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Farmer’s Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Safety, Quality and Post Harvest Management of Brinjal and Tomato in Some Selected Areas of Bangladesh

M. KHATUN
Assistant Professor
Department of Agricultural Finance, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh-2202,

M. S. RAHMAN
Scientific Officer, Agricultural Economics Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur-1701, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Post harvest management is very important for horticultural crops. The safety and quality of horticultural crops specially vegetables largely depends on its post harvest management. Due to improper management farmers have to bear significant post harvest losses. Post harvest losses of fruits and vegetables are estimated at 5-20% in developed countries and 20-50% in developing countries (Mashav, 2010). In Bangladesh, post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables amount to 16.73-43.5% which accounts for an annual loss of Tk. 34420 million (Hasan et al., 2010; Kaysar et al., 2016). The country like Bangladesh suffer much of the postharvest losses due to a number of factors such as lack of adequate knowledge and information, the unavailability of appropriate practices under funded research and development (Hasan et al. 2010 and Azad et al., 2014). The quality and nutritional value of fresh vegetables are also affected by postharvest handling and storage condition (Sablani et al., 2006). In order to reduce post harvest losses and to arrest higher profit vegetable producers in the tropics and subtropics relies heavily on chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides and crop preservatives. Pesticide comes with a specific environmental concern due to their toxicity and persistence in the environment (Lamberth et al., 2013). So, it not only advantages for crop yield but it also have a significant negative impacts.

Keywords: Post harvest management, Farmers views, Safety vegetables, Quality of vegetables, Tomato, Brinjal

Location: Two Upazila from Jamalpur and Rangpur district of Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Postharvest and Agro-processing

Commodity: Tomato, Brinjal, Farming System

Objectives:

To know the existing post harvest management and farmers views on safety and quality of vegetables.

Methodology:

The study was conducted with a structured interview schedule in two Upazila from Jamalpur and Rangpur district of Bangladesh. They were selected based on intensive growing of tomato and brinjal. Total number of respondents was 100 taking 50 from each district. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) are the components of human behavior which is responsible for any action in dealing with everyday life. These three components are somewhat pre-requisite in adopting new knowledge on safe and quality vegetable production. Knowledge is the result of some activity such as generation, storage, dissemination and utilization of something that entails either information or data. It is usually based on learning, thinking, and proper understanding of the problem area (Azad, 2013). All the respondents under this study were using chemical fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides and pesticides. At the same time some farmers were using herbicides along with the chemical components as all they believe that these are mandatory for higher yield. These findings are similar to Zawiyah et al., 2007 who indicated that insecticides were used by 98% of the farmers, followed by bactericides (79%), nematicides (24%), and herbicides (5%) and Mohamed et al., 2018 who indicated that pesticides were indispensable for high crop yield (80%). Farmers were asked about the harmfulness of the chemical components used in brinjal and tomato cultivation. Among them 84.9% knew that these are very harmful The study also found that 2.7% of the respondents still have no idea on the harmful effect of chemical components used in brinjal and tomato cultivation. In order to measure farmers’ attitude enumerates ten statements on which farmers showed their opinions on two scales- agree and disagree as done by Yuantari et al. (2015). Majority of the respondents (82.78%) attitude was positive to the statement whereas 17.22% have negative attitude towards the statements means that they disagreed with the statement. It shows seven practice statements of the study and farmers responses (%) as always, rarely and never as done by Yuantari et al. (2015). Majority (43.93%) of the respondents stated that they always practice these statements whereas a significant portion of the respondents (38.40%) opined that they never follow this statement in the cultivation of brinjal and tomato. Among the respondents 88.7% told that they timely apply quality pesticide and insecticide. Enumerates nine statements on farmers’ attitude towards safe and hygienic tomato and brinjal. In each of the statements farmers showed their views as agree and disagree. Majority of the respondents (75.2%) showed positive attitude on the statements. Farmers agreed mostly on “Quality seed (100%)”, field (92.3%)”. Farmer showed disagreed on “Collected vegetables should be sun dried (65.4%)” and “Clean with fresh water (60.1%)”. Farmers’ perception towards safe and hygienic brinjal and tomato cultivation has enumerated, where they answer in three different scales - always practice, rarely practice and never practice as done by Yuantari et.al. (2015). Most of the respondents were against the statements as maximum 40.93% never practiced during the cultivation of brinjal and tomato. Again 38.49% of the respondents had always practiced following by 20.58% as rarely practice in brinjal and tomato growing.

Source of Information: Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 44(4): 695-702, December 2019; ISSN 0258-7122 (Print), 2408-8293 (Online)

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Tomato and brinjal farmers are practicing a good number of post-harvest management. They had good level of knowledge and positive attitude towards safety and quality issues of tomato and brinjal. A significant number of tomato and brinjal growers were habituated with right practices regarding point of harvesting, packaging, transportation, grading, sorting and storing. They were well informed about the harmfulness of applying insecticide and pesticide in brinjal and tomato cultivation. Though they had enough knowledge on safety and quality issues of tomato and brinjal but less than half of the farmers were practicing at farm level. So, still there is floor to improve their practices. In order to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice, new and update technology and information to improve their production performances should disseminate at farm level. Beside motivation, training should follow up by the research institution and agricultural extension. This will be helpful for the farmer to come out of their normal trend of cultivation and enable them to use their knowledge without hesitation.

Knowledge Management: Journal