Asian Journal of Research in Agriculture and Forestry

Conservation agriculture (CA) based tillage technology permits direct seeding through the moderate level of crop residue. The main purposes of the study were to identify present status of agriculture along with the problem identification by farmers and also determine the present cropping pattern adopted by the farms under conservation agriculture. Data were collected from randomly selected 91 farmers of three upazilla in Khulna region with the help of personal interview method by using interview schedule during January 2017 to May 2018. Data were collected on fifteen selected categories of the farmers and problems confronting them. Most of the respondents have small to medium sized cultivable lands. Bean, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, Indian spinach, brinjal, tomato etc, were more extensively cultivated. Most farmers belong to medium practice of conservation agriculture while very few of them had low or high practice. To determine the present status of agriculture data were also collected based on the name of crop rotation, use of fertilizers and manures, intercultural operation adopted by the respondents, pest and disease infestation in the field under cultivation. Out of all independent variables, only extension media contact, level of education and organizational participation of the farmers showed positive significant relationship with conservation agriculture practice. Extension media contact and organizational participation influence the extent of CA practices at farmers’ field as confirmed by the backward linear regression model. The vital problems of conservation agriculture practices were lack of seed, high price of seed, lack of fertilizers, high price of fertilizer, impurity and high price of insecticides/ pesticides, lack of irrigation water, salinity, lack of CA knowledge.  To popularize the CA practices, Government should organize more training and demonstration activities on CA involving block level extension workers as well as farmers plus strengthening research-extension-farmers linkage.

Woodlot plantations are supposed to have a massive outlook in carbon sequestration. Presence of large area woodlot plantations in Bangladesh would store a significant quantity of carbon. The purpose of this study was to determine the carbon stocks in woodlot plantations (Swietenia macrophylla) in Jhenaidah district, Bangladesh. Sixty sample plots of woodlot plantations were purposively selected from three upazilla (Kotchandpur, Kaligong and Moheshpur) of Jhenaidah district. The plot size was 10×10 m. Every individual tree present in the sampling plot was identified up to special level. Diameter at breast height and total tree height were measured for all individual trees in each sample plot. The estimated average tree density was 1340 ± 104.24 stems ha-1ranging between 800 and 2400 stems ha-1. The estimated mean DBH and tree height were 19.52 cm and 12.57 m respectively. The total biomass in Mahogany (Switenia macrophylla) woodlot plantations ranged between 52.48 and 824.44 Mg ha-1 and the basal area in woodlot plantations ranged between 9.92 m2ha-1 and 86.21 m2ha-1. The average total biomass was 287.86 ± 22.64 Mg ha-1 and average basal area was 37.98 ± 2.31 m2ha-1. In this study, the average carbon stock in Mahagony plantation was estimated to 143.93 ±11.32 Mg ha-1 ranging between 26.24 Mg ha-1 and 412.22 Mg ha-1. Three allometric models were developed and validated with equal strength (R2 0.97–0.98) using generalized linear regression. Woodlot plantations in Bangladesh can play a vital role in the UNFCCC’s carbon mitigation and adaptation mechanism. So, the long-term sustainability of woodlot plantations must be addressed.

