farmers' attitude towards sustainable agricultural practices

Ghosh and Hasan.Table 1. Categories of the selected characteristics of the farmersCharacteristics Categories Farmers (%) Observed score Mean SDAge Young 48.9Middle 33.3 22 to 65 years 38.92 11.72Old 17.8Education No education 24.4Primary level education 34.4 0 to 12 5.02 4.39Secondary level education 26.6Tertiary level education 14.4Farm size Small 85.5Medium 14.4 0 to 5.26 acre 1.18 1.25Large 0Family size 1 member 02-3 member 10 2 to 10 5.76 1.814-5 member 38.96+ member 51.1Annual income Up to 40000 tk 37.840001tk to 60000tk 35.6 30000 to 110000 tk. 55777.78 2905.66More than 60000 26.6Farming Low experience 18.9experience Medium experience 45.6 5 to 45 20.92 10.88High experience 35.5Cosmopoliteness Low 45.6Medium 20.0 1 to 40 10.68 8.36High 34.4Extension Low contact 82.2contact Medium contact 15.6 1 to 24 8.74 6.38High contact 2.2Knowledge Low 51.1Medium 34.4 8 to 41 21.1 8.20High 14.5230Attitude towards sustainable agricultural practicesData contained in Table 2 indicated that the farmers had top most attitude on thesustainable agriculture practices in respect of ‘Application of cowdung and compostincrease soil fertility’ was the highest (SPI=423) followed by ‘Technology should be used asbest as possible to increase efficiency of agricultural production’ (SPI=418). Then‘Manuring improve water conservation in the soil’ (SPI=416) was in third position. ‘Over useof chemical fertilizers is responsible for lower soil fertility’ (SPI=414) was in fourth. From thefirst four statements it can be said that most of the respondents of the study area wereagreed to the use of compost and green manure in their field replacing chemicalfertilizer. They also mentioned that chemical fertilizer is harmful for soil. From some otherstatements it can be said that the respondents were agreed to the importance ofsustainable agriculture to the environment, use of crop rotation, long term productivity.http://www.bdresearchpublications.com/journal/