The study was conducted in Bogra and Satkhira districts to assess the socioeconomic status, profitability, problems and prospects of sunflower cultivation in Bangladesh. A total of 100 sunflower cultivating farmers, taking 50 farmers from each district, were randomly selected for this study. About 18% female farmers were also found to cultivate sunflower due to its beauty and easy cultivation method. Majority of the farmers had only one year experience of sunflower cultivation. Per hectare cost of producing sunflower was estimated as Tk. 62,199. Per hectare net return and BCR were Tk. 10,863 and 1.18, respectively which indicated that sunflower cultivation was profitable. Stochastic frontier function revealed that the use of labour, seed, organic fertilizers, cost of irrigation, and land type had positive and significant effect on the yield of sunflower. Average technical efficiency of the farmers was 86% which implies that there is a scope of increasing productivity of sunflower by 14% using current level of inputs by increasing the farmers’ efficiency. Lack of irrigation facility, scarcity of seed on time, absence of sunflower oil mill and sunflower market, low demand for sunflower, high cost of seed, etc. were the major problems of sunflower production and marketing. In spite of having some problems 18% female farmers became interested to cultivate and 46% farmers of Satkhira district mentioned that their demand for edible oil is becoming fulfil. So there is great potentiality of sunflower cultivation in Bangladesh. The availability of sunflower seed with low cost and establishment of sunflower oil mill is needed to sustain this crop in Bangladesh. Therefore, import dependency on soybean oil will be reduced.Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 41(4): 599-623, December 2016

No abstract

Dietary diversity is the key to improved health and nutrition. Farm production diversity has the potential of enhancing dietary diversity but this interrelationship varies and is ambiguous in many societies. To examine the effect of farm production diversity on household dietary diversity using nationally representative panel data of Bangladesh we have used Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) data collected by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 2011/12, 2015 and 2018/19. Total sample size is 11,720. For assessing dietary diversity we have used different indicators namely household dietary diversity score (HDDS) and food variety score (FVS). We have also used multiple methods for measuring farm production diversity including production diversity score, crop diversity score and Simpson diversification index. Poisson regression model has been used. Results revealed a strong positive association among farm production diversity, income and dietary diversity though the extent of the association is small. The variables such as market orientation, access to market, age and education are also found to influence on household dietary diversity. Our results propose that for increasing dietary diversity efforts should be taken to increase farm production diversity combined with diverse income and market access.

Mango has emerged as an important area for diversification and as an alternative cropping pattern due to higher returns and productivity. The study was conducted in three mango growing districts, namely Chapai Nawabganj, Natore, and Rajshahi during 2014-2015 to estimate the financial benefit of shifting cereal lands to mango production, factors influencing shifting decision, and explore related problems of mango cultivation in the study areas. A total of 180 farmers taking 60 farmers from each district were selected through using multistage stratified random sampling for the study. About 49% lands were shifted to mango cultivation from cereal crops which was higher in Chapai Nawabganj (55%) followed by Natore (48%) district. The main reason of this shifting was reported to be higher profit compared to other crops. The average total cost of mango cultivation was Tk. 1, 33,889 per hectare. Higher cost was observed in the 16th-20th year of garden (Tk. 1, 52,010) followed by 11th -15th year (Tk. 1, 48,952). The average yield of mango was found to be the highest in 16th -20th year (26.48 ton/ha) followed by 11-16th year (19.38 ton/ha). Per hectare net return from mango cultivation was Tk. 1, 75,244. Total cost of mango cultivation was 10% higher than Boro-Fallow-T.Aman cultivation. On the other hand, total cost was about 40% lower than Wheat-Jute-T.Aman, Wheat-Aus-T.Aman and Potato-Fallow-T.Aman. The net return from mango cultivation was 75% higher than other cropping patterns. The shifting of cereal lands to mango cultivation was found to be a profitable since the BCR (2.89), net present value (Tk. 33, 71,166) and internal rate of return (39%) were very high. Relative income, farm size and education turned out to be positively significant, whereas age was negatively significant for shifting decision from cereal crops to mango cultivation. Therefore, Farmers should be motivated to cultivate mango in the fallow lands or areas where other crops are not grown well.