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Item FARMERS’ IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN CIGs(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR-5200, BANGLADESH, 2019-06) Hasan, Prof. Dr. Md. Faruq; Mondol, Prof. Dr. Md. Abu SayedThe study is aimed at exploring the improvement of socio-economic status of the CIG farmers and finding out the relationships between the selected characteristics of the farmers and their improvement of socio-economic status. Data were collected by using a pre-tested interview schedule from the farmers of three unions of Biral Upazila under Dinajpur district. Data were collected from randomly selected 105 respondents of the total 1050 CIG farmers from 20 December, 2018 to 25 January, 2019. The selected 10 characteristics of the farmers such as age, education, family size, farm size, farming experience, annual income, training experience, organizational participation, desirability, and use of information sources were considered as the explanatory variables where improvement of socio-economic status of the farmers considered as the focus issue of the study. Improvement of socio-economic status of the farmers was measured by 4-point rating scale. The observed score of overall improvement of socio-economic status of the farmers ranged from 2 to 48 while the possible range was 0 to 48. The mean improvement of socio-economic status score was 25.90 with a standard deviation of 9.64. Among the farmers, 67.6 percent belonged to medium improvement of socio-economic status while 16.2 percent of them had high improvement of socio-economic status and 16.2 percent had low improvement of socio-economic status. The variation regarding different aspects of improvement of socio-economic status was medium, the highest improvement of socio-economic status was observed in food security aspects and that was the lowest in technological aspects. Six out of ten selected characteristics of the farmers are education, farm size, training experience, organizational participation, desirability and use of information sources had significant positive relationships with their improvement of socio-economic status. Rests of the characteristics are age, family size, farming experience and annual income had no significant relationship with their improvement of socio-economic status.Item FARMERS’ INFORMATION NEEDS FOR GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (GAPs) IN DINAJPUR DISTRICT(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR-5200, BANGLADESH, 2022-12) GAZI, RAYHAN FARUQ; Hasan, Professor Dr. Md. Faruq; Mondol, Professor Dr. Md. Abu SayedThe main objectives of the study were to assess the information needs of farmers for good agricultural practices (GAPs), to explore the relationship between farmers‟ selected characteristics with their information needs for good agricultural practices (GAPs), and to determine the problems perceived by farmers in adopting good agricultural practices (GAPs). The study was conducted in two unions namely Betdighi and Aladipur of Phulbari upazila of Dinajpur district. One hundred four (104) farmers were interviewed using an interview schedule from 9 March to 2 April 2023. Simple and direct questions and appropriate scales were used in order to measure the selected variables. To measure farmers‟ information needs of good agricultural practices (GAPs), 20 items under four dimensions were considered. The selected items were measured on a four-point rating scale. Scores were assigned as 3, 2, 1, and 0 for „high‟, „medium‟, „low‟, and „no‟ information needs, respectively. The finding of the study revealed that the highest proportion (68.3 percent) of the respondents had the medium information needs while 28.8 percent had the high information needs and 2.9 percent of them had low information needs. Among four dimensions of good agricultural practices (GAPs) farmers expressed their utmost need of information for „sustainable and healthy production‟ and based on the Standardized Information Needs Index (SINI), „appropriate cultivation practices according to GAP policies‟ (SINI=92.31) was ranked first. Correlation analyses indicate that age, educational qualification, agricultural training received, knowledge of good agricultural practices, and contact with sources of information had significant negative relationships with farmers‟ information needs while attitude towards good agricultural practices had the significant positive relationship with the focus issue. Moreover, “lack of specialized skills in practicing complex GAP technologies and methods” (SPPI=95.83) was found to be the major problem perceived by the farmers in adopting good agricultural practices (GAPs).Item IMPROVEMENT OF LIVELIHOOD CAPITALS OF THE COMMON INTEREST GROUP FARMERS THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROGRAMS(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR-5200, BANGLADESH, 2022-12) MAHBUB, MD. KHALED; Hasan, Professor Dr. Md. Faruq; Mondol, Professor Dr. Md. Abu SayedThe study aimed to explore the improvement of livelihood capitals of the CIG farmers and find out the relationships between selected characteristics of the CIG farmers and their improvement of livelihood capitals. Data were collected by using a pre-tested interview schedule from the farmers of Birganj upazila of Dinajpur district. Data were collected from 131 sample farmers selected by multistage random sampling procedure from a population of 2202 CIG farmers from 10 August to 21 September 2022. Nine selected characteristics of the CIG farmers are: age, education, family size, farm size, annual income, training experience, agricultural knowledge, extension media contact, and organizational participation were considered as the selected characteristics, where improvement of livelihood capitals of the farmers constituted the focus issue. Improvement of livelihood capitals of the CIG farmers