Three villages namely Koburhat, Vadalia, Boaldhoha under Kushtia sadar Upazila of Kushtia District were purposively selected as the locale of the study. The total number of the seed potato growers (300) in the study area was considered as the population of the study. One hundred and five farmers were randomly selected at the rate of 35% as sample from the total population. Data were collected through face-to-face interview by using structured interview schedule from the selected respondents of the study area during 01 March to 31 March 2011. The methodology followed for measuring the dependent and independent variables are described below:
Measurement of independent variables: The characteristics of the farmers such as age, education, farm size, annual income, experience in potato production, training experience, extension media contact, innovativeness and knowledge on potato production were the independent variables of the study. Age of a farmer was measured in terms of actual years from his birth to the time of interview. The education of a farmer was measured in terms of formal years of schooling. The area possessed by the farmers under farm and homesteads were the
basis for calculation of farm size. Annual income was measured considering the total yearly earnings from agriculture and non agricultural sources of the members of a respondent’s family. Experience in potato production was measured on the basis of respondent’s years of involvement potato cultivation. Training experience was measured by the total number of days a respondent received training in his entire life under different agricultural training programs. Extension media contact was measured on the basis of extent of use of 18 communication media of different nature by using four points (0-3) rating scale. Innovativeness of the farmers was measured on the basis of their adoption of 10 new technologies related to agriculture and others considering earliness in the use of a technology by a farmer by using four points rating scale. The knowledge on potato production score of a farmer was measured by asking him 15 questions on different aspects of potato production. For correct response to a question, a respondent could get a score of 2, while for wrong response he could get 0 (zero) and for partial correctness of the reply he could get partial credit.
Measurement of dependent variable: Problem confrontation was the dependent variable of the study. It was measured by using a four point rating scale. Thirteen problems on different aspects of seed potato production were identified to measure problem confrontation of the farmers after consultation with concerned experts, researchers and reviewing available resources. For each problem, score of 3, 2, 1 and 0 were assigned to indicate high problem, medium problem, low problem and no problem at all respectively. The problem confrontation score was computed for each respondent. The possible range of total score for 13 problems could be 0 (zero) to 39, while ‘0’ indicating no problem confrontation and ‘39’ indicating high problem confrontation in seed potato production. To identify the most important problem confrontation, Problem Confrontation Index (PCI) was computed using the following formula:
PCI = Ph X 3 + Pm X 2 + Pl X 1 + Pn X 0
Where,
PCI = Problem Confrontation Index
Ph = Number of seed potato producers having high problem
Pm = Number of seed potato producers having medium problem
Pl = Number of seed potato producers having low problem
Pn = Number of seed potato producers having no problem