Study area, Population and Sample The study was conducted in eight villages of the following districts: Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Sherpur and Netrokona in Bangladesh. The average cropping intensity of the study areas is 218%, i.e. the farmers of the study areas cultivate their lands intensively (more than 2 times in a year). Intensive cultivation needs proper management of soil, plant nutrients and other production factors to obtain better yields and to maintain soil fertility (FAO, 1998). However, according to BBS (2003) the yield of different agricultural crops remained stagnant or getting reduced since few years of the areas. Besides, soil fertility of the areas is declining gradually (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council [BARC], 1999).
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and other agricultural organizations identified that improper management of soil fertility and plant nutrients is one of the important reasons for stagnating/reducing the yield of different crops as well as declining soil fertility in the study areas. However, 598 farmers from 494 farm families in eight villages were considered as the population of this study. About twenty percent of total population i.e. 120 farmers (39 landless, 34 marginal, 19 small, 20 medium and 8 large) from these farm families were selected using the stratified random sampling based on their own farm size which constituted the sample of this study.
The instrument used to collect data was an interview schedule designed by the researchers. Part I of the schedule composed of questions pertaining to characteristics of the farmers. After discussions with the extension personnel and the elites of the study areas, nine characteristics of farmers (age, level of education, farming experience, family size, annual income, fertilizers use, manures use, communication exposure and innovativeness) were selected as “individual” characteristics. Part II was composed of statements addressing ISF and NM for sustainable crop production. Twenty two statements (13 positive and 9 negative statements) were developed regarding these issues using five-point Likert-type scale responses.
The choices were: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral or undecided, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree for positive statement and a reverse system of scoring for negative statements. The statements were refined through consultation with an expert panel consisting of scientists from the Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Division of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council. The perception section of the instrument was assessed by calculating a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient as a measure of instrument reliability to analyze interval data. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient used for the statements for this section was 0.81.
Data Collection and Analysis Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources during 2005-2006. Primary data were collected from the 120 sample farmers through face-to-face interviews, while secondary sources of data were collected from BBS and agricultural and rural development reports. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics including frequency distribution, percentages, means, and standard deviations were used along with multiple regression analysis.