was measured by a 4-point rating scale. It was found that the observed score of the improvement of livelihood capital ranged from 16 to 70 while the possible range could be 0 to 75. The mean livelihood improvement score is 54.63 with a standard deviation of 11.37. Among the farmers, 74.0 percent belonged to high extent of improvement of livelihood capital, while 22.1 percent of them had medium extent of improvement of livelihood capital, and 3.8 percent had low extent of improvement of livelihood capital. The variation regarding different assets of livelihood was minimum, the highest status of livelihood improvement was observed in the case of human capital, and it was the lowest in the case of natural capital. Four (4) out of nine (9) selected characteristics of the farmers are annual income, training experience, agricultural knowledge, and extension media contact had significant positive relationships with their improvement of livelihood capitals. Rests of the characteristics are age, education, family size; farm size, and organizational participation had no significant relationship with their livelihood improvement. DAE and other concerned organizations should take capital-specific agricultural extension programs for the enhancement of the livelihood capitals for the CIG farmers.Item PREFERENCE OF ICT TOOLS BY THE FARMERS IN RECEIVING AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2018-12) AnikThe main purpose of the study was to determine the preference of ICT tools by the farmers for field crop cultivation. The study was conducted in five out of 17 villages of Dhamair union of Birol upazila under Dinajpur district. An updated list of 1007 farmers was collected from the local NGOs. From this list 103 farmers were selected at randomly as sample for this study. Data were collected during 15 September to 14 October 2018 by using an interview schedule. Each of the selected nine characteristics of the farmers namely age, education, family size, farming experience, annual income, organizational participation, cosmopoliteness, attitude towards ICT tools and innovativeness constituted the causal factors, while preference of ICT tools was the focus issue variable. The focus issue was determined by extent of contact with ICT tools and usefulness of ICT tools in receiving agricultural information. On the other hand, ten ICT tools were considered to determine the preference of ICT tools for field crop cultivation. Rank order for each of the ICT tools was computed by using preference of information and communication tools index (PICTI). Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient (r) was used to explore the relationship between the focus issue and selected characteristics of the farmers. The highest proportion (61.17 percent) of respondents had medium preference of information and communication tools while 20.38 percent had high and only 18.45 percent had low preference. In contrast, mobile phone was mentioned by majority of respondents (PICTI=482) as the most preferred ICT tool in receiving agricultural information, and computer or laptop occupied the last position in the ranking of the least preferred ICT tools (PICTI=105). Out of nine independent variables; education, annual income, cosmopoliteness and innovativeness showed significant positive relationship while age and farming experience of the farmers showed significant but negative relationship with the dependent variable. The rest of the characteristics viz. family size, organizational participation and attitude of the farmers did not show any relationship with their preference of ICT tools.Item FARMERS’ KNOWLEDGE ON AND CONSTRAINTS FACED DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2017-06) Younus, Maruf-Bin-; Md. Abu HanifSal forests of Bangladesh have been severely damaged due to encroachment, over exploitation, uncontrolled commercial logging, illegal felling, overgrazing and collection of fuel wood as a source of energy by the people living in and around the forests. So, forest management with a strategy to include local people so as to improve Sal forests condition and livelihoods of local communities is the demand of time. In this connection, Integrated PA Comanagement (IPAC) project was launched by the Forest Department (FD) with the assistance from United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The aim of the project was to improve the livelihood of forest dependent community through greater access and control over local forests. Hence, the study was undertaken to identify the impact of co-management system on the livelihood of forest dependent community of Singra National Park (SNP) situated in northern Bangladesh. The data were collected through quantitative and qualitative methods. The finding indicates that comanagement approach has brought changes on the livelihood of forest dependent community and most of the changes have positive impacts on livelihoods. Now their livelihoods are stable, as most have substantial sources of securing income. The livelihood has improved due to the alternate income generating activities (IGA) like cow-rearing, vegetable farming, pig rearing, small grocery shops, handicrafts etc. provided to the community. However, the communities have experienced severe antagonistic relationships with forest officials. This factor affects their livelihoods. So, there is an immediate need to empower local participants, by which they can easily play the inner role in decision making and governing all the forest management activities for their sustainable livelihood.Item TRAINING NEEDS FOR RURAL WOMEN IN MODERN AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2015-06) ISLAM, MD. SARIFUL; Professor Dr. Md. Abu Sayed MondolThe purpose of this study was to determine and describe the selected characteristics of the rural women, to determine the extent of training needs for rural women in modern agricultural