Role of credit in maize (Zea mays L.) production and assessment of food security in a selected area of Bangladesh

Credit provides the means for many farmers to adjust their operations to keep up with the constant changes and, by doing so, to improve their operations. It also contributes to achieve food security of households. Tabular method is used to analyze credit profile, multiple regression analyses are used to determine the impact of credit on maize production and “Modified”  OECD scale is used to measure calorie intake level of the 60 maize farming households who has got agricultural credit from Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank in Lalmonirhat district of Bangladesh. Data were collected through field survey by using pre-designed and pre-tested interview schedule. TK.10500, 26333.33, 92103.77 (US$125, 313.49, 1096.47) for small, medium and large categories, respectively, which was 100$ 59553.57) and at 9% interest it became TK. 54, 52,725 (US$ 64913.39). The repayment performance of the households was about 100%. It is also revealed from the study that credit had a positive impact on fertilizer demand and irrigation demand and overall a positive impact on maize production. The coefficient of maize production with respect to agricultural credit was 0.081. The elasticity of fertilizer and irrigation demand with respect to credit was 0.016 and 0.543 respectively. The calorie intake situation of the sample households depicts that about 6.67% of the respondents belonged to the ultra-poor whose per day calorie intake was 1481.991 k.cal. About 20% of respondents were hardcore poor whose per day calorie intake was 1722.133 k.cal. The persons belonged to the absolute poor about 21.67% and per capita calorie intake was 1934.605 k.cal. The rest 51.67% belonged to the non-poor group. Different financial institutions should disburse sufficient agricultural credit to fulfill the requirement of the farmers

Is tilapia farming financially profitable and efficient? Policy options for sustainable farming

Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is known as ?fish for the poor? due to its low market price. However, the question remains about the sustainability of this species because of high production cost and lower market price. Therefore, this study examined the financial profitability, technical efficiency and tried to find out the policy options for increasing the financial benefit of fish farmers. A total of 250 tilapia fish farmers were selected from seven tilapia producing areas of Bangladesh. To fulfill the objectives of this study, profitability, stochastic frontier production function, and sensitivity analysis were employed. Considering all selected farmers, tilapia farming found a profitable business where undiscounted BCR was only1.11. Among all cost items, only feed consists of 70 percent of the total production cost. The mean technical efficiency level of tilapia fish farmers was 85 percent, implies that by operating at full technical efficiency levels, tilapia yield could be increased from the current level of 20.98 to 24.13 tons per hectare and efficient farmers found more productive than inefficient farmers. Farmer?s financial benefit can be increased by reducing the feed price, decreasing FCR or increasing the output price. Feed price reduction or enhance the quality of feed could be effective policy options for sustaining the tilapia farming