Papers by md. safiul islam afrad
Sociodemographic Peculiarities and Livelihood Practices of Farmers in Selected Riverine Islands: A Mixed Methods Insight from Bangladesh
Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Nov 30, 2023
Annals of Bangladesh agriculture, Jan 24, 2024
Bangladesh has embraced digitalization to the point where social media has become an essential to... more Bangladesh has embraced digitalization to the point where social media has become an essential tool for communication among all sectors of people including agriculture. The current study was therefore attempted to ascertain the extent of use of various social media platforms by the farmers. The study was conducted in two Upazilas viz. Sreepur and Gazipur Sadar Upazila of Gazipur district. A total of 100 farmers were selected as a sample of the study following a proportionate random sampling technique. Four-fifths (80.0%) of them reflected poor to moderate knowledge on social media use. Among the digital social media knowledge on smartphones ranked first. The use of different social media by the majority (84.0%) of respondents was impressive where 33.0 percent had low use and 51.0 percent moderate. Watching the Hridoye Mati O Manush program on Facebook / YouTube ranked 1 st position for using agricultural purposes. In the case of non-agricultural purposes, the use of Messenger / Imo / WhatsApp to communicate with relatives/Friends ranked in 1 st position. Moreover, around half of the respondents (51.0%) preferred Facebook among other social media due to its multidimentional usage. The majority of the respondents showed as moderate users (4-9 years) of different social media using experiences. The vital preference of using social media is to communicate with others followed by entertainment and ease of handling. Level of education, farm size, and annual income showed positive significant relationship with the extent of use of different social media by the farmers while age and farming experience indicated a negative significant relationship. Network problems, load shedding, high cost, poor Wi-Fi service, and addiction to overuse of social media were some of the major problems identified by the respondents in using social media.
Adapting Land Degradation and Enhancing Ethnic Livelihood Security Through Fruit Production: Evidence from Hilly Areas of Bangladesh
Agro-biodiversity and Agri-ecosystem Management
Isolation and characterization of salt-tolerant glutaminases from marine Micrococcus luteus K-3
Journal of Fermentation and Bioengineering, 1994
Effect of Fertilizers and Irrigation Practices on the Growth and Yield of Boro Rice in Haor Area of Bangladesh
Journal of experimental agriculture international, Jul 7, 2018
The experiment was conducted at the farmers' field, Bahadurpur village, Sunamganj Sadar u... more The experiment was conducted at the farmers' field, Bahadurpur village, Sunamganj Sadar upazila, Sunamganj district, during November 2014 to May 2015 to study the effect of fertilizers and irrigation practices on the growth and yield contributing characters of boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan29) in haor area. The experiment comprised two level of fertilizers viz. F 1 = Farmers' practice based fertilizers (180-42-42 kg ha-1 of Urea-TSP-MoP) and F 2 = BARC recommended fertilizers (300-112-127-75-11 kg ha-1 of Urea-TSP-MoP-CaS0 4-ZnS0 4); and three irrigation practices viz. I 1 = Farmers' practice, I 2 = Alternate Wetting and Drying Method, and I 3 = Wet method. 2x3 factorial fitted into a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiment was laid out with five farmers' field as replications. The plant height significantly affected due to fertilizers application at 45, 60, 75, 90 Days after transplanting (DAT) and at harvest. BARC recommended dose of fertilizers gave the longer plant Original Research Article Afrad et al.; JEAI, 24(4): 1-8, 2018; Article no.JEAI.40182 2 (87.62 cm) at harvest whereas the shorter plant (83.98 cm) was observed in farmers practice base fertilizer application. Plant height varied significantly due to different irrigation practice at 30 and 90 DAT. The variation of number of total tillers hill-1 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 DAT and at harvest was significant due to fertilizers application. BARC recommended dose of fertilizers gave the higher tillers number hill-1 (16.16) at 75 DAT and the lower number of tillers hill-1 (15.00) was noticed in farmers practices base fertilizer application at 75 DAT. The higher grain yield (8.54 t ha-1) and straw yield (11.09 t ha-1) were recorded due to application of BARC recommended fertilizers over Farmers' practice based fertilizers. Among the three levels of irrigation practices wet irrigation method performed the best in respect of grain yield (8.36 t ha-1). The highest grain yield (8.86 t ha-1) was observed from the interaction of BARC recommended fertilizers with wet irrigation method. Nutrient contents in post-harvest soils were higher compared to initial soils due to application of BARC recommendation guide based fertilizers. Higher doses of fertilizer treated plots in BARC recommended fertilizers with Wet irrigation method provided the gross margin and highest benefit cost ratio (BCR) among the treatments. The overall results indicated that BARC recommended dose of fertilizers influenced the growth and yield characters of rice varieties (cv. BRRI dhan29).
