Abstract
The study aimed to determine farmers’ knowledge and practice regarding organic vegetable cultivation as well as to ascertain farmers’ awareness concerning health and environmental aspects. The study was conducted at two villages of Kishoregonj District. The selected villages were Shadullar Char and Borobag Char. The total number of household was 800 in two villages. Among them 400 households were randomly selected and the head of each household was considered as the sample of the study; from them data were collected using structured interview schedule. The findings of the study indicate that about two-thirds (65%) of the farmers in the study area had poor knowledge concerning organic vegetable cultivation while, about three-fourth (73%) of the respondents had found low level of practice followed in cultivating organic vegetables. Concerning soil health management aspects, the item namely use of cow dung and use of poultry excreta were the top most items practice by the farmers in their locality. The use of ash and piercing, on the other hand, were found as the highest ranked items regarding disease and pest management related aspects. However, about three-fourths of the respondents had low to medium level of awareness concerning health and environmental related aspects caused by agro-chemicals use. Key words: Organic vegetable, knowledge, practice, farmers, Bangladesh.
Highlights
Due to increasing consumer awareness of health and environmental issues, the demand for safe organic food has been growing significantly all over the world for the past several years and this offers producers and exporters in developing countries opportunities to improve their incomes and living conditions (FiBL, 2006)
Farmers‟ extent of practice of disease and pest management technologies in organic vegetable cultivation were assessed and the findings show that among the selected 10 technologies ash was ranked first with the Practice Index (PI) score of 1120 and followed by perching (PI= 673)
It is evident from the study that about two-thirds (65%) of the farmers in the study area had poor knowledge on organic vegetable cultivation while, a little less than three-fourths (73%) of the respondents had found with low extent of practice of organic technologies in vegetables cultivations
Summary
Due to increasing consumer awareness of health and environmental issues, the demand for safe organic food has been growing significantly all over the world for the past several years and this offers producers and exporters in developing countries opportunities to improve their incomes and living conditions (FiBL, 2006). Ext. Rural Dev. hectares of land in 172 countries for a global sales of organic food market worth of 80 billion US$ (FiBL and IFOAM, 2016). Among the global organic producing countries, there are 30 countries in Africa, 30 in Asia, 20 in Central America and the Caribbean, 10 in South America, 5 in Australasia and the Pacific and the most countries in Europe, as well as the United States and Canada (IFOAM, 2008). These figures include many developing countries, of which about 15 are regarded as Least Developing Countries (LDCs) (IFOAM, 2008). According to OTA (2012), organic agriculture is the most promising worldwide growth industry which can be profitable and sustainable business for agricultural producers interested in going through the certification process necessary to enter this market
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