ABSTRACT

Poor health and nutritional status of mother and children in the Jamuna’s Char area in Sirajganj is the crucial problems for health and nutrition. Mother and children cannot afford adequate nutritious food and adequate food intake due to low income and limited access to livelihood opportunities. An experiment was conducted at Meshrar Char of Sirajgnj Sadar upzilla in Sirajgnj district during July 2018 to June 2019 for improving nutritional family food habit through training, awareness buildup and homestead gardening. Cooking demonstrations were widely used to illustrate positive food preparation practices, such as washing vegetables before cutting, using oil to cook leafy vegetables, and including more fruits, milk, and eggs in dishes. Regular monitoring has demonstrated that the program successfully increased the production and consumption of vitamin and mineral rich foods in the target households.

Key words: Char area, homestead garden, nutritional status

Introduction

In Food security definition, it has four pillars such as: Food availability, food accessibility, food stability and food utilization. Most of the people of our country do not know how to utilize their food. So, though they intake/consume food but do not get proper nutrition from their food. Most of them have wrong perception about Food and Nutrition. They are not capable for using their homestead area, from where they can produce different nutritious fruits and Vegetables (Taher et al., 2004, Bushamuka et al., 2005). Homestead food production programs has the potentiality to improve dietary intake and nutritional status of women and young children and likely improves household’s food security and nutritional status of all house hold members including improving of socio-economic status. As most of the char people engage with agricultural works and fishing, they normally goes to work  in the morning and back home at twilight, so  in their family cooking habits practice is just 1 times to two times and many people prepare their rice without starch. In Char area this type of problem are acute (BBS, 2011; Helen Keller International, Bangladesh 2008). So primarily BIRTAN of Sirajganj has taken an initiative to be improved the nutria food habits of the Char people in Sirajgonj district.

ABSTRACT

The trial was conducted in the farmers’ field of Multilocation Testing Site, Sherpur, Bogura during Rabi season of 2020-21 to develop a suitable fertilizer recommendation for maize in Maize- T. Aus- T. Aman rice cropping pattern. For the first crop (maize), the treatments were T₁:  STB dose, T₂:  T₁ + 25% extra NPK, T₃: T₁ + 50% extra NK, T₄: IPNS based on T₁ @5 tha^-1 of cowdung and T₅: IPNS based on T₃ @5 tha^-1 of cowdung. According to the treatment specifications, the STB and other doses were estimated. Treatments were assigned randomly, and fertilizer doses were applied accordingly following RCB design. Maximum grain yield (8.56 tha^-1) was recorded from T₃ treatment that was statistically similar to T₂ and T₅ and the minimum (6.92 t ha^-1) from T₄ treatment. Similar trend was observed for stover yield also. The highest gross return (Tk. 182750 ha^-1) was amounted from T₃ treatment against the cultivation cost of Tk. 110454 ha^-1 that together led to the higher gross margin amounting Tk. 72256 ha^-1. Lower gross return (Tk. 147640 ha^-1) as well as gross margin (Tk. 38768 ha^-1) was obtained from the T₄ treatment.

Key words: Fertilizer, maize, inorganic, organic. Karatoa Bangali Floodplain.

Introduction

Bangladesh is a densely populated (1008 per sq. km.) country of the world with an area of 1,47,570 sq. km and the present population is about 170 million, with an increase annually at the rate of about 1.42% per year (BBS 2018). The major challenge for the agriculture sector of Bangladesh is to increase and sustain crop yield and production. This is possible through cropping intensification with high yielding varieties of balanced fertilizer and proper soil fertility management. The present soil fertility status of Bangladesh is alarming. Use of Organic manures to meet the nutrient requirements of the crop would be an inevitable practice in the years to come for sustainable agriculture since organic manures not only improve the soil physical, chemical, and biological properties (Nambiar et al., 2011). Fertilizers, manures, and other amendments either alone or in combinations could be used to develop a nutrient supplying capacity of the soil (Madhvi and Deepa Sharma, 2020). Several studies indicated that combined use of chemical fertilizer with manure could increase yield and economic returns compared with fertilizer or manure alone (Zhang et al., 2012). The application of poultry manure increasing the pH, P, K, Ca, Mg, and Mn, in the soil, more effectively when compared to other animal manures. In rice-based cropping system Maize-T. Aus-Taman is one of the major cropping patterns in Sherpur Upazila of Bogura which cover around 1330 hectare of land. The present cropping intensity of Sherpur is 251% by improving the present cropping pattern. Sustainable crop production in Bangladesh through the improvement of cropping patterns in rice-based cropping systems is regarded as increasingly important in national issues such as food security, poverty alleviation, and creation of job opportunities. Thus, it is necessary to find out the optimum fertilizer dose for maize in Maize-T.Aus-T.Aman cropping pattern in the Bogura region. Hence the program was undertaken to find out a suitable and economic fertilizer dose for sustainable crop productivity and soil fertility for maize in Maize-T. Aus-T. Aman cropping pattern and increase the productivity and income of the farmers

