DETERMINANTS OF EXTENT OF TOBACCO CULTIVATION AREA IN KUSHTIA DISTRICT

Abstract

The study was undertaken to assess the extent of area used for tobacco cultivation and to determine some selected characteristics of tobacco farmers that significantly influence farmers’ cultivation of tobacco. The selected characteristics were- age, education, farm size, annual income, tobacco cultivation experience, family labor, time spent in tobacco cultivation, profitability, agent contact, input availability, level of pest infestation and market security perception. The study was conducted at three villages of Mirpur upazilla under Kushtia district with the help of an interview schedule from September 12 to October 3, 2018. Twenty five percent (25%) of the farmers were randomly selected from a population of 424 tobacco farmers. Out of the total population, 106 tobacco farmers were selected as the sample of the study. Multiple linear regression was used in order to identify the important factors for tobacco cultivation. An overwhelming majority of 61.32 percent of the respondents had medium tobacco cultivation area followed by 33.02 percent of the respondents had small tobacco cultivation area and only 5.66 percent of the respondents had large tobacco cultivation area. The findings also revealed that age, education, annual income, family labor and agent contact has significant positive contribution on tobacco cultivation. Therefore, to reduce tobacco cultivation area coverage by the farmers, policy should be made through giving emphasize on the significant factors.