Participation of Rural Women in Rice Farming Activities: Case of a Village in Bangladesh

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the socio-economic features of rural women, determine their participation extent in rice farming activities, and find out relationship between socio-economic features and extent of participation. This survey-based research was conducted in a village called Jahidpur in the Sunamganj district. 80 farm families involved in rice farming were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected from women respondents through direct interviews using questionnaires. To determine participation extent, a rating scale of 5 points was used. Around 22 tasks were categorized into 5 aspects namely pre-planting, planting, intercultural operation, harvesting, and post-harvesting. The report revealed that rural women's participation was maximum in post-harvesting activities. However, no participation was found in some field-level tasks such as seedbed preparation, transplanting, nutrient management, plant protection management, irrigation, and harvesting. A major part of the rural women had medium level participation in rice farming activities 61.25% compared to a low participation rate of 38.75% but nobody had high level participation. Some socio-economic characteristics such as age, farming experience, agricultural knowledge had a significant positive relationship whereas education had a significant negative relationship with rural women's participation in rice farming activities. Tradition (100%), food security (95%), and poverty reduction (92.5%) were the main three reasons for women’s participation while male-dominated society (100%), restricted social interaction (95%), and limited access to resources (86.5%) acted as top three barriers. Rural women's involvement in rice farming was not at a satisfactory level and proper strategy implementation is required for further increasing the participation extent in rice farming activities

GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF JOLDUPI PINEAPPLE (Ananas comosus) WITH INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

A study was conducted to evaluate the growth performances and yield, with the biochemical composition of Joldupi pineapple (Ananas comosus) variety Joldupgi/Honey queen under integrated nutrient management. The field experiment was conducted with seven treatments viz. T1 (BARI Recommended Dose consisted of 35g urea, 10g TSP, 30g MoP & 10g Gypsum later termed as BRD), T2 (½BRD + Well decomposed cow dung 300g), T3 (½BRD + Well decomposed cow dung 450g), T4 ( ½BRD + Vermicompost 300g), T5 (½BRD + Vermicompost 450g), T6 (½BRD + Biochar 300g), T7 (½BRD + Biochar 450g) at the existing germplasm center of Joldupi pineapple in the Agroforestry field laboratory of Sylhet Agricultural University campus during July 2019 to June 2020. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The analysis revealed that the applied treatments with integrated nutrients influenced growth parameters such as leaf number, east-west (E-W) canopy length, north-south (N-S), and leaf height from the surface. T5 treatment produced the maximum leaves number (32.5±4.63) and N-S canopy length (74.4±19.8 cm). Meanwhile, T2 was responsible for the maximum E-W canopy length (77.13±10.29 cm). However, the maximum fruit weight (328.96±5.45 g) was found in the T7 treatment. In terms of biochemical composition, maximum total soluble solids, TSS (21%), citric acid (0.89%), and vitamin C (66.18mg/100g) were found in the T7 treatment. In comparison, total sugar (16.33%), reducing sugar (7.1%), and sucrose (8.11%) wasere found in T4, T5, and T6 treatments, respectively. The highest soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), and soil organic matter (SOM) were found to be 7.39, 53.01μS/cm, 34.98 mg/L, and 3.59%, respectively, in T7 treatment. The study found that the growth performance of pineapple and soil health were accelerated through integrating organic amendments with BRD. [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2023; 21(2.000): 132-143

The Effect of Fertilizer Rate and Pruning Material on Growth and Yield of Carrot (Daucus carota) under Alley Cropping System

The study was conducted at the Agroforestry Farm of Sylhet Agricultural University from October 2020 to March 2021 to evaluate the growth and yield performance of carrot and determine soil fertility status during the hedge establishment period of alley cropping. Hedges for alley cropping were established using ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) and vegetable hummingbirds (Sesbania grandiflora) tree species. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). During the hedge establishment period, the carrot was cultivated in the alley of the hedgerow using four different treatments with three replications. The treatments were T0 (No application of fertilizer and pruning materials), T1 (application of recommended fertilizer dose), T2 (application of half dose of the recommended fertilizer + pruning materials), and T3 (application of pruning materials). The results exhibited that growth parameters, viz. plant height (cm), leaf number per plant, root length (cm), and root diameter (cm) of carrot were almost similar in all treated plots, except control (T0). The carrot yield was statistically similar in all fertilizer and pruning materials treated plots, but it was drastically reduced in the control plots and decreased by about 40-45% compared to fertilizer and pruning materials applied plots. During hedgerow establishment, soil pH among different plots has not changed significantly compared to the initial field, but organic matter (OM), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S) in different alleys found to be increased significantly in treatment T2 and treatment T1 after carrot cultivation. Improvement in soil fertility was also found in the alleys between the hedgerows of ipil-ipil and vegetable hummingbirds when only pruning material was applied to the soil. Therefore, an alley cropping system with Leucaena leucocephala and Sesbania grandiflora may enhance the yield performance of carrot and organically improve soil fertility during the hedge establishment period

The status of implemented climate smart agriculture practices preferred by farmers of haor area as a climate resilient approach

Bangladesh's Haor regions are famous for their natural resources and are unable to escape climate vulnerability. Triggered by climate vulnerabilities farmers are heading towards climate-resilient approaches. Hence, research was done in the haor area of Sunamganj district to analyze the status of adopted Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) techniques in Chhatak, Sunamganj, and Jagannathpur which are prone to severe flooding and climate conditions. Around 450 farmers were randomly selected and CSA adopters were contacted. A structured questionnaire was prepared with open-ended and closed-ended questions. The final questionnaire contained demographic questions and a list of adopted cropland and homestead CSA practices, and the survey proceeded with 115 finalized CSA adopters. MS Excel and SPSS were used to analyze the data. The data were expressed using frequency, percent, mean, and standard deviation. A t-test, analysis of variance, multiple linear regression, Pearson correlation, boxplot, and normal P–P plots were employed to test data normality. The analysis revealed that 30 CSA practices were identified to be practiced in cropland where major preferences were found for appropriate seed storage (100%), USG application (100%), IPM (98%), and good quality seed (95%) in cropland, whereas agroforestry (71%), organic fertilizer application (63%), perching (63%) and IPM (59%) were major CSA practices among the 18 identified practices in homesteads. The adoption level of CSA practices was found in the score category of 11–23 for cropland (90%) and up to 10 for homestead (68%). The results showed that the adoption status of CSA practices was inefficient for quick flood occurrence. CSA practices are not applied enough in haor areas' homesteads due to lack of knowledge, information access, and technical and financial resources. Thus, CSA should be implemented which necessitates working on barriers restricting CSA adoption through strengthening the infrastructure of technologies, supportive policies, and institutional framework