DETERMINANTS OF FARMERS’ ADOPTION OF SWARNA RICE VARIETY IN KURIGRAM DISTRICT OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

The specific purpose of the study was to determine the extent of adoption of Swarna rice variety by the farmers in a Kurigram district of Bangladesh. Attempt was also made to determine and describe the selected factors that influence farmers’ adoption decision regarding Swarna rice cultivation. The study also determined the contribution of the selected factors to farmers’ adoption of Swarna rice variety. A two-step approach was adopted for selecting the study locale. First, Nageswari upazila of Kurigram district was purposively selected, and second two unions of the selected upazila namely, Santoshpur and Raigonj were randomly selected as the locale of the study. A total of 4311 farmers constituted the population of the study from which 145 respondents were selected using proportionate random sampling technique. A structured interview schedule was developed and administered for collecting data during the period of 15 th May, 2018 to 25

June, 2018. The findings of the study indicate that majority (72.40 percent) of the farmers had medium adoption while 17.90 percent had high adoption and 9.70 percent had low adoption of Swarna rice, respectively. Multiple regression analysis showed that education, farming experience and ease of farm management had significant contribution to the adoption of Swarna rice variety while age, farm size, annual family income, relative advantage, social influence, habit and knowledge in rice cultivation showed no significant contribution to the extent of adoption of Swarna rice variety. Therefore,

emphasis should be given on the significant factors for further improvement of the situation.