International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology, 2020
The main objective guided the present study was to evaluate the knowledge of the growers on spice... more The main objective guided the present study was to evaluate the knowledge of the growers on spices cultivation practice in Shibganj upazila under Bogura district. Three unions of the upazila were purposively selected based on the vicinity to the Spices Research Center, Bogura. Data were collected from selected growers using predesigned structured interview schedule. Eleven selected characteristics of the growers were considered as independent variables. As dependent variable, knowledge on spices cultivation practice was calculated by construction of a scale containing thirteen relevant questions. Coefficient of correlation was employed to determine the relationship between the selected characteristics of the growers and their knowledge on spices cultivation practice. Majority (67.8%) of the growers were middle aged, the highest portion (61.1%) of them belonged to primary level education. Major proportion (60.0%) of them had small family size, almost all of them (98.9%) possessed sma...
Global Veterinaria, 2013
This investigation was carried out from July to October, 2011toassess the fish biodiversity and l... more This investigation was carried out from July to October, 2011toassess the fish biodiversity and livelihood status of fishing community of the Tistariver based on catch assessment survey and personal interview. In total, 42 fish species belonging to 7 common groups were identified from the river. Among them 7 species of carps, 9 species of catfishes, 4 species of snakeheads, 3 species of eels, 7 species barbs and minnows, 4 species of perch and 8 miscellaneous species were recorded. The highest value (1.38) of species richness was observed in catfish and the lowest (0.46) was in eel. Livelihood status of fishermen were studied in terms of age structure, religious status, educational status, family size, monthly income, income from fishing, housing condition, training exposure, land area, savings, family type, sanitation facilities, health facilities and drinking water facilities. It was found that age group of young was the highest (42%) while old group was the lowest (21%). Among the fishers the percentage of Muslims and Hindus were 80% and 20%, respectively. On the other hand, 73% fishermen were illiterate, 21% had up to primary level and 6% had secondary level of education. The highest and the lowest percentage of annual income of fishermen were found in moderate group and high group, respectively. Most of the fishermen's houses (83%) werekacha and very few (17%) were semi pakka. About 80% fishermen households were dependent on village doctor, 15% received health service from the Upazilahealth complex and 5% from Kobiraj. The highest percentage (57%) of family size was in medium family size group whereas the lowest was in small group. Hundred percent (100%) of the fishermen households used tube well water for drinking purpose. It can be concluded that fishermen of Tistariver were mostly illiterate, lack of training exposure, lack of awareness about health facilities, sanitation and fish biodiversity of the Tistariver has also declined day by day due to over exploitation and natural causes. Various recommendations and measures have been suggested to improve the fish biodiversity and livelihood status of fishers in the Tistariver area.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics and Sociology, Jul 7, 2023
The study examined the impact of rice seed production, processing, and distribution training on t... more The study examined the impact of rice seed production, processing, and distribution training on the rice seed stakeholders. Ten one-day training events were conducted by Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and funded by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Sample size of trainees included 199 rice seed dealers, 62 rice growers, and 29 dealers cum growers across four divisions of Bangladesh. The perceived impact of training was determined by employing a t-test. Almost all of the stakeholders showed improvement in their learning of the subjects designed and the correlation between their knowledge before and after training sessions were highly correlated.. Dealers expressed their views of moderate use of the training outcomes in determining seed demand, storage, and sale, whereas growers and dealer cum growers were highly optimistic about using their knowledge and skills obtained in seed production, processing, storing, and marketing in a better way. Significant changes in knowledge and skills and favorable perceptions were observed among all the stakeholders for better production, processing, and utilization of rice seed.
