PARTICIPATION OF RDRS WOMEN BENEFICIARIES IN AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES UNDER RANGPUR DISTRICT

Abstract

The purpose of the study were to determine the selected characteristics of RDRS women beneficiaries; to determine the participation of RDRS women beneficiaries in agricultural activities; to explore the relationship between the selected characteristics of RDRS women beneficiaries; and to identify the problem confronted by the RDRS women beneficiaries in agricultural activities. Ten selected characteristics i.e. age, educational qualification, family size, farm size, annual income, innovativeness, agricultural training received, agricultural knowledge, attitude towards RDRS activities and marketing orientation of the RDRS women beneficiaries were considered as independent variables, while their participation in agricultural activities was considered as dependent variable. Six villages under Horidevpur and Chandanpat unions of sadar upazila of Rangpur district were the locale of the study. Data were collected from a sample of 110 RDRS women beneficiaries selected by multi-stage random sampling procedure through personal interview schedule during 15 August 2013 to 30 September 2013. Based on indices, top five activities were threshing (33), winnowing (330), drying (330), iv) land preparation with good tillage (319), and timely irrigation (319). On the other hand, the overall participation in agricultural activities the respondents was classified into three categories. The highest proportion (66.4 percent) of the respondents had medium participation in agricultural activities as compared to 13.6 percent high and 20 percent low participation of agricultural activities. The findings revealed the selected characteristics namely education, farm size, annual income, innovativeness, agricultural training received, agricultural knowledge and attitude towards RDRS activities showed a positive significant relationship with their participation in agricultural activities while age, family size and marketing orientation showed no significant relationship. Further, the findings showed that the respondents’ highest problem was ‘Inadequate cash for field crops’ and their lowest problem was ‘lack of irrigation’.