Abstract
Wheat is the second ranked crop among all the cereals in Bangladesh and its area is still increasing. But majority of the wheat growers are receiving lower yield due to practicing the traditional production technologies. Though the cultivable land in Bangladesh is limited, there is a scope to expand wheat production by following conservation agricultural technologies. From this view point, a comparative analysis has been done between traditional and conservation technology practices of wheat cultivation. This study was designed to assess the effect of conservation technologies on productivity and profitability; measure the level of adoption of improved management practices, and examining the willingness to pay (WTP) for adopting conservation tillage technologies for wheat cultivation in the Northwest region of Bangladesh. The present study selected 15 villages under 8 unions of 4 upazilas in three districts namely Rajshahi, Kurigram and Lalmonirhat. Primary data and information were collected from 320 farmers of them 170 were practicing conservation technology (CT) and those of other 150 followed traditional technologies (TT). Purposive random sampling was followed to select the wheat farmers and information were collected from them in an informal
atmosphere through personal interview. Various descriptive and econometric analyses were applied for presenting meaningful results. The results showed that total productivity gain was 31% due to shifting traditional technology to conservation technology practices, and of them 28 percent was due to technical change and rest 3 percent was for increasing the levels of input used which implies that wheat production could not be increased with the same levels of inputs used under the traditional technology practices. The value of inputs saved was estimated at Tk 18586 and the additional output obtained was 298 kg per hectare due to the adoption of conservation technology practices. In this way, an amount of Tk 802.47 crore of using inputs were saved in the year 2015 in Bangladesh (Total wheat land area 431764 ha). Relevant variables were considered to evaluate the adoption level of improved management practices of wheat cultivation against the recommended doses givenby 'Krishi Projukti Hatboi', 2014. The level of adoption was measured by adoption scores and adoption behavior of wheat farmers was calculated by using an 'Adoption Quotient Index'. In terms of improved management practices, 91% of wheat farmers were medium level adopter; of them 71% were small farmers. This meant that small farmers were conscious in adopting improved management practices. The study also found that conservation technology practicing farmers' adoption behavior was higher (95%) compared to the traditional technology followers (87%). The result of the Tobit model showed that farmers' age, education, experience, wheat land size, membership in organization, training, market distance, family labour and hired labour had significant association with the adoption of improved management practices. The result of the Contingent Valuation Method showed that about 79% farmers agreed to purchase conservation tillage technologies. Among them, only 20% were WTP individually and they
were WTP a maximum of Tk 10,000. On the other hand, 59% were willing to form cooperative
to use conservation technologies. Of them, 39% farmers were WTP a maximum Tk 1000 through cooperative system, where the number of cooperative members would stand at 30. However, the total savings would stand at Tk 30,000 for each cooperative. Accordingly institutional arrangement already been made by the coordination of IRRI, CIMMYT and BARI
to apply this technology with reduce cost and increase productivity of wheat cultivation.