Barriers and Preparedness towards ICT Utilization in Bangladesh
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing eBooks, Dec 15, 2017
Agriculture is one of the vital sectors in which ICT can be used reasonably in transferring the m... more Agriculture is one of the vital sectors in which ICT can be used reasonably in transferring the modern agricultural technologies to the farmers. Information and communication technology in agriculture includes internet, radio/community radio, television, wireless communication tools, cell phone, audio visuals, GIS,GPS and other technologies which direct the agricultural activities towards precision agriculture. Majority of population in the developing world live in rural areas and they have no or little access to the information. Bangladesh is no exception of that and the population who lives in rural areas have limited access to the information. ICT utilization in a developing country relies on various facets such as infrastructure, government policy, cultural factors, organizational and human resources. Hence, this study focuses on various factors to investigate the preparedness and barriers perceived by agricultural extension workers. Identifying these factors will help increase the knowledge of the extension personnel in using ICT for the agricultural sector. This, in turn, will have a positive impact on sustainable agricultural development and the economy of Bangladesh.
Adapting Land Degradation and Enhancing Ethnic Livelihood Security Through Fruit Production: Evidence from Hilly Areas of Bangladesh
Tropical Small Island Agriculture Management, Dec 31, 2021
This study focused on farmers' crop management practices in selected rural riverine islands (Char... more This study focused on farmers' crop management practices in selected rural riverine islands (Char lands) of Sariakandi Upazila, Bogura district, Bangladesh. Disproportionate stratified sampling was adopted to select the respondents. The data were elicited using an interview schedule and analyzed via Statistics 10 software. Results revealed that, on average, there was moderate knowledge on crop management practices, and the attitude towards the practices was favorable. But, in deviance from what is habitually obtained on mainland Bangladesh where rice cultivation dominates, jute (35.84%) and chili (28.4%) covered the majority in Char Ghagua and Char Shaluka, respectively. In Char Tengrakura, rice and chili covered a little above half (52.7%) of the crops cultivated by the respondents. In terms of the management practices, the lion's share (81.7%, 74.7%, and 77.0%) of soil management practices was covered by chemical fertilizers in all the Char lands. Similarly, the use of chemicals dominated when handling pests and diseases. Triple cropping was foremost across the Char lands and had high mean coverage in Char Tengrakura (63.6%). The mean coverage of irrigation water management practices was virtually shallow tube well in the Char lands. Generally, there was moderate knowledge and a positive attitude towards crop management practices. That crop management practices (use synthetic materials and underground water) employed in the Char lands are unsustainable, tending to induce degradation of land and water resources.
Journal of education, society and behavioural science, Apr 11, 2020
This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Author MSA designed the study, prep... more This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Author MSA designed the study, prepared the interview schedule, actively cooperated the collection of both quantitative data and qualitative information, wrote the protocol and guided the statistical analysis and modified the draft article based on reviewers' comments and suggestions. Authors AAB and MEH managed the analyses of the study and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author MH managed the literature searches and supported the data collection activities. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The Agriculturists, Dec 26, 2019
Fish is traditionally complemented to rice in the diet of Bangladeshi. Thus, its daily consumptio... more Fish is traditionally complemented to rice in the diet of Bangladeshi. Thus, its daily consumption is pretty normal. Although, a number of researches have been done on river fish and its consumption, there seems a few in the public that specifically studied consumer preference for sea fish consumption in Bangladesh. This study, therefore, explores the consumers' preference for sea fish consumption in Dhaka city of Bangladesh. A cross sectional survey design was followed to collect data from 120 respondents in four quota sampled areas of the city, namely; Uttara, Khilkhet, Mirpur and Jatrabari. The results revealed that 20 species of sea fish were usually brought to the markets patronised in the selected areas, but 17 were commonly consumed. The consumers mostly preferred Tenualosa ilisha (95.83%), Pampus chinensis (91.67%), Penaeus monodon (75.0%), Lates calcarifer (74.17%), Euthynnus affinis (62.5%) and Harpadon nehereus (58.33%) for their taste whereas, Pama pama (33.33%) and Setipinna taty (46.67%) were preferred for lower price. The average monthly household sea fish consumption was 5.49 kg. Age, level of education, gender, annual income and religious view were found to have significant positive association with household sea fish consumption. Respondents preferred sea fish for health benefits related to heart, eyesight , nutrient enrichment, diseases protection and prevention of depression. However, irregular supply of sea fish and higher price were pointed by the respondents as the main constraining factors to sea fish consumption. Generally, Bangladesh is blessed with vast sea fish resources, but consumers' accessibility need to be strengthened.
