ADOPTION OF HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES OF RICE BY THE FARMERS

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine and describe the extent of adoption of high yielding varieties (HYV) of rice by the farmers of Nateshwar union under Sonaimuri (Begumganj) Upazila in Noakhali district. Attempts were also made to describe some of the selected characteristics of the HYV rice farmers and their relationship with their adoption of HYV rice. Data were obtained from 100 randomly selected farmers of three villages namely Nateshwar, Mirzanagar and Kazinagar with the help of an interview schedule. Data were collected during 11 October to 30 October 2006. The findings revealed that majority (64%) of the HYV rice farmers had medium adoption compared to 16% having low adoption and 20% having high adoption. The selected three varieties were BR14, BRRI Dhan-28, and BRRI Dhan-29. Among those selected varieties BRRI Dhan-29 variety was overwhelmingly accepted by the farmers and the adoption index was 2475. Correlation test was used to ascertain the relationship between the concerned variable of the study. Out of ten independent variables, farmers education, annual income, knowledge of HYV rice cultivation, extension media contact, organizational participation, and innovativeness and inputs availability had significant positive relationship with their adoption of HYV rice. On the other hand age, farm size and cosmopoliteness of farmers had no relationship with their adoption of selected HYV rice cultivation.