The inverse relationship between farm size and productivity is one of the most debated findings in agricultural productivity researches of developing countries. Aquaculture industries of Bangladesh have been expanded tremendously but most of the aquaculture farms are small and their productivity is not as high as expected. This paper has explored the relationships among farm size, productivity and efficiency of pangas fish farms. A survey was conducted on 125 farmers by direct interviewing in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.  Stochastic frontier production function was carried out to estimates the level of technical efficiency and polynomial regression was employed to show the relationship among farm size productivity and efficiency in pangas fish farming. In general, pangas fish farming was found to be profitable, where the large size farms were more profitable than the small. Feed and salt had highly significant and positive effects on productivity, while human labor had negative influences. Larger farms were found to be more productive and technically efficient than the smaller one, and the more productive farms were found to be more efficient. These findings could be justifiable by the fact that the large size farms enjoy more financial opportunities, management and marketing facilities in commercial mode and all these facilities help them to enhance productivity and efficiency. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 16(3): 513–522, December 2018

No abstract

Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is known as ‘fish for the poor’ due to its low market price. However, the question remains about the sustainability of this species because of high production cost and lower market price.  Therefore, this study examined the financial profitability, technical efficiency and tried to find out the policy options for increasing the financial benefit of fish farmers. A total of 250 tilapia fish farmers were selected from seven tilapia producing areas of Bangladesh. To fulfill the objectives of this study, profitability, stochastic frontier production function, and sensitivity analysis were employed.  Considering all selected farmers, tilapia farming found a profitable business where undiscounted BCR was only1.11. Among all cost items, only feed consists of 70 percent of the total production cost.  The mean technical efficiency level of tilapia fish farmers was 85 percent, implies that by operating at full technical efficiency levels, tilapia yield could be increased from the current level of 20.98 to 24.13 tons per hectare and efficient farmers found more productive than inefficient farmers. Farmer’s financial benefit can be increased by reducing the feed price, decreasing FCR or increasing the output price. Feed price reduction or enhance the quality of feed could be effective policy options for sustaining the tilapia farming. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 17(1): 92–98, March 2019

This study was undertaken to investigate the changes in status of soil properties in four AEZs (AEZ 28, AEZ 9, AEZ 8 and AEZ 7) of Tangail district in Bangladesh over the span of the years. In 2017, the pH value of four AEZ was ranged from strongly acidic to slightly acidic but before 2000 it was strongly acidic to slightly alkaline. The present OM status was medium and before 2000 it was also medium. The present N status was very low, low, low and low, respectively but before 2000 it was low, medium, low and low, respectively. The present P status was low, low, low and very low, respectively in upland and low in wetland but before 2000 it was medium, medium, low and medium in upland and optimum, medium, medium and optimum in wetland, respectively. The present K status was medium, low, low and low in upland and medium, low, low and low in wetland, respectively but before 2000 it was optimum, high, high and optimum in upland and high, very high, very high and optimum in wet land, respectively. Under upland and wetland, the present S status was low, low, very low and low, respectively but before 2000 it was medium in all AEZ. The present Ca status was medium, medium, optimum and optimum, respectively but before 2000 it was optimum, high, high and high, respectively. The present Mg status was high, high, very high and very high, respectively but before 2000 it was medium in all AEZ. The Present Zn status was optimum, medium, low and low,  respectively but before 2000 it was  medium very high, very high, very high and optimum, respectively. The present B status was low in all AEZ but before 2000 it was optimum, optimum, low and low, respectively. With few exceptions, the nutrient status of the study area was reducing day by day and it was less than optimum level which was not suitable for sustainable crop production. Progressive Agriculture 29 (4): 284-294, 2018