DIVERSITY OF MULTIPURPOSE TREE SPECIES IN THE HOMESTEADS AND IT’S IMPACT ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF THE FARMERS OF GOPALPUR UPAZILA IN TANGAIL DISTRICT

Abstract

Plant di versity i n home gardens has a wi de socio-economic and agro-ecological roles includi ng production of food and a wi de range of other products. The recent study was conducted i n t wel ve villages of four unions under Gopalpur upazil a in Tangail district to explore the Multipurpose Tree Species (MPTs) di versity and it’s contribution on t he livelihood of the farmers. Out of 3334 farmers, a sample of 12% farm families was selected based on stratified random sampli ng procedure. Thus, 400 farmers and finally 80 farmers were selected by using Yamane formula. Fi ve percent (0.05) level of probability was used as the basis for rejection of any null hypothesis throughout t he study. Data were collected through personal interview by the researcher himself during 15 September to 25 December, 2014 usi ng the interview schedule. Farmer ’s opi nion regar ding multipurpose tree species in the homesteads and its i mpact on socio-economic development was t he dependent variables of the study. Ten characteristics were age, education, occupation, family member, farm size, homestead area, annual income, socio-economic aspects, knowledge on MPTs i n homestead agroforestry and problem confrontation constituted the independent variables of this study. Species di versity of MPTs i n the homesteads agroforestry was measured by Shannon-wiener index (H). In case of all species, the highest index (H) val ue found in Jhaoail union (H=3.017) and the lowest index (H) val ue found in Dhopakandi union (H=2.967). Akashmoni (12.53 %), Jackfruit (18.28 %), Neem (1.45%), Bamboo (3.72%), Mander (2.03%) were found as dominant trees for timber, fruit, medicinal, fodder and fuel wood species, respectively i n Gopal pur upazila. MPTs had direct impact on i ncome of the farmers. Small farmers had average i ncome 13.21 thousand t aka, Medi um farmers had average i ncome 29.33 thousand t aka and large farmers had average i ncome 45.79 thousand taka from MPTs i n homesteads agroforestry in Gopalpur upazila.