Factors affecting the adoption of aquaculture technologies by the farmers

Purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent of adoption of aquaculture technologies by the farmers as well as constraints faced by them in adopting the aquaculture technologies. The study also explored its relationships with the selected characteristics of the farmers. In addition, an attempt was also made to determine some selected attributes of the technologies and their relationships with the adoption by the farmers. The study was conducted with the farmers of 10 upazilas of greater Mymensingh district who were the beneficiaries of three NGOs viz. SARA, ORD, and GRAMAUS. There were 351,241 and 249 beneficiaries under SARA, ORD and GRAMAUS, respectively who adopted the aquaculture technologies under DSAP. About 25% farmers from each of the three NGOs were selected for the study. The total sample size was 212. Pre-designed and pre-tested interview schedules were used for collecting data from the farmers. Field data were collected from the farmers during August-September, 2004. Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient were computed in order to explore the relationships of the selected characteristics of the farmers as well as selected attributes of technology with the adoption of aquaculture technologies by the farmers. The same statistical test was used to determine the relationships between the selected characteristics of the farmers and their constraints in adopting the aquaculture technologies

An Efficient and Speedy Activity Model for Information System Based Organizations

This paper presents an activity model that addresses the responsibilities among different C-level Officers in any IT-reliant systems in organizations. The activity model provides an integrated set of actions that extend and clarify the work system framework and related work system concepts, thereby helping in understanding, analyzing, and designing technical and sociotechnical systems. The activity model is an advance step toward an enhanced work system approach that is quickly accessible, understandable and clear visualization to business professionals, is more rigorous than most current applications of work system concepts, and can be linked more directly to precise, highly detailed analysis and design approaches for IT professionals. Specification of the activity model clarifies ambiguities in the work system framework and forms a clearer conceptual basis for tools and methods that could improve communication and collaboration between business and IT professionals through e-Media

A Coordinated Control Approach for DC link and Rotor Crowbars to Improve Fault Ride-Through of DFIG-Based Wind Turbine

Nowadays, most double fed induction generators (DFIGs)-based wind turbines are equipped with a rotor crowbar connected in parallel with the rotor side converter (RSC). The parallel rotor side crowbar (PRSC) is used to protect the RSC and dc-link capacitor by dissipating the rotor energy during grid fault condition. In this paper, two types of crowbar protections are used, one in the rotor winding and the second in the dc link. During the fault condition, the rotor winding crowbar connects in series with the rotor winding and RSC to decrease the RSC current and dissipate the rotor energy. The general PRSC does not have the ability to significantly decrease the over-current. To protect the semiconductor switches of RSC, DFIG should not be kept connected with the utility grids under severe faults. The dc-link capacitor crowbar (DCCC) operates only if the dc capacitor voltage exceeds a threshold level. Both the series rotor side crowbar (SRSC) and the DCCC operate in coordination with each other to protect RSC and dc link during fault condition, and improve the fault ride through of the DFIG. Using the proposed SRSC, RSC continues its operation to control the DFIG during fault condition. Thereby, the reactive power can be injected to support the voltage at the point of common coupling. The behavior of the DFIG is investigated when the combined crowbars are operating with the proposed coordinated control approach and results are presented

Maximizing radial voltage stability and load balancing via loss minimization in distribution networks

Distribution networks have to be operated under minimized loss condition due to economic reasons. Besides economic considerations, a reconfigured distribution network operating at a minimum loss condition has some added advantages in the form of increased voltage stability and load balancing. This paper presents the relationship between voltage stability and loss minimization in which it can be shown that voltage stability is maximized when power losses are minimized in the networks. A relationship between load balancing and loss minimization is also presented. A new load balancing index is proposed and applied to the network to investigate the improvement in load balancing after network reconfiguration. Test results indicate that improvement in voltage stability and load balancing can be achieved by network reconfiguration

Economic analysis of Red Chittagong Cattle farming system in some selected areas of Chittagong district

The study was carried out in 5 Upazilas under Chittagong district with a view to analyze the present socio-economic status of RCC farming practices on 100 RCC rearers (Potiya, Raujan, Chandanaish, Anowara and Satkania Upazila). The study showed that, about 39.00 percent of RCC farm owners were landless, 31.00 percent were small and marginal farmers, 17.00 percent were medium and 13.00 percent were large farmers according to their landholding sizes. The cost of rearing RCC per cattle per year was found to be Tk. 17503.76, Tk. 15540.27, and Tk. 33044.03 as cash cost, non cash cost and total cost respectively. The study also revealed that, average daily milk yield, lactation yield and lactation length of RCC were found to be 2.71 liters, 581.61 liters and 215.41 days, respectively. The average per year per cattle gross return of RCC was found Tk. 25390.41. The gross returns over cash cost and full cost basis of rearing per lactation per cattle of RCC were found at Tk 8058.642 and Tk.-7501.53, respectively. The benefit cost ratio on the basis of cash cost and full costs per year per cattle was found 1.47 and 0.77, respectively. The study also revealed that, the rural farmers prefer RCC farming than other breeds due to high conception rate, each year calving, disease resistance, high milk fat per cent and cost effective farming

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: A CHALLENGE IN BANGLADESH

The sustainability of conventional agriculture in Bangladesh is under threat from the continuous degradation of land and water resources, and from declining yields due to indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals. Government is pursuing efforts to promote sustainable agriculture with emphasis on better use of on-farm resources and the reduction of external inputs. This paper presents four dimensions of agricultural sustainability as productivity, environmental stability, economical profitability, and social and economic equity. Six characters were selected to evaluate sustainability. Significant differences were found between the two systems (conventional and sustainable agriculture) in crop diversification, soil fertility management, pests and diseases management, use of agrochemicals and environmental issues. However, no significant variations were found in other indicators such as land-use pattern, crop yield and stability, risk and uncertainties, and food security. Although crop yield and financial return were found to be slightly higher in the conventional system, the economic return and value addition per unit of land did not show any difference. It can be suggested that sustainable agriculture has a tendency towards becoming environmental, economically and socially more sound than conventional agriculture, as it requires considerably less agro-chemicals, adds more organic matter to the soil, provides balanced food, and requires higher local inputs without markedly compromising output and financial benefits. Broad-policy measures, including the creation of mass awareness of adverse health effects of agrochemical-based products, are outlined for the promotion of sustainable agriculture

IMPACT OF CROP VARIETIES ON HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN HAOR AREAS OF BANGLADESH

The purpose of the study was to identify the crop varieties in the Haor area of Netrokona district to minimize the food vulnerability situation during food crisis. The study was conducted in four selected villages of Madan and Khaliajuri Upazilas under the Netrokona district. Data were collected from randomly selected 400 farmers from the study area in the year 2011. The findings of the study revealed that farmers usually cultivate only three HYV boro rice varieties (BR 19, BRRI dhan 28 and BRRI dhan 29) in the Haor area under study. In aman season farmers mostly cultivate local varieties and they get minimum yield. Only few vegetables found to cultivate by the farmers in Haor area. The vegetables are: onion, garlic, chilli, bottle gourd, sweet gourd, lady’s finger and tomato. Among these onion, garlic and chilli are mostly cultivated. Many farmers reported that during the flood they had to face serious problems in respect of communication, diseases, increased price of different commodities, and lack of adequate government safety net programs/relief. Farmers’ lack of flood preparedness has been observed while some farmers remained uncared about the occurrence of flood and consequently they did not take any preparedness for flood