PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FARMERS’ ADOPTION OF IPM PRACTICES IN RICE (Oryza sativa L) CULTIVATION

A study was carried out to determine the problems in IPM practices for rice cultivation faced by the farmers trained in IPM through Farmers’ Field School (FFS) and also to find out the important probable suggestions for overcoming those problems. Data were collected from 158 respondent farmers sampled randomly from 1050 FFS farmers of Godagari Upazila in Rajshahi district. Twenty important problems regarding IPM practices were identified by interviewing teachers, extension personnel, experts and the sampled FFS farmers. Twenty possible solutions/suggestions for overcoming the problems were also collected by using the same procedure. The importance of the problem and the suggestions was measured by using ‘Important Problem Score Index (IPSI)’ and ‘Important Solution Score Index (ISSI)’ technique, respectively. The five most important problems as reported by the farmers ranked in the following order: i) need for much more labour, ii) lack of proper training for farmers about IPM, iii) lack of farmers’ knowledge regarding IPM practices, iv) availability of insecticides and v) complexity of IPM practices. Similarly, the five most common suggestions were i) establishment of more IPM field school, ii) arrangement of farmers practical training, iii) introduction of IPM practices into the school/college academic course, iv) increase the farmers’ awareness on environment pollution and v) to ensure proper supervision of extension worker. IPM is environment-friendly pest management system but due to its complexity need more knowledge and training. So, it is needed to give more emphasis in educational and motivational programme for increasing IPM practices for the farmers by the implementing agencies.