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted during the years of 2019-2021 in Satkhira (Assasuni and Shyamnagar upazilas) district of Bangladesh. In the studied upazilas two unions/two agricultural blocks were selected to carry out the study. The research was conducted in the study area and data was collected from 200 respondents via an interview schedule. The dependent variable in this study was “adaptation measures against climate change”. The adaptation scoring is detailed in the section of Materials and Methods.  The researcher selected eight characteristics of the respondent as the independent variables in this study. Collected data from the respondents were analyzed in accordance with the objectives of the study. The coded data were put into the computer for statistical analyses. The study revealed that a large portion of respondents are with lower adaptation, where there are vast spaces for adaptation regarding overcoming the challenges for coastal agriculture. It was also noted that the majority respondents (78% respondents) showed their medium level of satisfaction, which argued for more/modern/appropriate agricultural technologies for coastal Satkhira district of Bangladesh. The respondents pass their life with uncertain, so they felt that public and private participation (PAP) as well as collaboration between GO & NGOs are mandatory for adopting the agriculture technologies (opined by 98% respondents). Correlation coefficients noted that all eight selected variables were found to be significantly related to the dependent variable. Amongst those, agricultural damages by natural disaster negatively correlated with agricultural adaptation measures against climate change. These provide the core adaptation criteria for the study area.

Key words: Adaptation measures, climatic damage, agriculture, coastal Satkhira district.

Introduction

 The coastal areas of Bangladesh are home to about 40 million people, who are dominated by natural resource-based livelihoods. Almost every year in the last few decades, the region has witnessed multiple disaster events that have caused enormous loss and damage to human life, livelihoods and well-being, and created uncertainty about food insecurity (BBS, 2016; Nasim et al., 2019). On average, 25%, 3% and 2% of the population in Bangladesh will be being evacuated due to floods, droughts and cyclones (Akter, 2009). The Bangladesh government predicts that SLR could evacuate 20 million people over the next 40 years (Barua et al., 2017). By 2050, one out of seven people in Bangladesh is projected to be migrated from their hometown due to climate change (Khan, 2019). Bangladesh however is one of the most climate-sensitive countries in the world and the negative effects of climate change cause the main obstacle to sustainable development in Bangladesh. So adaptation is perquisite to be confirmed the secured life and safety for properties in climate change vulnerable countries like Bangladesh (Vij et al., 2018). Indeed, adaptation is practical steps to protect countries and communities from the likely disruption and damage that will result from effects of climate change. Improving adaptability is essential, and to some extent migration is considered as a method of adaptation to ensure a healthy life (Pachauri and Meyer, 2014). Also, adaptation practices should be integrated with the participation of different levels of stakeholders to ensure sustainable adaptation to climate change (Schmidt et al., 2014). The main focus of the study was to be adopted the proper technologies to minimize the agricultural losses in Coastal Satkhira district of Bangladesh. This