activities, and to explore the relationship between training needs in modern agricultural activities and the selected characteristics of the rural women. Data were collected from a sample of 105 rural women selected from the population of 300 by multistage random sampling procedure from nine villages of the selected three unions under sadar upazila of Rangpur district. A pre-tested and structured interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents during 10 February to 11 March 2015. Ten selected characteristics of the rural women were the independent variables, and training needs for the rural women in modern agricultural activities was the dependent variable in this study. The dependent variable was determined on two dimensions viz., homestead vegetables cultivation, and dairy and poultry rearing, and subsequently 20 specific activities were included under these two dimensions. The training need index (TNI) for the rural woman in modern agricultural activities was also measured mathematically. In case of homestead vegetable cultivation the findings on TNI indicates that the most important activity was ‘measures of disease control’ (TNI=243) and the least essential training need was ‘irrigation and drainage management’ (TNI=15). On the other hand, dairy and poultry rearing, the findings revealed that the most important activity was ‘poultry feed management’ (TNI=220) and the least essential training need area was ‘dairy products preservation and marketing’ (TNI=63). However, overall training needs it was found that the majority (66.67 percent) of the respondents had medium training need as compared to 18.09 percent having high training need and only 15.24 percent having low training need. According to the computed correlation coefficients (r) among the 10 selected characteristics of the rural women education, daily time use, extension contact and decision making ability had positive significant relationship, and age had negative significant relationship with the training need in modern agricultural activities. The rest characteristics had no significant relationship with their training need.Item COMMON INTEREST GROUP FARMERS’ AWARENESS ON CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE STRATEGIES(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2019-12) FARUK, MD. OMUR; Professor Dr. Md. Faruq HasanThe main purpose of the study were to determine the CIG farmers’ awareness on climate change resilience strategies,to describe the selected characteristics of the CIG farmers and their relationshipsto their awareness on climate change resilience strategies and to determine the problems faced by the farmers due to climate change with their possible solutions. In this study 300 of the CIG farmers were considered as the population. Data were collected from a sample of 106 CIG farmers from 5 no. Biral union under Biral upazila of Dinajpur district during 02 September to 28 October, 2019 through simple random sampling method. Awareness on climate change resilience strategies of the CIG farmers was considered as the focus issue of the study. Awareness on climate change resilience strategies of the CIG farmers was measured by 4-point rating scale. Findings revealed that, the highest proportion (87.7 percent) of the CIG farmers were moderately aware on climate change resilience strategies; while 10.4 percent were highly aware and only 1.9 percent of the respondents were slightly aware on climate change resilience strategies. On the basis of the Awareness Index (AI) score of CIG farmers, the statements ‘agricultural information for adaptation’ ranked 1st (AI value 308) and statement ‘improvement of soil management’ got the lowest score (AI 56) and hence got the lowest (11th) position in the ranked order.Seven out of eleven selected characteristics of the CIG farmers’ viz. age, household head’s education, average family education, annual family income, agricultural training received, extension media contact and knowledge on climate change had significant positive relationship with their awareness on climate change resilience strategies. Rests of the characteristics viz. family size, farm size, farming experience and innovativeness had no significant relationship with their awareness on climate change resilience strategies at five percent level of significance. ‘Outbreak of pests and diseases’ was the top ranked problem faced by the farmers due to climate change, while ‘increased training facilities according to their needs for increasing their knowledge and skill of awareness on climate change’, was the top ranked suggestion given by the farmers to overcome the problems.Item PERCEPTION OF MANGO GROWERS TOWARDS OPTIMAL USE OF AGROCHEMICALS(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2018-12) Hossain, Md. Arif; Prof. Dr. Md. Faruq HasanThe purpose of the study was to assess the perception of mango growers towards Optimal use of agrochemicals. The study was conducted in Baliadangi upazila under Thakurgaon District. 108 respondents were selected as sample from a recent list of 270 mango growers using multi-stage random sampling method. Data were collected by a pre-tested interview schedule during 1st October to 30th October 2018. Perception of mango growers towards Optimal use of agrochemicals was the focus issue of the study and was measured by using 10 statements (5 positive and 5 negative) along with a Likert scale. The perception score of a respondent was computed by adding the scores for responses to all of the 10 statements. The possible perception scores could range from 10 to 50, where 10 indicating highly unfavorable perception and 50 indicate highly favorable perception towards Optimal agrochemicals use. Problems of the respondents were measured by asking 10 questions on different aspects related to mango production. Four point rating scale was used to measure the problem of a respondent. The overall