Sri Lankan journal of agriculture and ecosystems, Jun 1, 2020
Farmers use various pesticides indiscriminately in their vegetable fields throughout the cropping... more Farmers use various pesticides indiscriminately in their vegetable fields throughout the cropping seasons in Bangladesh. The present study therefore, examined farmers' extent of adoption and knowledge on pesticide use in vegetable production. The study was conducted in four villages of Narsingdi district, Bangladesh, where 110 vegetable farmers were selected as sample following disproportionate random sampling technique. Interview schedule was used for collection of data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis. Results revealed that most of the respondents were 35 years above, literate, had less than seven family members, small farm size (0.02-1.01 ha), moderate contact with information sources (80.9%), low annual income (66.4%) and received training (64.54 %) on pesticide use. Brinjal and cucurbits had the highest pesticide use among the vegetables, while the mostly used pesticides were Topten 1.8 EC, Actara insecticide and Thiovit fungicide. The extent of pesticide adoption was high (91.0%) and all (100.0%) of the respondents had low to moderate knowledge on pesticide use. Contact with information sources (r = 0.32) showed significant relationship with knowledge on pesticide use. Hence, government should strengthen information and regulations in order to raise awareness on safe use of pesticide.
Knowledge of Farm Women on Nutritional Value of Farm Products in Bangladesh
Indian Research Journal of Extension Education, Apr 18, 2016
Farm women are the users of the major part of farm products and, therefore, it is imperative for ... more Farm women are the users of the major part of farm products and, therefore, it is imperative for them to have knowledge on nutritional value of farm products. Therefore,the present study undertook an initiative to determine the extent of nutritional knowledge of farm women. A sample of 100 respondents was selected out of three selected villages under Sadar upazila of Tangail district following the proportionate random sampling technique. Data were collected using pretested interview schedule during November to December 2014. Simple statistics like number, mean, range, percentile and standard deviation were used. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was employed to explore relationships between nutritional knowledge of farm women and their selected characteristics. Knowledge level was measured considering nine selected criteria. Findings revealed that highest proportion of the respondent (89.0%) possessed poor knowledge on nutrition.Age, education and farming experience showed positive significant relationship with knowledge level of the farm women. The possible reasons identified by the respondents lied behind their poor nutritional knowledge were: poor experience regarding farming activities, lack of education, improper facilities of training by different government organizations, insufficient sources of information and lack of cosmopoliteness.Major suggestions mentioned by the respondent to improve existing nutritional knowledge of them were:increasing opportunity for functional technical training and improving facilities for available communication sources.
