FARMERS' PERCEPTION ON THE USEFULNESS OF COMMON INTEREST GROUP APPROACH

Abstract

Abstract Shaila Jahan Hawa The objectives of this study were to determine the farmers‟ perception on the usefulness of common interest group (CIG) approach, and to describe the selected characteristics of the farmers and to identify the factors that influence farmers' perception on usefulness of CIG. The study was conducted in six villages of Danya, Gala and Silimpur unions under Tangail Sadar upazila of Tangail district. Data were collected by using interview schedule from the selected 120 respondents during 1st November to 1st December, 2019. Descriptive statistics and multiple regressions (β) analysis were used to achieve the selected objectives. Majority of the respondents (67.5 percent) had moderately favorable perception while 19.2 percent and 18.3 percent of them had highly favorable perception and less favorable perception on usefulness of CIG respectively. The R 2 value (0.411) means that independent variables accounts for 41% of the variation in farmers perception on usefulness of CIG . Among the eleven selected characteristics, farm size, duration of training and involvement with CIG had significant positive contribution to the farmers‟ perception on usefulness of CIG. The remaining characteristics of the farmers, namely age, educational qualification, annual family income, agricultural work experience, agricultural extension contact, credit facilities, knowledge on CIG did not show any significant contribution with their perception. The findings of the study indicates that, there is still a scope to improve farmers‟ perception towards CIG‟s usefulness by facilitating more interaction among the participants and providing more training through CIG approach.