M. N. Islam
Assistant Professor
GTI, BAU
M. B. Ahmed
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, HMDAC, Dinajpur
Farmers' awareness, Environmental pollution, Health hazard, Desertification
Dumki and Srirampur village near Patuakhali Agricultural College of Patuakhali district.
Knowledge Management
Data were collected from randomly selected 100 farmers from Dumki and Srirampur village near Patuakhali Agricultural College of Patuakhali district. The students of BScAg Part IV of the college took part in the survey as part of their practical courses. A structured questionnaire was prepared by the researcher and data were collected through face to face interview. Data were collected in December 1997. Awareness of the farmers regarding environmental pollution was considered as dependent variable. The awareness of environmental pollution as a consequence of fertilizer and pesticide use by the farmers were determined by asking 10 questions on soil condition, water holding capacity, soil borne organism, aquatic lives, emergence of harmful insects as a result of fertilizer and insecticide application, economic threshold level of insects, organic matter content of soil, residual effect of insecticides and health hazard. Each question having a positive or negative answer. Score of 1 was given for correct response and 0 for incorrect one. A person having a score of 10 was considered to have high awareness and 0 for no awareness. Age of the farmers referred to the period of time from his birth to the time of interview. The farmers were categorized as young (20-35 years of age) ; middle (36-50 years of age) and old (>50 years) on the basis of their age. Education was measured by considering the total number of years of schooling completed by a farmer. The education of the farmers were categorized as illiterate, primary, secondary and above secondary level. The size of the farm was determined by actual land under possession by the respondents and classified as landless (0.02-0.50 acre); marginal (0.51-0.99 ac); small (1.00-2.49 ac); medium (2.50-7.49 ac) and large (7.50 ac and above) (BBS, 1995). Family size was measured in terms of number of total family members including himself, wife, children and any dependents whoever live on his income and was categorized as small (upto 4), medium (5-7), large (7-10) and very large (above 10) (BBS, 1995). The tentative price of farm output (eg. paddy, jute, vegetables, pulses, oil seeds, dairy, poultry etc) as well as income derived from other sources like business, job of any kinds was taken as personal income and was categorized as low (upto 25 thousand taka) ; medium (25.1-75 thousand taka) and high (above 75 thousand taka). It was expressed in terms of taka and a score of 1 was given for each thousand taka income. Agricultural knowledge was computed by checking the knowledge of the respondents against 30 questions on various crop production practices which included soil management, water management, pest management, harvesting and post harvesting operations. Besides few questions on cattle and poultry production were also incorporated. The possible range was 0 for no knowledge and 50 for very good knowledge and was categorized as poor having (upto 15) ; average (16-25) and good (above 25 ). Organizational participation was measured by computing an organizational participation score for each respondent on the basis of two dimensions (i) the nature of participation and (ii) duration of participation. The nature of participation was scored as follows: 0 for no participation, 1 for ordinary membership, 2 for member of the executive committee (President, Vice-President, Secretary etc.). The duration of participation as scored as 1 for holding position below 1 year, 2 for 1 to 3 years, 3 for 4 to 6 years, 4 for 7 to 10 years and 5 for above 10 years. The score on the nature of participation and the duration of participation in a particular organization, association, council, committee or club were multiplied and the results were added together to obtain the organizational participation score of the respondent. Cosmo politeness was measured in terms of number of visit in different places by the respondents and was measured in two dimension, (i) the number of places he visits and (ii) the extent of visit. There were six different categories of places the respondent might visit daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and yearly which was scored as 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. The cosmopolite ness was calculated by summing the frequency of visit against each category of place and finally the total frequency was calculated against all category.
Bangladesh J. Train. and Dev.
Vol. 11 No.1 & 2, 1998: 33-39
ISSN 1013-0306
Journal