Perception of Farmers on Maize as a Potential Crop for Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Bangladesh

Abstract

The main purposes of this research study was to determine the perception of farmers on maize as a potential crop for climate change adaptation and to access problems faced by the farmers in maize production. Maize cultivation is getting importance in Bangladesh, with economic efficiency of production estimated at 87%. Data were collected from the farmers of four villages of Biral Upazila under Dinajpur district in the Northern Bangladesh during 28 March to April 28 2018 from the 90 randomly sleeted farmers. Both descriptive and correlation coefficients test was performed for statistical analysis. Results revealed that almost three-fifths (61.10 percent) of the farmers had medium, while 20.00 percent of them had low and 18.90 percent had high perception of maize as a potential crop for climate change adaption. Correlation analysis indicated that age, education, cosmopoliteness, training received, knowledge on climate change and extension media contact of the farmers had significant positive relationships with their perception of maize as a potential crop for climate change adaption. On the contrary, farm size, maize cultivation area, farming experience and annual income had no significant relationship with their perception of maize as a potential crop for climate change adaption. ‘Non-availability of storage facilities’ was ranked as the 1st or top problems for maize production.  Other problems (in descending order) included ‘getting fair price problem due to interfere of middleman’, ‘non-availability of farm labour’, ‘lack of /or inadequate access to weather forecast technologies’, ‘no hybrid maize seed availability, ‘non-habit of human for consumption as food’, ‘poor information access regarding climate change adaptation strategies by maize farmers’, ‘lack of inputs in time’, ‘non-suitability of land for maize cultivation’, as well as ‘poor agricultural extension service delivery’. Further, it might be recommended that necessary support should be provided for the maize growers to minimize their problems on prioritize basis.