USE OF BARI RECOMMENDED BANANA CULTIVATION PRACTICES BY THE FARMERS

Abstract

Use of BARI recommended cultivation practices on various crops by the farmers can bring significant changes in per unit area production and can ensure food supply and food safety. However, use of BARI recommended banana cultivation practices are not well focused. The study was undertaken mainly to determine the use of BARI recommended banana cultivation practices by the banana farmers and to explore the contribution of the selected characteristics to their use of BARI recommended banana cultivation practices. Data were collected from the banana farmers of 11 blocks of different unions of Sadar upazilla under Kushtia district by using a pretested interview schedule during the period from December 01, 2016 to December 30, 2016.The sample size of the study was 115 banana farmers which was drawn from a population of 375 using proportionate random sampling technique. It was found that 88.6 percent of the farmers had medium use of banana cultivation practices while 7.0 percent had low use and 4.4 percent had high use of banana cultivation practices. Step wise multiple regressions were done to explore the contribution of selected characteristics of banana cultivation practices which showed that out of 9 independent variables only 3 independent variables namely extension media contact, innovativeness and annual income from banana cultivation had significant contribution on the use of BARI recommended banana cultivation practices. These three variables combined explained 43 percent of the total variation in use of BARI recommended banana cultivation practices while extension media contact contributed 29.80 percent, innovativeness contributed 10.70 percent and annual income from banana cultivation contributed 2.50 percent. So, it is imperative that necessary steps be taken to expand and strengthen the existing activities of knowledge and skill development for better use of cultivation practices to increase banana production for ensuring food security in Bangladesh.