Bangladesh is a developing country and its economy depends largely on agriculture but the economic sector is most vulnerable to climate change and variability. This survey study was intended to know the nature of hazards, identify and analyze the adaptation options to climate change in Shyamnagar Upazila in the Satkhira district. Data were collected from the farmers of five selected villages namely Ramjannagar, Padmapukur, Munshiganj, Kashimari, and Koikhali from Shyamnagar Upazila in the Satkhira district during the period of August, 2016 to December, 2016 using open questionnaire process. The sample size was 100 farmers drawn from a population of 650 inhabitans using random sampling technique. Data were processed and analyzed using Excel-2007 and SPSS-16. The study found that the intensity of salinity has increased and most of the respondents observed that some crops were more damaged than they were in the past and some other hazards (flood, cyclone, rainfall) were posing new threat by changing their nature. About 86% of the respondents perceived and adapted to climate change. There were different adaptation options viz.  sorjan method, crop rotation, saline tolerant varieties, crop diversification, mini pond, adjusting planting time, to name a few introduced for agricultural activities and also enhancing agricultural production and improving soil health. In the study area, problems farmers were ranked using Problem Confrontation Index (PCI), which showed that “lack of available water” (PCI-291) ranked 1^st “shortage of cultivable land” (PCI-287) 2^nd, and “unpredicted weather” (PCI-284) 3^rd. The adaptation options were measured by Adaptation Strategy Index (ASI) method, which ranked “sorjan method” (ASI-287) first, “Crop rotation”(ASI-242) 2^nd, and “saline tolerant varieties” (ASI-232) 3^rd, the tree being attractive adaptation options in the study area. About 86% of the respondents followed Boro rice-Vegetables-T. aman cropping pattern. There were some barriers to adaptation measures like lack of irrigation facilities (94% of respondents), lack of knowledge (90%) and poor soils (90%) on the top. For water harvesting adaptation options farmers benefited from diverse assistance in digging mini-pond in crop field, water reserve in narrow canal in crop field. However, due to the introduction of innovated adaptation techniques the said threats have been mitigated to a greater extent. And, this has become possible only for the coordinated support from the government, development partners (NGOs, WB, FAO) and local people.

Aim: The study investigated the prospects of increasing Grasscutter production and projecting the future farm size of its production in the study area. Specifically described socio-economi characteristics and some management practices of the respondents, assessed and predicted the pattern of change and the equilibrium farm size of the Grasscutter enterprise in the study area, examined the costs and returns to grasscutter production and examined the relationships between gross margin and some selected socio-economic characteristics.

Study Design: A simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting 60% of the total population of registered grasscutter farmers.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Osun State, Nigeria between years 2016 and 2017.

Methodology: Primary data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire administration from the three agricultural zones in the State. Twenty four Grasscutter farmers each were randomly selected from each of the agricultural zones. Data were collected on demographics of grasscutter farmers, production activities in terms of inputs, outputs and their respective prices for the years 2016 and 2017. Data were analyzed through Descriptive statistics, Markov chain, Gross margin and Pearson r test of correlation.

Results: The study revealed that male respondents (85%) dominated Grasscutter production in the study area while the mean age of respondents was 43 years. Majority (97%) of the respondents had formal education with an average grassutter farming experience of 11 years while the mean flock size was 2.5 colonies. The gross margin results showed that grasscutter production had a profit margin of ₦11,333.33/respondent/month. The mean grasscutter farm size revealed an upward trend in farm size until the year 2025 and thereafter stabilizes at about 3.3 colonies of grasscutter farm size.  The correlation analysis showed significant relationship between gross margin and level of education and farming experience with r-values of 0.817 and 0.697 respectively. 

Conclusion: Grasscutter production, though in small scale, is profitable in the study area and the grasscutter farmers in the study area have great potential to boost local production

Farmland sustainability and increased agricultural production have been a major concern of average farmers in Nigeria especially in South Western part of the Country. The study examines the farm level indicators and their effects on agricultural production among rural farmers. Multi-stage methods of sampling technique were used to select fifty respondents for this study using a well-structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed by the use of descriptive such as means, percentage, standard deviation and fuzzy logic analysis. The result shows that average age of farmer, farm size, household size and farming experience are 52.28 years, 2.072 hectare, 6.80 and 29.42 years of farming experience respectively. The fuzzy logic method was used to compute the composite indicator of sustainable land use (ISLU) which was 0.2843 indicating that farmers' land management practices in the study area are generally sustainable with the current application of the indicators. Land fallowing, trends of vegetative cover, irrigation, pesticide used among others contributed a higher percentage of land use sustainability with about 3.8% each, while minimum tillage, cover crops, crop rotation and cassava cutting use had no contribution to land use sustainability. The study recommends that rural water should be made available and that informal training through extension services should be conducted to educate farmers on sustainable land management (SLM) practices in order to have a better environment and improve production in the study area.