EXPLORATION OF MARKETINC PROBLEMS OF POTATO FARMERS IN MUNSHICONJ DISTRICT

Abstract

The study was conducted in the Lohajang upazilla under Munshigonj district. The main purposes of the study were I) to search the marketing problems of potato growers ii) to describe their personal characteristics and iii) to explore the relationships of marketing problems with farmers' personal characteristics. From the findings it was revealed that about one half' of the respondents were middle aged and another half was young (41.9%) and old (8.6%). The highest proportion (73.3%) achieved education ranging from primary to above secondary. Rest of the respondents had no school education. All the respondents had organizational participation. More than two third had medium to high organizational participation. Potato growers of Lohajang were not so much financially sound as the result showed that only (6.7 %) had high capability and the overwhelming majority (58.1% & 35.2%) were under low to medium category. Regarding knowledge, one half of the respondents had low knowledge and the other half had medium to high knowledge. Distance of market place showed not much problems because (81%) of the respondents stayed within 2 km of market place. Among the respondents the highest (52.4%) proportion had medium storage facilities, while (23.8 %) potato growers had low and high storage facilities. Among the respondents the highest (49.5 %) potato growers faced medium problem in potato marketing. Regarding the relationship between the selected dependent and independent variable, it was observed that age and distance of market place had significant positive relationships with marketing problems of potato growers. Educational level, financial capabilities, extent of use of quality control, availability of marketing information and storage facilities had significant negative relationships with marketing problems of potato growers. On the other hand, organizational participation had no relationship with marketing problems of potato growers