EFFECT OF USING AGRO-CHEMICALS IN BANANA CULTIVATION

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the extent of effect of using agrochemical in banana cultivation as perceived by the banana growers. The study was conducted in Monohordi upazilla of Narsingdi, Kapasia upazilla of Gazipur and Madhupur upazilla of Tangail districts. Five villages were purposively selected from each of the selected upazillas. Banana growers of these selected villages constituted the population of the study. A total of ISO banana growers constituted the sample for the study by taking 10 from each village and 50 from each upazilla. The study was a part of a research project entitled "Effect of using agro-chemicals and hormones for cultivation and marketing of vegetables and banana" which was carried out with the support of the National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme, People's Republic of Bangladesh, USAID, European Commission and FAO.The data were collected from the sample respondents through personal contact with the help of a pretested interview schedule during the period from January to June, 2008. The independent variables were: age, level of education, family size,

farm size, commercialization of banana, annual family income, marketing opportunity, training exposure, benefits derived from agro-chemicals, problems faced in using agrochemicals and use of agro-chemicals. Data collected from the respondents were complied, coded. tabulated and analyzed in accordance with the objectives of the study. An overwhelming majority (87.3 percent) of the respondents perceived low to medium effect of using agro-chemicals in banana cultivation towards food adulteration compared to 0.7 percent high effect and 12.0 percent no effect. Level of education and problems faced in using agrochemicals of the respondents had significant positive relationship with the effect of using agro-chemicals in banana cultivation but farm size had significant negative relationship with the effect of using agro-chemicals in banana cultivation as perceived by the respondents.