problem facing score of the respondents could be ranged from 0 to 30, where 0 indicating no problem faced and 30 indicating very high problem faced in mango cultivation. To ascertain the comparison among the problems, Problems Facing Index (PFI) was computed. Mango growers suggestions to solve the problems of mango production was collected and ranked as per of their citations. Majority (73.2 percent) of the respondents had favorable perception followed by 14.8 percent had neutral and only 12 percent had unfavorable perception towards Optimal use of agrochemicals. Among the selected characteristics, education, knowledge on use of agrochemicals and extension media contact showed positive significant relationships and farm size showed negative significant relationship with their perception towards Optimal use of agrochemicals. The first to major problems faced by the mango growers is ‘lack of knowledge on appropriate cultivation practices’ (PFI=278.8) followed by ‘high cost of pesticides’ (PFI=275.9) and last to major problems were ‘insufficient water management’ (PFI= 97.3), followed by ‘lack of marketing facilities’ (PFI= 96.5). Majority of the farmers suggested to arrange training program for development of their skill in mango cultivation followed by government loan on easy terms for mango growers and to ensure visit of the agricultural extension personnel to the mango farms.Item ASSESSMENT OF INNOVATION ADOPTION COMPETENCY OF THE FARMERS UNDER GOVERNMENT AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2019-12) TASKIN, SUMAYA; Professor Dr. Md. Abu Sayed MondolThe purposes of the study were to determine the extent of competency of the farmers on innovation adoption, to determine the relationships between the extent of competency of the farmers and their selected characteristics and to explore the problems confrontation of the farmers in adopting innovation. Data were collected from four villages (Shuvra, Sadipur, Mostofabad and Mujahidpur) of Chehelgazi union of Sadar upazila under Dinajpur district during 12st August to 10th September 2019. The sample size of the study was 105 farmers and it was drawn from a population of 997 using simple random sampling method. Structured interview schedule were used for data collection. To measure the competency of the farmers on innovation adoption, 18 statements under three aspects of competency were measured along with a four-point rating scale. The majority of the farmers (61.90 percent) had medium competency, 20.00 percent had low competency and 18.10 percent had high competency on innovation adoption. Among the ten selected characteristics of the farmers six characteristics namely; educational qualification, annual family income, training received, extension media contact, attitude towards technology and scientific orientation had positive significant relationships, while age had negative significant relationship and household size, farm size and organizational participation had non-significant relationships with their competency on innovation adoption. Out of 18 statements of competency on innovation adoption ‘controlling insect pest problem by sex pheromone trap’ has ranked first (232) while ‘accelerating planting and harvesting process by combine harvester (74) has last ranked as mentioned by the farmers. ‘High cost of modern agricultural machineries’ was the top ranked problem mentioned by the farmers followed by ‘not getting fair price of agricultural produces’ and ‘lack of government incentives’.Item PERCEPTION OF FARMERS ABOUT ORGANIC FARMING PRACTICES IN DINAJPUR DISTRICT(HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR., 2019-12) AMANULLAH, MD.; Professor Dr. Md. Abu Sayed MondolThe purposes of the study were to know the perception of farmers about organic farming practices, to determine the relationships between the selected characteristics of the farmers and their perception about organic farming practices and to determine the problems faced by the farmers about organic farming practices. Random sampling technique was used for this study. A sample of 98 farmers from a population of 979 from two selected villages of Birganj upazila under Dinajpur district were selected. Data were collected during 1 September to 30 September 2019 by using pre-tested structured interview schedule. Nine characteristics of the farmers were selected for this study, while the perception of farmers about organic farming practices was the focus issue. Different standard statistical techniques were used to measure the selected characteristics and rating scale was used to measure the focus issue. Eighteen statements on organic farming practices were used for the focus issue. There were four options to response a statement, namely ‘high’, ‘moderate’, ‘somewhat’ and ‘not at all’ with a corresponding score of 3, 2, 1 and 0, respectively. The result indicated that 57.14 percent of the farmers had medium perception while 27.55 percent of them had low perception and 15.31 percent had high perception about organic farming practices. In contrast to individual statements it is evident that out of 18 statements ‘health consciousness among people will enhance the demand of organic products’ ranked 1st and ‘organic foods are completely safe to eat’ had the last ranked. Education, farm size, training experience, extension media contact, risk orientation and innovativeness of the farmers showed positively significant relationships with perception about organic farming practices while age, farming experience and annual income fail to show any relationships with perception about organic farming practices. The most serious problem faced by the farmers was ‘management of pest and insect damage is difficult in organic farming’ while the second problem faced by them was ‘improper community movement for the promotion of organic farming’ and the last one was ‘poor contact of extension workers with farmers’.