Energy productivity and efficiency of wheat farming in Bangladesh

Wheat is the second most important cereal crop in Bangladesh and production is highly sensitive to variations in the environment. We estimate productivity and energy efficiency of wheat farming in Bangladesh by applying a stochastic production frontier approach while accounting for the environmental constraints affecting production. Wheat farming is energy efficient with a net energy balance of 20,596 MJ per ha and energy ratio of 2.34. Environmental constraints such as a combination of unsuitable land, weed and pest attack, bad weather, planting delay and infertile soils significantly reduce wheat production and its energy efficiency. Environmental constraints account for a mean energy efficiency of 3 percentage points. Mean technical efficiency is 88% thereby indicating that elimination of inefficiencies can increase wheat energy output by 12%. Farmers' education, access to agricultural information and training in wheat production significantly improves efficiency, whereas events such as a delay in planting and first fertilization significantly reduce it. Policy recommendations include development of varieties that are resistant to environmental constraints and suitable for marginal areas; improvement of wheat farming practices; and investments in education and training of farmers as well as dissemination of information

Environmental constraints and profitability relationships in agriculture: a case study of wheat farming in Bangladesh

This article attempts to measure the influence of environmental constraints on profitability and resource use in agriculture by utilizing survey data of 293 wheat farmers from three regions of Bangladesh. Analysis is based on a profit function, where the selected variables representing environmental constraints were incorporated as additional fixed factors. Results revealed that environmental constraints have a significant influence on both profitability and farmers’ resource allocation decisions. Output supply and input demands were significantly affected by land suitability and other environmental constraints (i.e. a combination of poor soil fertility, pest and weed infestation and weather variation). The policy implications include development of wheat varieties that are suitable for low lying and/or marginal areas, are resistant to insect and pest attacks and can withstand weather variations. Also, soil fertility improvement through soil conservation and crop rotation, improvement in managerial practices through extension services and strengthening of research–extension link will improve profitability

Impact of environmental production conditions on productivity and efficiency: a case study of wheat farmers in Bangladesh.

Environmental conditions significantly affect production, but are often ignored in studies analysing productivity and efficiency leading to biased results. In this study, we examine the influence of selected environmental factors on productivity and efficiency in wheat farming in Bangladesh. Results reveal that environmental production conditions significantly affect the parameters of the production function and technical efficiency, as well as correlates of inefficiency. Controlling for environmental production conditions improves technical efficiency by 4 points (p<0.01) from 86% to 90%. Large farms are more efficient relative to small and medium sized farms (p<0.01 and 0.05), with no variation among regions. Policy implications include soil fertility improvement through soil conservation and crop rotation, improvement in managerial practices through extension services and adoption of modern technologies, promotion of education, strengthening the research-extension link, and development of new varieties that have higher yield potential and are also suitable for marginal areas

Interactive effects of phosphorus and potassium on biomass production and accumulation of nitrogen in field grown mungbean (Vigna radiata L.)

A field experiment was carried out in the paddy field of Charfession Govt. College, Bhola, Bangladesh during rabi season 2017 to evaluate growth, biomass production and nitrogen accumulation in mungbean plants. The size of the plot was 60 cm x 45 cm. The distance between row to row and plant to plant was 30 cm and 10 cm, respectively. Eight plants were raised per plot. Seven treatments were P0K0 (Control), P5K6, P5K12, P5K18, P10K6, P10K12 and P10K18 kg ha-1. Forty day old plants were harvestedas root, stem and leaf. The highest plant height (17.2 cm) and number of leaves (14.3 no. plant-1) were recorded in P5K12 kg ha-1 treatment at harvest. The maximum concentration of nitrogen in root, stem and leaf were 1.59, 2.51 and 3.82% in the treatments of P5K12, P5K12 and P5K18 kg ha-1, respectively. The highest amount of dry matter yield 1.88 g plant-1 was observed in P5K12 kg ha-1 treatment. The overall better dose was P5K12 kg ha-1. Thus, a considerable amount of nitrogen and organic matter might be added to paddy fields through the cultivation of mungbean in the coastal region of Bangladesh. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. &amp; Tech. 9 (1): 14-17, June, 201

The nature of Formal Reasoning among Ghanaian Basic School pupils in General Science Logic Tasks

Many Psychologists have considered early formal thinking among adolescents as signs of normal development. As it is not known for certain at what age Ghanaian Junior Secondary School (JSS) pupils achieve formal operational capabilities, the study seeks to find out the relationship between Piagetian theory of development and the extent of formal thinking among adolescent pupils, especially in General Science Logic tasks. This study thus used two sets of questionnaire involving “General Knowledge Logic Tasks” and “General Science Logic Tasks” based on topics chosen from the JSS science syllabus to test the logical reasoning of pupils between ages of 13 and 15 years. A total of 60 pupils were selected randomly from four junior secondary schools and tested on the questionnaire. The sample was made up of 15 pupils (with 5 from each of JSS 1 to JSS 3) from each school. They were then served with the same items. The marks they obtained on the two examinations were used to determine the extent of their formal reasoning as well as their maturity. It was found, rather surprisingly, that the older pupils did less formal reasoning than the younger ones. That is, the younger pupils in JSS 1 (age 13-14 years) performed better on the tests than those in JSS 2 (ages 14-15 years) and JSS 3 (ages 15 –16 years). It was also found that on the average all pupils performed better on the General Knowledge tasks than on the General Science tasks, implying that pupils\' formal reasoning was not subject oriented. This anomaly may be attributed to the fact that many pupils resort to rote learning and as a result forget soon afterward what they had learned while their knowledge of happenings around them lasted longer.African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences Vol. 3 2005: pp. 9-1

DistB-Condo: Distributed Blockchain-based IoT-SDN Model for Smart Condominium

Condominium network refers to intra-organization networks, where smart buildings or apartments are connected and share resources over the network. Secured communication platform or channel has been highlighted as a key requirement for a reliable condominium which can be ensured by the utilization of the advanced techniques and platforms like Software-Defined Network (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Blockchain (BC). These technologies provide a robust, and secured platform to meet all kinds of challenges, such as safety, confidentiality, flexibility, efficiency, and availability. This work suggests a distributed, scalable IoT-SDN with Blockchain-based NFV framework for a smart condominium (DistB-Condo) that can act as an efficient secured platform for a small community. Moreover, the Blockchain-based IoT-SDN with NFV framework provides the combined benefits of leading technologies. It also presents an optimized Cluster Head Selection (CHS) algorithm for selecting a Cluster Head (CH) among the clusters that efficiently saves energy. Besides, a decentralized and secured Blockchain approach has been introduced that allows more prominent security and privacy to the desired condominium network. Our proposed approach has also the ability to detect attacks in an IoT environment. Eventually, this article evaluates the performance of the proposed architecture using different parameters (e.g., throughput, packet arrival rate, and response time). The proposed approach outperforms the existing OF-Based SDN. DistB-Condo has better throughput on average, and the bandwidth (Mbps) much higher than the OF-Based SDN approach in the presence of attacks. Also, the proposed model has an average response time of 5% less than the core model