Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Need of Rural Women in Practicing Post Harvest Activities of Brinjal Production: Assessment for Capacity Strengthening

E. Sharmin
Former MS student
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

M.Z. Rahman
Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

M.H. Rahman
Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

S. Akhter
Former MS student
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The main objectives of this study were to determine the extent of need for capacity strengthening of rural women towards post harvest activities (PHAs) of brinjal and to explore the relationship of ten selected characteristics of the rural women with their extent of need for capacity strengthening. A total 80 women from two villages of Bakta Union under Fulbaria upazila of Mymensingh district was randomly selected for data collection. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents during April to May 2008. All of the respondents had high extent of need for capacity strengthening while none of them had low. All the women had the highest extent of need for capacity strengthening in management skill and need for physical facilities. Education and ability to cope with uncertainty showed significant negative relationship with their extent of need for capacity strengthening. The rest of the variables did not show any significant relationship. The major problems faced by the women in using the PHAs of brinjal were unavailability of sale center, lack of knowledge on PHAs of brinjal, scarcity of money, lack of marketing facility, lack of cold storage and processing materials.

Keywords: Capacity strengthening, Rural women, Post harvest activities, Brinjal.

Location: Bakta union of Fulbaria upazila

Start Date: 00-04-2008

End Date: 00-05-2008

Program Area: Postharvest and Agro-processing

Commodity: Brinjal

Objectives:

To assess the need for capacity strengthening of rural women in conducting PHAs of brinjal, to find out the extent of participation of rural women in PHAs of brinjal, to explore the relationship between ten selected characteristics of rural women with their need for capacity strengthening for practicing PHAs of brinjal and to identify the problems faced by the rural women in using up the PHAs of brinjal production.

Methodology:

Two villages were purposively selected from Bakta union of Fulbaria upazila for collecting data from marginal brinjal farmers because brinjal is extensively cultivated in that areas and women are involved in the brinjal production. An updated list of households of the selected villages was collected from the Fulbaria Upazila Agriculture Office. The list comprised a total of 300 brinjal cultivating households in the study area. Among them only 80 households were randomly selected for data collection. Women involved in PHAs of those households were chosen to collect data for the study. A pre- tested and structured interview schedule was used to collect data. Ten characteristics were considered as independent variables which were age, education, dependency ratio of the family, farm size, annual family income, organizational participation, decision making capacity in the family,training exposure, credit received and ability to cope with uncertainty. Need for capacity strengthening of rural women towards PHAs of brinjal was the dependent variable of the study. Need assessment for capacity strengthening of rural women was measured by five dimensions which were: (i) need for financial ability, (ii) need for decision making ability, (iii) need for access to support services, (iv) need for management skill and (v) need for physical facilities. The dimensions were measured on a four- point rating scale. Scores were assigned as 0, 1, 2 and 3 for `no', `low', `medium' and `high' respectively. The score of five dimensions consisting of 27 items could range from 0 to 81, where `0' indicated `no need' and `81' indicated `high need' of women for capacity strengthening towards PHAs. To measure the extent of participation in PHAs of brinjal three dimensions namely (i) frequency of performance, (ii) part of work done and (iii) control over decision were considered. Each of the dimensions was quantified separately with four-point rating scale. Participation Index (PI) had been used to determine the extent of participation defining as the ratio of actual participation to `possible participation' in any issue expressed as percentage. According to Participation Index (PI), value could vary from 0 to 100 percent, 0 indicating no participation and 100 indicated full participation in PHAs of brinjal. So, the extent of need was measured by computing the total values according to the items of work done for each of the three dimensions. To measure problem in using PHAs of brinjal, Scored Causal Diagrams (SCDs) were used (Galpin et al., 2000). Various problems of participation were listed through discussion with the respondents. Assuming the end problem `low participation in PHAs' writing it on the ground drawing circle at the center and arrows were drawn to represent the causal relationships between the problems. The causes of those problems were identified and added to the diagram. The problems at the edge of the diagram with no identified `causes' were determined as the `root' causes. Scoring was done by the importance from the end problem by dividing them between the causes of each subsequent problem. Descriptive statistical methods like range, mean, percentage distribution and standard deviation were used in describing the dependent and independent variables. For exploring the relationship between the selected characteristics of the women with their need for capacity strengthening towards PHAs of brinjal, Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation (r) (Ray and Mondal, 2004) was used. The analysis of data was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) computer program.

Source of Information: Bangladesh Journal of Extension Education, Volume 21, No. 1&2, 2009: 117-124 ISSN 1011-3916

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The findings indicate that all of the respondents (100 percent) had high extent of need for capacity strengthening and more than half (53 percent) of the respondents had medium dependency ratio in the family. So, there was enough scope to provide facilities regarding post harvest operations of brinjal to improve their capacity and minimize dependency ratio in the family. Women having small farm size, less earning member, low annual family income and low organizational participation should be the major target population for providing PHAs of brinjal. Because, these types of women have high need for different PHAs. Sale centers, cold storage and processing centers should be established in the rural areas through government and private initiatives to improve marketing facilities for the rural women. Training facilities have to be increased according to their needs for increasing their knowledge, management skill and operational ability towards PHAs of brinjal as well as to have efficient manpower.

Knowledge Management: Journal