Farmers’ efficiency in using pesticides depends on using recommended doses. The research was conducted to determine farmers’ efficiency in using selected pesticides for controlling rice pests and explore the contribution of selected characteristics of the farmers to their efficiency in using selected pesticides for controlling rice pests. Data were collected from randomly selected 252 Common Interest Group (CIG) Member rice farmers of three selected unions of three selected upazillas of Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh with the help of a pre-tested interview schedule during the period from 01 August 2022 to 30 November 2022. Findings revealed that 38.97% farmers were the efficient users of recommended doses and rest 61.03% farmers had lower to moderate efficiency in using pesticides for controlling rice pests. Based on descending order of Standardized Use Efficiency Index, ‘Gola 80 EC for killing rice bug’ ranked 1st followed by ‘Amistar Top 325 SC for controlling sheath blight disease’, and ‘Thiovit 80 WG for controlling leaf scald disease’. Regression analysis indicated that ‘knowledge on pesticides’, ‘rice farming experience’, ‘extension contacts’, ‘attitude towards use of pesticides’, ‘rice farming area’, and ‘pre-cautions for using pesticides’ of the farmers had significant positive contribution to their efficiency in using selected pesticides for controlling rice pests. Agricultural advisory service providing organizations should increasing contact with the farmers having lower farming experience, lower farming area to increase their knowledge for taking necessary pre-cautions and to form favourable attitude towards judicious and efficient use of pesticides.

Nowadays, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are playing important role in communicating agricultural information. In this connection, the government of Bangladesh established a number of Agricultural Information and Communication Centers (AICC) at the Union level to disseminate agricultural information. The purposes of the study were to determine the effectiveness of AICC for disseminating agricultural information and to explore the contribution of the selected characteristics of the AICC member farmers to the effectiveness of AICC. Data were collected from 90 randomly selected farmers of nine Upazillas of Faridpur district under Dhaka division. Face-to-face interview followed by pretested structured questionnaire was held with the selected farmers to gather data. The survey revealed that an overwhelming majority (80%) of the farmers perceived medium effectiveness of AICC, while 7.8% of them perceived low and 12.2% of them perceived high effectiveness of AICC for disseminating agricultural information. The effectiveness of AICC was influenced by the intensity of use of ICT, length of experience to use ICT and ICT using confidence. Therefore, responsible organizations such as Agriculture Information Service (AIS) with the help of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and other advisory service-providing organizations should take action to enhance the effectiveness of AICC. Vol. 9, No. 3, December 2022: 259-265

The facilitation of technology transfer to farmers plays a crucial role in enhancing agricultural productivity within the context of Bangladesh. In relation to this matter, a study was undertaken to evaluate the extent of problems faced by the farmers in utilizing Information Communication Technology (ICT) technologies for accessing rice production information. Data were collected from randomly selected 340 ICT tool using rice farmers of four selected districts of Bangladesh. The results indicated that majority (66.2%) of the rice farmers faced severe problem, compared to 27.9% and 5.9% of them faced moderate and low problem respectively in using ICT tools for receiving rice production technologies. Based on Standardized Problem Faced Index, top five severe problems were lack of ICT knowledge of farmers, high cost of internet packages, lack of training in using of ICT tools, high cost of ICT tools and required more time to learn using ICT tools. These problems may be minimized by providing necessary training to the farmers on using ICT tools for receiving rice production information, cost reduction of internet package and ICT tools, providing better internet connectivity, uninterrupted power supply as perceived by the farmers.

In crab production, the term fattening is used when underweight soft-shelled crablets are stocked and reared for a few weeks until their gonad develops. Mud crab fattening has become a popular adaptation strategy in response to climate change in coastal Bangladesh. This study aimed to estimate the profitability and resource use efficiency of mud crab fattening in coastal areas. Primary data were collected from 150 randomly selected crab farmers. Descriptive statistics and the Cobb–Douglas production function were used to estimate mud crab fattening profitability and efficiency. Results of the study revealed that the variable and total costs of mud crab production were USD 4293 and USD 6104, respectively. The net return amounted to USD 4418 per hectare, while the benefit–cost ratio (BCR) was 1.72. Crablets, feed, and bamboo fencing (locally known as bana) positively affected the productivity. The optimal use of these resources could enhance resource use efficiency. Crab fattening was affected by some constraints, including disease infestation, poor quality of crablet, shortage of capital, and insufficient technical knowledge of production. Providing training on crab fattening and establishing sufficient numbers of crablet hatcheries could enhance the profitability and resource use efficiency of this farming.

The study was conducted to maximally utilize the pineapple pomace for the formulation of peanut bar using jaggery (cane sugar). The study was laid out in complete randomized design (CRD) with 3 replications. Developed pineapple pomace peanut bars were stored in PET boxes for 2 months for observation. The market sample was collected from the local market of Gazipur city to compare with our nut bar. Then the collected sample was stored and analyzed for its color, texture, sensory attributes, nutritional and physicochemical properties. Results revealed that the developed nut bar is a rich source of crude fiber (6.48±0.48 %), crude protein (13.06±0.05 %), vitamin-C (23.28±0.21 mg/100 g) and ß-carotene (16.32±0.03 µg/100 g) than market sample. Nutritional and physicochemical properties of the developed nut bar and the market sample (Badam topi) gradually decreased with the increase of storage periods. An increasing trend of water activity (aw) is found in the developed and market samples with increasing storage periods. The maximum hardness was found in the market sample as compared to the developed nut bar. A statistically insignificant sensory score was obtained for all the formulated and market samples. The storage studies confirmed that the marketability of the developed nut bar T3 could be extended 2 months more without any excessive-quality deterioration. These findings may be applied for the manufacturing of pineapple pomace peanut bars with health benefits. These peanut bars can be practically used for the school nutrition programs to uplift the nutritional status of the school-going children. Crude fiber, crude protein, vitamin-C, color, texture, sensory attributes

