Resource-Poor Farmers' Constraints regarding Integrated Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production: A farm level study in Bangladesh

Sustainable crop production requires a judicious management of soil resources and of all plant nutrient sources available in a farm or a village. The main focus of the study was to determine the constraints faced by the resource-poor farmers regarding integrated soil fertility and nutrient management for sustainable crop production. Field work was conducted in eight villages of four districts in Bangladesh and data were collected from 92 resource-poor farmers through personal interviews. Four point-summated rating scales were used to determine farmers' constraints while five point Likert-type response scales were used to measure the suggestions provided by them to improve the situations. Findings indicated that most of the farmers confronted high problems regarding soil fertility and nutrient management aspects. The issues mostly confronted were the lack of organizing demonstration plots, inadequate training facilities, lack of availability information sources, financial problems, unavailability and unstable price of chemical fertilizers and shortage of knowledge about the beneficial aspect of using organic manure along with chemical fertilizers for crop production. Develop facilities for easy way of getting agricultural loan prior to crop seasons, strengthen extension activities especially for resource-poor farmers, and ensure the availability of chemical fertilizers during cropping seasons with stable price were the matters mostly suggested by farmers to improve the situations.Crop Production/Industries,

Effectiveness of Farmer Field School for Soil and Crop Management

The purposes of the study were to investigate the effectiveness of Farmer Field School (FFS) for soil and crop management as perceived by the FFS farmers and to explore the relationships of the selected characteristics of the FFS farmers with their perceived effectiveness. Data were collected from 100 FFS farmers of Mymensingh district in Bangladesh during April, 2013. The highest proportion (76%) of the FFS farmers perceived FFS as medium effective followed by highly effective (15%). A little more than two-thirds (65%) of the respondents perceived FFS as a medium effective mean, while 20% of them perceived high regarding soil management issue

Role of Government and Non-Government Organizations in Boosting Agricultural Production towards Meeting Household Nutrition as Perceived by Rural Women

The study was undertaken to have an understanding of rural women’s perception of the role played by the government and non-government organizations (GOs and NGOs) to boost agricultural production in Lama upazila under Bandarban district of Bangladesh towards meeting household nutrition. Besides, attempts were made to explore the quality of service provided by the GOs and NGOs to boost agricultural production and to explore the problems faced by them to meet the demand of household nutrition. Eighty six percent of rural women perceived the role played by the GOs and NGOs as 'somehow satisfied' to 'satisfied level'. Among the rural women, 90 percent of the respondents expressed that they face moderate to high level of problems to meet their demands for household nutrition. The services from the all concerned GOs and NGOs should be provided in such a way that could help more to boost agricultural production as well as meet the demand of household nutrition of the rural women in the study area

Role of Government and Non-Government Organizations to Boost Agricultural Production towards Meeting Household Nutrition as Perceived by Rural Women

The study was undertaken to have an understanding of rural women’s perception of the role played by the government and non-government organizations (GOs and NGOs) to boost agricultural production in Lama upazila under Bandarban district of Bangladesh towards meeting household nutrition. Besides, attempts were made to explore the quality of service provided by the GOs and NGOs to boost agricultural production and to explore the problems faced by them to meet the demand of household nutrition. Eighty six percent of rural women perceived the role played by the GOs and NGOs as 'somehow satisfied' to 'satisfied level'. Among the rural women, 90 percent of the respondents expressed that they face moderate to high level of problems to meet their demands for household nutrition. The services from the all concerned GOs and NGOs should be provided in such a way that could help more to boost agricultural production as well as meet the demand of household nutrition of the rural women in the study area

Resource-Poor Farmers' Constraints regarding Integrated Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management for Sustainable Crop Production: A farm level study in Bangladesh

Sustainable crop production requires a judicious management of soil resources and of all plant nutrient sources available in a farm or a village. The main focus of the study was to determine the constraints faced by the resource-poor farmers regarding integrated soil fertility and nutrient management for sustainable crop production. Field work was conducted in eight villages of four districts in Bangladesh and data were collected from 92 resource-poor farmers through personal interviews. Four point-summated rating scales were used to determine farmers' constraints while five point Likert-type response scales were used to measure the suggestions provided by them to improve the situations. Findings indicated that most of the farmers confronted high problems regarding soil fertility and nutrient management aspects. The issues mostly confronted were the lack of organizing demonstration plots, inadequate training facilities, lack of availability information sources, financial problems, unavailability and unstable price of chemical fertilizers and shortage of knowledge about the beneficial aspect of using organic manure along with chemical fertilizers for crop production. Develop facilities for easy way of getting agricultural loan prior to crop seasons, strengthen extension activities especially for resource-poor farmers, and ensure the availability of chemical fertilizers during cropping seasons with stable price were the matters mostly suggested by farmers to improve the situations