Annals of Bangladesh agriculture, Oct 26, 2021
Accurate and realistic forest cover change assessment is essential for the conservation and manag... more Accurate and realistic forest cover change assessment is essential for the conservation and management of the Sundarban mangrove forest of Bangladesh. With these views, an integrated way of the vegetation cover assessment was conducted using time-series Landsat satellite imageries of 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021. During the last 30-year (1991-2021), variations in four land cover classes viz. healthy vegetation, unhealthy vegetation, water body, and sandbar were recorded. It showed a decreasing trend of forest vegetation and a subsequent increase of water bodies during the study period. The healthy vegetation and unhealthy vegetation decreased at 1.33 and 1.66%, respectively, whereas water bodies increased 2.55% at the same time. The healthy vegetation consistently decreased over the decades, but unhealthy vegetation decreased during the 2001-2011 period. Conversion from healthy vegetation to unhealthy vegetation and unhealthy vegetation to healthy vegetation during 1991-2001 was similar. Such transform was much higher from unhealthy to healthy vegetation during 2001-2011. Transformation of healthy vegetation to unhealthy vegetation was remarkably higher during the 2011-2021 period. Further continuous change detection and classification algorithm (CCDC) showed a stable pattern over the study period without significant breakpoints. This study reveals the need for regular mangrove forest monitoring. The findings of this study can be used as a reference in the formulation and implementation of sustainable mangrove forest conservation and management.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics and Sociology, Jan 10, 2017
This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author MSI designed the study, ma... more This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author MSI designed the study, managed the literature searches, wrote the protocol, collected data, analyzed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors MEH, MSIA and HMA finalized the design, protocol and checked the draft report. Author MZH helped in protocol setting, performed the statistical analysis and their interpretation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Farmers’ Perception of Climate Change in Climatically Vulnerable Ecosystem of Bangladesh
Springer eBooks, 2023
European of agriculture and food sciences, Jun 30, 2023
Bandarban hill district is one of the main hilly areas of Bangladesh which is surrounded by fores... more Bandarban hill district is one of the main hilly areas of Bangladesh which is surrounded by forests and enriched with ecological resources and biodiversity. Ecosystems sustain, generate for, regulate, and offer cultural services that are essential to human well-being. Hence, it is important to reconnoiter the current situation of forests' ecosystem services available in the Bandarban hill district with the local farmers' realization of the wellbeing they receive from those ecosystem services. Through the present study, it was investigated the available ecosystem resources in some two hilly upazilas of Bandarban district, the farmers' perception towards those ecosystem services and human well-being and also farmers' socioeconomic characteristics which influence their perception. To investigate these, 80 respondents were interviewed through the help of a semi structured interview schedule. The findings of the study suggested that 28 ecosystem services were identified and six out of these were showing increasing trend including crop and vegetable cultivation and other 22 were following decreased. The respondents received improve to moderate services from those 28 ecosystem services which were exhibited through their perception as 68% of them had moderate to improve perception towards ecosystem services. According to the study's findings, respondents who had higher levels of education, family income, agricultural training, residential distance from forests, and income from ecosystem services had better perceptions of ecosystem services and human well-being. Because the residents' perceptions would make them aware of the need to conserve the forest environment, policymakers should base future decisions on the findings of this study.
Journal of Food Science and Engineering, Sep 28, 2012
The main objectives guided the present study are to assess the socio-demographic characteristics ... more The main objectives guided the present study are to assess the socio-demographic characteristics of the beneficiaries' of vulnerable group development (VGD) program and its impact on the beneficiaries along with related factors. The study was conducted in sadar upazila of Kushtia district in Bangladesh. Data were collected from 70 selected beneficiaries of VGD program by employing simple random sampling technique using semi structured and pre-tested interview schedule. Data revealed that majority of the beneficiary were middle aged (average 33.36 years) with poor education (average 2.21 years), medium family size (average 4.97), day labor (70%), very poor monthly family income (61.40% less than 2000.00), Muslim (81.40%), politically affiliated (88.60%) and involved with NGOs (58.60%). Due to the involvement of VGD program, overwhelming majority (91.40%) of the beneficiaries stated that amount of food support was sufficient for 15-20 days of a month that enhanced 15.24% more day's food security. On the other hand, number of meal per day increased 32.48% after being involved with the VGD program. However, food security and number of meal per day increased significantly with the involvement of VGD program. Poor quality of supplied food (77%), politically biased beneficiary selection system (77%) and underweight (77%) of delivered food were the problem as stated by the beneficiaries. The main problems mentioned by the beneficiaries were low grain quality (80%), political biasness in selecting beneficiaries (75%). Suggestions raised from the beneficiaries were improving the quality of grain (85%) and selecting the actual persons without any bias (65%).
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Papers by md. safiul islam afrad