Determinants of Rice Variety Diversity on Household Farms in Bangladesh PDF Download

Author: Marites Tiongco
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Languages : en
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Book Description
This paper investigates factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of improved varieties and identifies the determinants of varietal diversification on household farms based on data collected in 2005 in six regions in Bangladesh by the International Rice Research Institute in collaboration with Department of Agricultural Extension in Bangladesh. It was found that varietal diversity was highest in the wet season than in the dry season, when close to 90% of the sample farmers grow more than one variety. The diversity is also high in the regions of Barisal and Chittagong where the proportion of poor population is 44% or greater. Diversity is enhanced in less favored areas in terms of agroecological conditions such as flood prone or drought prone or saline areas. This implies that policy makers should provide appropriate and area-specific interventions and programs so they can cope up with yield losses in these less favored areas. On the other hand, factors associated with lower rice varietal diversity were those farms that have irrigation, and were located in very low land areas. Among the factors found to significantly influence the adoption of modern varieties such as BR 29 are use of irrigation, and varietal traits of high yield, good grain quality, and pest resistance. The importance of these traits should be taken into consideration in the development and introduction of nutritional traits as farmers will adopt new varieties if there is no yield penalty and if good eating quality is maintained.