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The Impact of Agricultural Extension Contact on Crop Income in Bangladesh

ABU ZAFAR MAHMUDUL HAQ1
Assistant Professor
Deptt. of Business Administration, City University, Banani, Dhaka-1213, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The impact of extension contact on crop income is examined with a view to evaluating the agricultural extension in Bangladesh. The scope of the study was ten villages of Gazipur district. The objectives of the study are to i) determine the factors influencing the benefit of extension services in terms of farm income, ii) determine the factors affecting the extension contact of farmers, and iii) suggest some policy guidelines to improve the extension services in Bangladesh. The sample of the study consists of 1000 farmers. Data came from field survey and multistage random sampling technique was used in order to collect data. The results indicated that the impact of extension contact coefficient on crop income is positive and significant. Evidence shows that the influence of extension contact coefficient is strongly positive and significant in the comparatively nearer villages to upazila headquarters, while this effect is weaker for those villages, which are comparatively away from upazila headquarters. It is found that many farmers did not receive extension contact and the effect of extension contact is weak on crop income compared to other factors such as irrigation and chemical fertilizer. It is assumed that there was enough scope to increase extension contact in the study areas. Some determinants of extension contact were also examined. The study concludes that agricultural extension is necessary to increase among the farmers.

Keywords: Intercropping, HYV mustard, Sugarcane, Farmers’ fields.

Location: Gazipur district

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Impact

Objectives:

The current study was conducted with the following major objectives: 1) to determine the factors influencing the benefit of extension services in terms of farm income; 2) to determine the factors affecting the extension contact of farmers, and 3) to suggest some policy guidelines to improve the agricultural extension in Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Sampling Design: The selection of the Gazipur district, upazilas, villages and sample respondents were done purposively. There were some salient features in the selection procedure. First one, the selected district includes some important infrastructures, such as Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, etc. Secondly, total number of selected villages was ten by selecting two villages from five upazilas. Of the two villages in each upazila, one village is selected comparatively near to the upazila headquarters and the other one is selected comparatively away from the upazila headquarters. The selected nearer villages were Samantapur (Sadar), Bagnahati (Sreepur), Dushya Narayanpur (Kapasia), Katalia (Kaliakoir), and Poinlanpur (Kaliganj). The selected villages which were comparatively away from the upazila headquarters, namely, Bara, Bhabanipur (Sadar), Saitalia (Sreepur), Noyanagar (Kapasia), Poshim Chandpur (Kaliakoir), and Bhatgati (Kaliganj). Empirical Model: The model applied here is the input-output model. The heart of the input-output model is the concept of the production function [Y=f (Capital, Labour)] which helps us in understanding the role of important variables like capital and labour in determining the crop productivity. But only two factors have no reflection on the productivity of any crop. Therefore, based on related past studies (Evenson and Mwabu, 2001; Owens et al., 2003; Haq et al., 2003; Haq, 20011a,b) and logical analysis, some important explanatory variables are considered in this study namely age of the farm household head (Ag), number of family earners in the household (Fea), number of times extension contact received by the farmer for the sample crop season (Et), proportionate effect (%) of flood to crop land (Fec), distance from farm land to market in miles (Mr), actual size of cultivated land in acre (Fs) , per acre total cost of chemical fertilizer (Che), per acre total labour cost (Lab), per acre total money spent for irrigation (Irr), village dummy (Vdummy) = 1 if near village; otherwise = 0. Except for the variables of contact frequency, proportional effect of flood to crop land and village dummy, all the variables have been evaluated with a logarithmic converter to avoid disparities of the figures (Haq et al, 2003; Owens et al, 2003; Haq 2011a, b). Data have been analyzed by correlation and regression analyses.

Source of Information: Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 38(2): 321-334, June 2013 ISSN 0258-7122

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

This paper aimed at clarifying the effects of agricultural extension services on improving the productivity of farmers with the example of one district of Bangladesh, emphasizing the relevance of number of times extension contacts between farmers and extension agents. The results of the study can be stated as follows: First, from the estimated production function, it is clarified that the more the extension contacts between extension agents and farmers, the higher the income is. This clarifies that the extension contact has positive and significant effects in improving farm income. The effect of extension contact is stronger in the nearer villages to upazila headquarters. It is also found that many farmers did not receive extension contact and the effect of extension contact is weak on crop income compared to other factors such as irrigation and chemical fertilizer. For this, it can be clarified that agricultural extension services do not work well and there is enough scope to increase the extension contact. Second, by examining the factors determining the contacts between extension agents and farmers, a positive association was found with the level of education, size of farm families, chemical fertilizer and villages which are comparatively near to the upazila headquarters. On the other hand, the size of farm, age of the farm household head, distance between farm land to nearest market, irrigation and upazila dummy variables have no direct relationship with the extension agents.

Knowledge Management: Journal