Socioeconomic Status and Soil Crop Management Practices of the Farmers in Bangladesh

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There are many constraints, major of them are inadequacy of credit, lack of knowledge for improved agricultural practices, inconvenient transportation, low market prices and high cost of production, existing among farmers of Bangladesh for sustainable crop production. This study was conducted at Shutia Khali ward of Boira union in Mymensingh to identify the constraints to adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among crop farmers (various crops cultivated farmers) and agricultural land management techniques practiced by the farmers, their effectiveness, problems and thereby to make a guideline. A simple random sampling technique was used in selecting a total of one hundred and forty small scale crop farmers. Descriptive statistics and correlation co-efficient “r” model were used to analyse the data for the study. The study revealed that food crop production in study area was dominated by middle aged farmers (44.3%) who were poorly educated and had less access to agricultural extension services. In case of their level of education majority 45% respondents can sign only and 2.9% had primary level of education while majority 60.7% possessed medium size family and 7.9% had large family size. The maximum 38.5% of the respondents had small farm size and 27.9% were large farm size. Maximum 80.7% of the respondents were practicing residue management, 72.1% of the respondents were practicing crop rotation, 71.4% of the respondents were practicing minimum tillage, 55.7% of the respondents were practicing planting trees, 55% of the respondents were practicing mixed cropping and 25.7% of the respondents were practicing intercropping system. The study recommended the necessity for training program on the use of appropriate sustainable practices that will take into account the cropping systems adopted by the farmers.