ADOPTION OF MODERN TECHNOLOGIES BY THE RICE CULTIVATORS IN THE SELECTED AREAS OF JHALOKATHI DISTRICT

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the adoption of modern technologies by the rice cultivators in rice production and to explore the contribution of the selected characteristics of the cultivators with their adoption of modern technologies. The selected characteristics were age, level of education, family size, farm size, farming experience, annual income, organizational participation, communication exposure, training exposure and knowledge on modern rice cultivation technologies. Data were collected from 108 farmers of three villages namely Southpur, mathbari and pukharijana of Rajapur upazila under Jhalokathi district by using a pre-tested interview schedule. Descriptive analysis, multiple regression analysis was used for data analysis. More than half of the respondents (73.15%) had medium adoption where 15.74 percent had low adoption and only 11.11 percent had high adoption of modern technologies for rice cultivation. There is a significant contribution of level of education, communication exposure and knowledge on adoption of modern rice cultivation technologies and all of these were the most important contributing factors (significant at the 1% level). Training exposure and annual income were contributing factors (significant at the 5% level).