PROBLEMS FACED BY THE FARMERS IN WHEAT CULTIVATION IN BOCHAGANJ UPAZILA UNDER DINAJPUR DISTRICT

Abstract

Wheat production is decreasing in Bangladesh day by day. Therefore the objective of the study was to determine the problems faced by the farmers in wheat cultivation and explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the wheat growers and the problems faced in wheat cultivation. The study was conducted in 105 wheat growers of twelve villages of Atgaon Union of Bochaganj Upazila under Dinajpur district. Data were collected from a proportionately random sample of 105 wheat farmers by using an interview schedule during the period from 1 February, 2018 to 28 February, 2018. The majority (72.38%) of the farmers faced medium problem while 11.43 percent faced low problem and 16.19 percent faced high problem in wheat cultivation. Pearson's Product Moment Co-efficient of Correlation analysis indicated that among 11 selected characteristics of the farmers, only seven namely, education, farm size, annual family income, training exposure, knowledge, extension media contact, cosmopoliteness had significant negative relationship with their problem faced in wheat cultivation. On the basis of Problem Faced Index, it was observed that “Low market price of wheat” ranked first followed by “Difficulty in getting loan from Bank”, “High Price of wheat seed”, “Shortage of quality seeds”, “High price of fertilizer or Pesticide” were the major five problems in wheat cultivation. A very great majority (88.57%) of the farmers faced medium to high problems in wheat cultivation. From this fact, it may be concluded that until the wheat farmers are not free from different problems in wheat cultivation, they will not be able to produce more wheat in their field. In view of the urgent need for increasing wheat production, it is recommended that steps should be taken on a priority basis to remove the various problems causing hindrance to the wheat cultivation, harvesting, storage and marketing.