PROBLEM CONFRONTATION OF THE FARMERS IN MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the problems confronted by the farmers in mushroom cuJtivation and to explore the relationship between the selected characteristics of the farmers and their problem confrontation in mushroom cultivation. Farmers' 16 problems in mushroom cultivation were selected. The selected characteristics were: age. education, family size . mushroom cultivation experience, land possession, area under mushroom cultivation, annual family income, organizational participation, cosmopoliteness, extension contact, mushroom training exposure, mushroom cultivation knowledge and attitude towards mushroom cultivation. The study was conducted in Savar upazila under Dhaka clistrict. Data were collected from randomly selected 100 farmers using an interview schedule. Scale score was used to determine farmers' problem in mushroom cultivation while a Problem confrontation Index (PCJ) was used to make comparison among the 16 selected problems. Pearson's product Moment Correlation was used for the statistical analysis. Majority (65 percent) of the farmers were found confronted medium problem, while 24 percent of the farmers confronted low problem and 11 percent confronted high problem in mushroom cultivation. Among the thirteen selected characteristics of the farmers, eleven, namely age, education, land possession, mushroom cultivation area, annual family income, organizational participation, cosmopoliteness, extension contact, training exposure in mushroom cultivation, mushroom cultivation knowledge, and attitude towards mushroom cultivation showed significant negative relationship with their problem confrontation in mushroom cultivation. The remaining two characteristics i.e. family size and experience in mushroom cultivation had no significant relationship with their problem confrontation. On the basis of Problem Confrontation Index (PCI) "boundness of the farmers to supply commodities to middle man in low price" ranked first which is followed by 'high price of spawn, 'complexity to get mushroom cultivation credit, low demand in the local market while lack of knowledge on proper doses of pesticide for pest control of mushroom ranked last