Adoption Behavior of Farmers Regarding Hybrid Rice Cultivation in Khulna Region

Development of hybrid rice varieties is a breakthrough for rice production. In the recent years, hybrid rice varieties are gaining popularity among the farmers and occupying largest portion of production. It has an outstanding contribution to the food security of Bangladesh. The study was carried out with the aim to determine adoption behavior of farmers regarding hybrid rice cultivation and also to explore the relationship between selected characteristics of the farmers with their extent of adoption of hybrid rice varieties. Data were collected from randomly selected 80 respondents of four villages which are Khalsi, Sajiara, Golna and Hajidanga under Dumuria upazila of Khulna district through personal interview method by the researcher himself using an interview schedule during 12^th January to 25^th January, 2022. Farmers’ adoption behavior in terms of extent of adoption of hybrid rice varieties was the dependent variable and the fifteen selected characteristics of the respondents were considered as the independent variables of the study. A computed adoption quotient was used to measure farmers’ extent of adoption of hybrid rice varieties of the study area. Pearson’s co-efficient of correlation (r) was used to explore the relationship between the concerned variables. Besides, simple statistics like mean, standard deviation, range, and percentile were used throughout the study. Majority (57.5%) of the respondents belonged to medium adoption category while 38.75% and 3.75% of the respondents belonged to low and high adoption categories of hybrid rice varieties respectively. Among fifteen independent variables level of education, experience in hybrid rice cultivation, extension media contact, organizational participation, cosmopolitanism, training exposure, knowledge and attitude towards hybrid rice of the respondents showed significant positive relationship with their extent of adoption while age, farming experience, experience in rice cultivation and innovativeness showed negative significant relationship with their extent of adoption of hybrid rice. The findings of the study indicated that farmer’s adoption of hybrid rice production has not up to the mark. It is concluded that adoption of hybrid rice production can be increased through increase of education, organizational participation, cosmopolitanism, exposure to communication media and training. Government should take necessary steps to overcome this situation.

Key words: Farmer’s adoption behavior, hybrid, rice.

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