Bangladesh is a developing country with abundant human resources, with women accounting for just over half of the population. They offer an important opportunity for economic and social growth. Women’s presence in some kind of economic activity is a supplement to their family’s income; it does not relieve them of their responsibilities at home. Women’s civil rights are now characterized by economic empowerment, with entrepreneurship serving as the ultimate form of empowerment. The ultimate goal of this research was to identify several specific characteristics of women entrepreneurs, as well as the degree to which women entrepreneurs are empowered, and to investigate the relationship between each of these selected characteristics and their empowerment. The research area was Dhaka city, and data was gathered using an interview schedule from 104 women entrepreneurs who were divided into three groups: boutique and handicrafts, foods and catering, and beauty parlors in Dhaka city. Data was compiled from July 25th to August 24th, 2019. In order to quantify the variables, scales were developed. Lower middle empowerment was held by less than half of the women (49.1%), upper middle empowerment by 47.1 percent, and medium empowerment by 3.8 percent. The relationship between each of the women’s chosen characteristics and their empowerment was determined using Pearson Product Moment correlation. Annual family income, organizational engagement, training experience, awareness of family management, family co-operation, and participation in the household decision-making phase of the women all demonstrated a strong significant relationship with their empowerment among the selected characteristics. Age, education, family size, and cosmopoliteness of the women, on the other hand, had little bearing on their empowerment.

Krisoker Janala (Farmers Window) is a newly develop app that is used by the agricultural extension agent of Bangladesh to spread information to the farmers. In this regard, the objectives of this study were to assess the effectiveness of Krisoker Janala for disseminating agricultural information and to explore the contributory factors of using Krisoker Janala. Data were collected from 106 Sub Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) under four upazilas (sub district) of Chuadanga district. A face to face interview followed by structured questionnaire was conducted to collect data from the SAAOs during a period of early June to the end of July, 2018. The result of interview revealed that 64.2% of the respondents perceived that use of Krisoker Janala is moderately effective while 24.5% and 11.3% of them perceived as less and high effective respectively. Multiple regression analysis was applied to identify significant factors and it was found that out of seven factors, three namely extent of ICT use, the information quality of Krisoker Janala and use of Krisoker Janala had significant positive contribution to their perceived effectiveness of Krisoker Janala for disseminating agricultural information. So, the policy makers should consider to these important factors in order to increase the effectiveness of this agro based app as well as for providing better service to the farmers.

The major objectives of the study were to determine farmers’ knowledge on climate change effects in agriculture and to identify the factors that influenced farmers’ knowledge on climate change effects in agriculture. The study was conducted in four villages under Kazipur upazila of Sirajgonj district. Data were collected by using interview schedule from randomly selected 113 respondents during 1st January to 30th January, 2018. The findings revealed that an overwhelming majority (78.8%) of the respondents had medium to high knowledge on climate change effects in agriculture. Among eight selected characteristics, extension media contact, training received, organizational participation, and cosmopoliteness had significant positive contribution to the farmers’ knowledge on climate change effects in agriculture. It is recommended that to increase farmers’ knowledge on climate change effects initiative should be taken to improve farmers’ knowledge through more involving with organization, extension media and program.

This study assessed the information searching behaviour of root level extension workers (SAAOs) to explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the root level extension workers and their information searching behaviour. Chawgacha, Jhikargacha and Jessore Sadar upazila under Jessore district were the study area. All the 70 Sub Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) in these three upazilas participated in the study. The study revealed that 64.30%of the respondents were frequent information searcher Findings reveal that job satisfaction and aspiration for training had positive significant relationship with information searching behaviour while age, experience of extension work, annual expenditure, and motivation for searching job related information, organizational problem confrontation and technical knowledge had no significant relationship with information searching behaviours.

The main purpose of this study was to assess the losses of jackfruit as perceived by the farmers and explore therelationships of the selected characteristics of the jackfruit farmers with the losses of jackfruit as perceived bythem. The selected characteristics were age, level of education, jackfruit land size, number of jackfruit trees,annual income from jackfruit, experience in jackfruit cultivation, knowledge on jackfruit cultivation and problemfaced by the farmers. Data were gathered from 120 jackfruit farmers of six villages such as Kachina and Honparaof Bhaluka Upazilla, Donua and Nagar Haowla of Sreepur Upazilla and Naoghata and Sristighar of ShibpurUpazilla under Mymensing, Gazipur and Narsingdi districts respectively by using a structured interviewschedule. For harmonious representation from each village 10 percent sample were drawn following stratifiedrandom sampling method. Appropriate scales were formulated in order to assess the concerned variables. SPSSsoftware was used to probe the data and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient was applied toexamine the relationship among the variables. The findings revealed that the highest proportion of the farmers(71.7 percent) perceived medium loss, while 17.5 percent perceived high loss and 10.8 percent of them perceivedlow loss in jackfruit production. Hence, overwhelming majority (89.2 percent) of the respondents perceivedmedium to high loss in jackfruit cultivation. The statistical analysis exposed that annual income from jackfruit,experience in jackfruit cultivation and knowledge on jackfruit cultivation of the jackfruit farmers had significantnegative relationship with the losses of jackfruit while problem faced by the jackfruit farmers had significantpositive relationship with the losses of jackfruit as perceived by them. Key words: Loss assessment, Jackfruit, Farmer’s perception