Use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Practices by Kalia Upazila Farmers in the District of Narail – Bangladesh

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of use of IPM practices by the farmers and to examine relationships between farmer’s selected characteristics and their use of IPM practices. Those characteristics were age, education, farm size, annual family income, training exposure on IPM practices, farming experience, extension contact, problem faced in IPM practices, knowledge on IPM practices and attitude towards IPM practices. Data were gathered from 103 farmers of the villages of Joynagar, Naraghati, Tona and Khasial of Khalia Upazila under Narail district in Bangladesh by using proportionate random sampling method. Pearson's Product Moment Co-efficient of Correlation was the statistic used to examine the relationship above indicated. The findings revealed that 61.10% of the farmers were medium users of IPM practices while 21.40% were high users and 17.50% were identified as low users of IPM practices. The correlation analysis indicated that farmer’s age, education, farming experience, knowledge on IPM practices and attitude towards IPM practices revealed significant positive relationships while problem faced in IPM practices displayed a significant negative relationship with their use of IPM practices. The rest of the characteristics assessed such as farm size, annual family income, training exposure on IPM practices and extension contact showed no significant relationships. The finding leads to the conclusion that there is a great scope to increase the use of IPM practices by the farmers.