FARMERS’ KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE REGARDING PLANT NURSERY MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the farmers’ knowledge and practice regarding plant nursery management and explore the relationships between each of the twelve selected characteristic of the plant nursery growers with their a) knowledge and b) practices regarding plant nursery management and the relationship between knowledge and practice regarding plant nursery management. The selected characteristics were age, level of education, farm size, plant nursery area, investment in nursery, annual family income, income from plant nursery, experience in plant nursery management, plant species richness, credit received, extension contact, problems faced in plant nursery management. Data were gathered from 89 plant nursery growers of 13 villages of Swarupkathi, Jalabari and Atghar Kuriana Unions of Nesarabad upazila under Pirojpur district by using a pretested interview schedule. For harmonious representation from each village 30 percent plant nursery growers were selected as the sample by using proportionate random sampling method. Data were collected from 3 May to 27 May, 2017. Majority (59.6 percent) of the farmers had medium knowledge, while 21.3 percent high and 19.1 percent of the farmers had low knowledge on plant nursery management. Plant nursery area, investment in plant nursery, annual family income, income from plant nursery, extension contact and plant species richness of the farmers had significant positive relationship with their knowledge on plant nursery management. Majority (53.9 percent) of the plant nursery growers had medium practice, while 29.2 percent high practice and 16.9 percent of farmers had low practice regarding plant nursery management. Plant nursery area, investment in plant nursery, annual family income, income from plant nursery, extension contact and plant species richness of the farmers had significant positive relationship with their practice of plant nursery management. Age, education, farm size, nursery management experience, credit receive and problem faced in plant nursery management of the farmers had no significant relationships with their knowledge and practice of plant nursery management. Knowledge and practice regarding plant nursery management of the farmers had significant relationship. Therefore, it may be recommended that concerned authorities should arranged trainings, agricultural fairs, demonstrations, etc. for increasing knowledge as well as practice of the farmers regarding plant nursery management.