Farmers' perception of risk in cultivating hybrid rice in Bangladesh

Mujtaba Shah ,Will J Grant ,Sue A M Stocklmayer

doi:10.17159/2413-3221/2015/v43n2a338

Mujtaba Shah , Will J Grant + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3221/2015/v43n2a338

Copy DOI

Abstract

Although there is an enormous potential for improving adoption of hybrid rice in Bangladesh, it is going through some difficulties in practice. Understanding farmers’ perception about difficulties is critical to successful promotion. The present study was conducted to analyze farmers’ perception of risk in cultivating hybrid rice and its relationship with the selected characteristics. The study was conducted in five regions of Bangladesh. A concurrent embedded design using a cross sectional survey was employed. The population of this study consisted of rice growers of the boro season. A multistage stratified random sampling design was employed in selecting the sample of 425 farmers. Data were collected through face–to–face interviews using a pre-tested and back translated questionnaire. Findings indicated that a vast majority of non-adopters (97.5%), de-adopters (94.2%) and continuing adopters (89.2%) perceived moderate to serious risks in cultivating hybrid rice. Data also confirmed a significant relationship between farm size, promotional efforts, farmers’ attitudes towards hybrid rice and their perception of risk in cultivating it. The results of this study raise important considerations for research leaders, policy makers and extension worker to refine the policy guidelines for the promotion of hybrid rice in Bangladesh. Keywords: risk, perception, survey, hybrid rice, farmer, Bangladesh

Highlights

Even though Bangladesh has achieved significant progress in agriculture, especially with respect to rice production and yields, the demand for rice still outstrips domestic production, and the country remains a net importer of rice (FPMU 2008 as cited in (Ganesh-Kumar, Prasad, & Pullabhotla, 2012))
The collective scores for the risk perception being rated by the non-adopters, de-adopters and continuing adopters ranged from 15-26, 13-28 and 9-28, with averages of 21.37, 22.0 and 20.21 and standard deviations of 2.89, 3.22, and 3.44, respectively
The computed F value of 13.35 with 2 degrees of freedom at 0.001 level of probability shown in Table 1 means that there is a significant difference between non-adopters, de-adopters and continuing adopters in terms of risk they perceive in cultivating hybrid rice in their field or observing in adjoining fields of other farmers

Summary

Introduction

Even though Bangladesh has achieved significant progress in agriculture, especially with respect to rice production and yields, the demand for rice still outstrips domestic production, and the country remains a net importer of rice (FPMU 2008 as cited in (Ganesh-Kumar, Prasad, & Pullabhotla, 2012)). Hybrid rice could play an important role in food security, especially in poor countries in the tropics, where population is soaring and agricultural areas shrinking (Santiaguel & Quipot, 2012). In the hope of achieving these outcomes, hybrid rice was introduced in the 1998-1999 boro season in Bangladesh, without a clear deployment strategy (Hossain, Janaiah, & Husain, 2003) and its cultivation continues today

Methods

Results

Conclusion