of a five-point Likert scale, respondents were asked which facilities in the market require further investment to benefit the local community as a whole. Table 10 demonstrates that the investment needed to arrange toilet facilities ranks first followed by storage facilities, landing facilities, better roads from farm to market, the need for better market information and so on.

Table 10 Investment suggested by respondents
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5.8 Women vendor’s shop

Figure 3 shows the reasons for the non-existence of women vendors in the growth centres. However, there are six growth centres where women run their shops but this percentage is minimal, i.e., less than two. Moreover, in the time field visit no women were present in her/their shop. The question was asked to local people and market committee members about their absence and tiny percentage. Most of them replied that social custom is the main reason behind that absence.

Fig. 3
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Reasons for women vendors not in the market. Source: The Authors’ compilation based on field survey 2022

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5.9 Rural development perspective

Despite the importance of growth centres on rural communities and their livelihoods in Bangladesh but yet to explore its full potential. The present segment of this section focuses on the aspects of growth centres that have immensely related to rural development and also draws a nexus between these two. To know the attitude towards the condition of roads and infrastructure a Five-point Likert rating scale has been utilized. Figure 4 shows that at present almost 65 percent of respondents are satisfied with the surrounding roads and infrastructure. It indicates that gradual growth-centric physical developments are taking place in the study area. The comparative picture shows that in terms of physical development growth centres play a positive role at present in the study areas.

Fig. 4
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Opinion about the condition of roads and infrastructures. Source: The Authors’ compilation based on field survey 2022

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5.10 Cultural development

A number of market-based associations are used to measure the cultural development of rural livelihoods. In this regard, it has been considered that the more the number of such associations, the more developed the rural communities are. Out of 12 twelve growth centres eight have different forms of associations and they arrange various events such as fairs (mela), and religious programmes at the growth centre premises throughout the year. From which we conclude that though the percentage (in Fig. 5) is not sound but it indicates that growth centres positively impact our rural communities’ cultural development.

Fig. 5
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Current development. Source: The Authors’ compilation based on field survey 2022

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5.11 Social development

The fourth key area of rural development is social development. Using multiple ways it can be shown that rural communities are socially developed or not. Social development is primarily achieved through investing in people. The success of a community is linked to the well-being of each and every citizen. The lack of resources makes it difficult for developing countries like Bangladesh to follow a traditional path to social development. Perhaps the most common way to measure social development is wider communities’ involvement in work (Foa, 2011). The best way to achieve this goal would be to empower the rural masses. Bangladesh's rural areas are characterized by disguised unemployment, especially in agriculture (Hossain & Bayes, 2009). To overcome these hurdles market centric industries can play a vital role in this respect. It is evident that 33 micro industries (where up to 9 workers work) were found in or adjacent to our surveyed growth centres which thus reaffirms that growth centres broaden the wider employment opportunity in the rural communities (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 6
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Percentage of industries. Source: The Authors’ compilation based on field survey 2022

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5.12 Political development

This area is measured through the types of visits of rural communities to the market. The purpose of the visit give us an idea about the empowerment of rural communities. We know the growth centre not only serves as a selling and buying platform but also it is used as a place for the exchange of views and ideas. Figure 7 shows that after shopping, the second dominant purpose of a visit is a recreational visit. Social interaction and political discussion third and fourth purposes of the visit respectively. From this, it can be deduced that growth centres are being used as a place of political development.

Fig. 7
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Types of visit. Source: The Authors’ compilation based on field survey 2022

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6 Conclusion and recommendations

The aim of the present study was to detect the problems and prospects of growth centres from the rural development perspective. The problems which were diagnosed in the study area are almost similar for all growth centres. The crucial problems are; inadequate drainage facilities, storage facilities, loading/unloading facilities, toilet facilities, water supply and resting facilities etc. Growth centres can be thought of as engines of rural development as they endorse the opportunities for wider employment scope, empowerment of local people, and infrastructure development which has a profound impact on rural regions. Under the above findings, the recommendations are:

  1. a)

    Toilet facilities must be ensured for men and women. Despite the scant existence of men’s toilets at few growth centres, the number of such toilets should be increased and also dilapidated toilets needs further refurbishment.

  2. b)

    Storage and loading facilities must be recognized for upliftment of growth centres performance.

  3. c)

    Farm to market road conditions should be expanded and developed which might increase market turnover.

  4. d)

    Market committees’ accountability should be fair for the betterment of the business community.

  5. e)

    The waste disposal arrangement system is almost none in the study area. Proper waste disposal management should be ensured for sustainable development.

  6. f)

    The resting facility should be updated and extended.

  7. g)

    Market information should be recorded and monitored.

7 Limitations and future research directions

The present study was confined to detecting the challenges facing the rural growth centres and their probable prospects in considering rural development through assessing the availability of various facilities, infrastructure, and utilities etc. which were associated with growth centres. But several other issues related to maintenance, design, construction and administrative aspects of the growth centre were not considered for this study.