ADVERSE EFFECTS OF TRADITIONAL BRICKFIELD ON AGRICULTURE

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to assess the adverse effect of traditional brickfield on agriculture; to compare item-wise effects of traditional brickfields; to describe some selected characteristics of the farmers and to explore the relationships between each of the selected characteristics of the respondents to their perceived effects of traditional brickfields on agriculture. The study was undertaken purposively in Sadarpur upazila under Faridpur district. Validated and well-structured interview schedule was used to collect data from 96 farmers during 15 November to 14 December, 2022. The highest proportion (61.5%) of the farmers perceived medium effects as compare to 3.1 percent perceived low effects and 35.4 percent perceived high effects of traditional brickfield on agriculture. On the basis of SEI, it was observed that “reducing top fertile soil” ranked first followed by “reducing crop production area”, “reducing biodiversity”, “reducing crop production”, “reducing local forest and trees area”, and “reducing livestock production”, “reducing fisheries production” and “reducing poultry production” were the least effects of traditional brickfield on agriculture. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation revealed that education, farm size, annual family income and agricultural farming experience of the farmers had positive significant relationship with their perceived adverse effects of traditional brickfield on agriculture. Based on the findings, it is recommended that traditional brickfield should be stopped or transfer to eco-friendly brick manufacturing to reduce the adverse effects of traditional brickfield on agriculture.