Abstract
Jute produced in Bangladesh is popular around the globe due to its excellent fibre quality. Jute is a natural fibre popularly known as "the golden fibre of Bangladesh". Bangladesh controls 62 percent of the global jute market and earns Tk. 2,012.5 crore by exporting jute products. The production and area has been increased 2.77 percent and 7.86 percent in the year 2016-17 than the year of 2015-16. The average yield of jute is low compared to yield potentials in Bangladesh. Jute farmers use locally available low quality seeds due to inadequate supply of BJRI variety and consequently failed to gain expected yield. The study aimed to determine the rate of adoption of BJRI released six jute varieties (CVL-1, BJC-7370, 0-9897, O-72, HC-2 and HC-95); their yield gap (yield gap II) at farmers' level; to explore the factors associated with adoption of the varieties and their yield gap and to find out the problems in the adoption. Data were collected from a sample of 300 jute growers of 4 villages from 2 unions of 2 upazilas under 2 districts, namely Kishoreganj and Rangpur, during June to October 2017. Seventeen selected characteristics of the jute growers were considered as the independent variables and adoption and yield gap of the selected varieties were the dependent variables of the study. The results revealed that majority (51 percent) of the jute growers had no adoption of BJRI released varieties and 49 percent of them were the adopters. The study showed that the highest proportion of the jute growers belonged to medium adoption rate category in all selected varieties. Among the selected six varieties, the highest adoption rate was found in the case of variety HC-95 and the lowest in the case of variety CVL-1 in Kishoreganj. On the other hand, among the selected varieties, the highest adoption rate was found in the case of variety CVL-1 and the lowest in the case of variety BJC-7370 in Rangpur. However, mean adoption rate was found relatively a bit higher in Kishoreganj district compared to Rangpur district. The overall mean area-coverage-adoption was higher in Kishoreganj (12.50 percent) compared to Rangpur (12.08 percent). The results of the study also showed that majority of the jute growers had medium yield gap in all selected BJRI released varieties. Among the varieties, the highest yield gap was found in the case of variety O-72 and the lowest in the case of variety HC-95 both in Kishoreganj and Rangpur districts. The study also showed that more than three-fifth (61.9 percent) of the jute growers had medium yield gap (16.01-32.0 percent) while less than a quarter (21.1 percent) had low yield gap (up to 16.0 percent). It is evident from the study that the mean yield gap was higher in Kishoreganj (25.24 percent) compared to Rangpur (22.74 percent). Based on the yield performance at farmers' field as well as demonstration plot and having low yield gap, it can be said that the HC-95 variety was well adapted with farming condition in the study areas. Step-wise regression analysis revealed that five variables such as knowledge on jute cultivation, farm size, annual family income, training on jute cultivation and innovativeness were significant and jointly contributed 68.2 percent variation in adoption of selected six jute varieties. Among the five variables, knowledge on jute cultivation (61.3 percent) had the highest contribution in adoption. Step-wise regression analysis also revealed that three variables, namely practice gap, extension contact and knowledge on jute cultivation were significant and jointly contributed 77.6 percent variation in yield gap of the selected jute varieties. It also showed that among the three variables, practice gap (72.1 percent) had the highest contribution in yield gap. The unavailability of quality seed (BJRI varieties), low price of jute, weakness of government policy, higher cost of production, poor extension activities, unavailability of credit and high cost of inputs were the major problems in the adoption of BJRI released varieties among the jute growers. The Ministry of Agriculture should take proper steps to solve the problems for increasing adoption and minimizing yield gap of BJRI varieties.