AGRICULTURAL BENEFITS OBTAINED BY DIPSHIKHA BENEFICIARIES THROUGH GROUP BASED APPROACH

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to: i) assess the benefits obtained from Dipshikha intervention as perceived by the beneficiaries; ii) assess some selected characteristics of Dipshikha beneficiaries; and iii) explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the beneficiaries and the benefits obtained from Dipshikha intervention as perceived by them. Data were collected from randomly selected 111 group members of Dipshikha Birol and Kaharol upazillas during the period from December, 2008 to January, 2009. It was found that overwhelming majority (92.8%) of the beneficiaries had received low to high benefits from Dipshikha. Pearson’s Product Moment Co-efficient of Co-relation (r) was computed to test the relationship of the selected characteristics of the beneficiaries with the benefits obtained from Dipshikha intervention as perceived by them. Findings revealed that among the ten selected characteristics of the beneficiaries, only six, namely age, land possession, loan utilization, training exposure, involvement with Dipshikha and adoption of innovation of the beneficiaries had significant positive relationship with their obtained agricultural benefits. Other variables namely education, family size, family annual income and wealth possession of the beneficiaries had no significant relationship with their obtained benefits.