A study was conducted in the haor areas of Bangladesh to assess the land utilization status, delineate the productivity and profitability of growing modern rice, evaluate the existing cropping patterns and assess the prospect of possible cropping patterns. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. Applying the conventional descriptive statistics, the study revealed that, there are about 1.26 million hectares of cultivated lands in seven haor districts, of which 66% falls under haor area. In Kishoregonj and Hobigonj, nearly 94 and 87% areas were devoted to MV Boro rice production. Both BRRI dhan 28 and 29 were being the widely adopted rice varieties. On an average, about 33% of the haor areas were under mechanized irrigation, but in Kishoregonj, the coverage of mechanized irrigation was 87% that helped increasing cropping intensity. The cost of production for MV Boro was almost double than that of LV rice. The yield of MV Boro was 79% higher than that of LVs and the return from MVs was 82% higher. Rabi-Fallow-T. Aman, Vegetable-Aus-T. Aman and Rabi-B.Aman patterns were the potential cropping patterns in some selected areas and this could increase both cropping intensity and productivity in those areas. According to the farmers' assessment, lack of flood control dam and lack of short duration varieties etc. are the major hindrance to the adoption of potential cropping patterns. Construction of community harvest and threshing facilities and flood control devices could be the important public interventions for enhanced agricultural productivity in the haor areas.

The present study examines the extent of adoption of power tillers (PT) in  Bangladesh and analyzes the variation in adoption across regions and across farms in selected areas to investigate the justification for wider use of power tillers. Primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected from 267 sample farmers from eight villages of four upazilas of four districts using proportionately stratified random sampling technique. Secondary data were collected from different published sources. The average growth rate of power tillers in Bangladesh was 21.0 percent during 1993-2003. Power tillers are unevenly distributed all over the country. The highest and the lowest adoption of power tillers were 44.4 and 3.6 percent in Rajshahi and Barisal divisions respectively. The percentage of area cultivated under power tiller is 69.6. Multiple regression analysis indicates that there is a significant relationship between number of PT and credit availability. The credit availability may be a decisive factor in increasing cropping intensity which requires reduction of turnaround time. Irrigated area, number of small farm holdings and credit availability are found to have significant and positive association with intensity of power tiller use in different regions of Bangladesh. Analysis of Logit Model applied to farm level data indicates that the educational level and income surplus of farmers have significant positive relationship with ownership of power tillers. The coefficients of adult family members and number of draught power owned by the farmers are however found to be significantly negative. The number of power tiller is increasing with the decreasing of draught animal power. Thus credit should be provided to the farmers and owners of all regions of the country  to buy power tillers to adopt evenly to increase crop production profitably. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v37i2.11234 Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 37(2): 307-325, June 2012

The present study was undertaken in two production environments in order to estimate the level of growth in area and production of rice and maize over the years, and to assess the level of changes in area under different crops. Applying both descriptive and inferential statistics, the study revealed that, the growth in acreage and production of maize had much accelerated rate compared to that for rice over the period 1987-88 towards 1996-97 and in the subsequent periods. In the favourable environment, the acreage under MV Boro increased by 18% in 2008-09 compared to 2004-05. In rabi season, the area under maize increased to 46% and 21% in drought prone and favourable areas, respectively. The magnitude of area changes from rice to non-rice crops under favourable area was negative. Per hectare cost of maize cultivation in drought prone area was about 13% higher than that of favourable area resulting in better net return in maize production under favourable area. Family labour, farm size and market accessibility were the important determining factors for devoting areas to maize cultivation instead of rice.   DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v36i4.11756   Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 36(4): 657-668, December 2011

A study was conducted to examine the impact of power tillers (PTs) on profitability of Boro rice based cropping patterns in some selected areas of Bangladesh in 2003. Six major Boro rice based cropping patterns out of 23 patterns in the study areas were examined to estimate the profitability differences among the power tiller and draught animal using farms round the year. Analysis revealed that gross return of MV Boro-MV T. Aus- MV T. Aman pattern is 10.5% higher for PT users than that for draught animal power (DAP) users. The total variable cost is 16.2% lower for PT users than that for DAP users resulting the gross margin 158% higher for PT users. Gross returns of MV Boro-MV T. Aus-LV T. Aman, MV Boro-Fallow- MV T.Aman and MV Boro- MV T.Aman-Mustard, MV Boro-MV T. Aus-Fallow patterns are respectively, 9.7%, 8.1%, 23.4% and 35.3% higher for PT users than that for DAP users. The benefit cost analysis indicates that PT users obtain higher yield, higher gross return and higher BCR from MV Boro-Vegetables-MV T. Aman pattern than those of DAP users. Thus, among all six identified patterns, this pattern is more profitable for PT users. The production cost of all six patterns by PT users is substantially lower than those of DAP users. In general, these six patterns are also found to be more profitable when power tillers are used in place of animal power. Use of power tillers was observed to be associated with higher cropping intensity in the study areas. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 37(3): 415-432, September 2012 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v37i3.12085