CONSTRAINTS FACED BY THE TOBACCO FARMERS IN TARAGONJ UPAZILA UNDER RANGPUR DISTRICT

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to determine the relationships between the selected characteristics of tobacco farmer and their faced constraints during tobacco cultivation, and to identify the major constraints faced by the farmers. The study was conducted in two unions namely Alampur and Ekarchali unions of Taraganj upazila of Rangpur district of northern region of Bangladesh. Data were collected from 88 tobacco farmer with a structured interview schedule during 12 March to 10 April 2018. The selected 9 characteristics of the tobacco farmer were considered and constraints faced by the tobacco farmer was the focus issue. The findings revealed that 62.50 percent of the respondents faced medium constraints while 22.73 percent faced low constraints and 14.77 percent faced high constraints. In contrast to individual statements it is evident that out of ten statements the highest proportion of farmers faced on ‘Cultivation technique is labor intensive’ (CFI=261.5) and ranked 1st position followed by ‘Lack of cash resources’ (CFI=239.7) and ranked 2nd position, ‘Lack of training on tobacco cultivation’ (CFI=226.9) and ranked 3rd position. Farmer faced less constraints on ‘Lack of knowledge on quality of tobacco leafs, Quality seed not available at sowing time, Extension support is not adequate during cultivation’ and followed by (CFI=133.3), (CFI=108.9), (CFI=95), and were in 8th, 9th and 10th position respectively. Among the 9 characteristics of the tobacco farmers 7 characteristics namely education, farm size, training experience, knowledge on tobacco cultivation, annual family income, cosmopoliteness and attitude towards tobacco cultivation showed negative significant relationship with their constraints and the rest were failed to show any relationship with the focus issue. In case of suggestion the foremost (25.64 percent) suggestion cited by the farmers was improving new technology for minimizing labor requirement, high market demand and price should be assured. ‘Arrange more training’ was the second most important (17.94 percent) suggestion offered by the farmers. ‘Providing quality seeds in proper time’ (12.82 percent) was suggested by the farmers as the last suggestion.