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted during the years of 2019-2021 in Bagerhat (Fakirhat and Rampal upazilas) district of Bangladesh. In the studied upazilas two unions/two agricultural blocks were selected to carry out the study. The research was conducted in the study area and data was collected by two trained enumerators together with the researcher himself from 200 respondents via an interview schedule. Collected data from the respondents were analyzed in accordance with the objectives of the study. The coded data were put into the computer for statistical analyses. The SPSS computer program was used for analyzing the data. Statistical measurements such as number, percentage, range, average, standard deviation and ranking were used to describe the variables where ever applicable. The study critically securitized climate change hazards and revealed that “cyclone” ranked in the 1^st position received the attention from 85% respondents, where as “salinity” in 2^nd position, “fresh water shortage” in 3^rd position and sedimentation in the last (12^th) position. The major hazards occurred in coastal Bagerhat district mainly concentrated in four months of the year i.e. February to May. In a whole the agricultural damages were expressed in twenty different lines. Amongst the twenty identified and distinguished damages, “yield loss of rice” was the prime or major damage (supported by cent percent respondents). “Yield loss of vegetables” and “obliterate of fisheries” selected as the 2nd and 3rd top most damages in the coastal Bagerhat district of Bangladesh. Agricultural development is not possible without overcoming these selected issues, through which agricultural activities is under challenging in the coastal zones of Bangladesh. Due to adverse impacts of climate change the coastal agriculture is not in right line, continuously it is being changed. So it is needed to consider the negative changes while adjusting interventions in coastal agriculture.

Key words: Climate change, vulnerability, cropping pattern, coastal Bagerhat district.   

Introduction

 The coast of Bangladesh are highly resistant to climate change due to very low elevations, some terrain on the sea level, the topography of the deltaic region, the Bay of Bengal, socioeconomic profile and infrastructure renders the capacity to tackle the effects of climate related disasters (Agrawala et al., 2003). This area is more affected than any other regions of Bangladesh. They experience a variety of natural and man-made disaster events (Sea level rising-SLR, cyclones, storm surges, floods, droughts, saltwater intrusions, riverbank erosion, and landslides). The coastal areas of southwestern Bangladesh are already affected by rising temperatures, slow climatic stresses such as saltwater intrusions into agricultural soils, ground water, sudden storm surges and increased intensity such as floods, riverbank erosion impacting from cyclones, storm surges and climate change (Huq et al., 2015). The agricultural sector is also affected by rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall in Bangladesh (Hossain et al., 2020; Wright et al., 2019). A temperature rise of 40° C has a serious impact on the production of edible grains, especially in wheat production. Though, carbon dioxide fertilization promotes the production of edible grains. As temperatures rise, rice and wheat production declines significantly by 28% and 68%, respectively (DAE, 2007). In this way the agricultural sector of Bangladesh is being badly affected due to climate change. Hence the main focus of the study was to find out the major agricultural impacts from climate changes to minimize the crop losses in coastal Bagerhat district of Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute (BSRI) farm under irrigated condition during 2017-2018 cropping season to examine the agronomic performance of BSRI developed promising sugarcane clones at different planting dates. There were two planting times: November, 2017 as early and January, 2018 as late. Four promising clones namely I 103-10, I 7-11, I 111-11 and I 230-11 were tested in this experiment, where variety Isd 39 was taken as standard. The results revealed that the highest number of tillers found in I 7-11both in early and late plantation (105.14×10³ ha^-1 and 71.53×10³ ha^-1, respectively). The highest yield in early and late plantation was found from I 103-10 (120.70 tha^-1) and I 111-11(75.70 tha^-1), respectively. In addition, the highest pol (%) was found from I 111-11 in early and late plantation (14.09% and 14.75%, respectively). The results also revealed that yield and yield contributing parameters were found to be declined in the late plantation. Pol (%) cane in early planting was found almost statistically identical among selected clones/variety but significantly varied in the late plantation. However, the clones I 103-10 and I 111-11 were found most promising in the study site as they produced higher yield and yield contributing parameters over the tested clones/variety for both in early and late plantation.

Key words: Sugarcane, planting time, promising clones, agronomic performance.

Introduction

 Sugarcane is an important cash crop of Bangladesh with an average yield of 45 tha^-1 as against its theoretical approximation of 75 tha^-1. At present, the area under sugarcane is about 80.97 thousand hectares covering both mill and non-mill zones with an annual production of about 3142 thousand tons (BBS, 2019). There are number of reasons for lower cane yield and one of those is the planting of low yielding varieties. The main reason of poor yield of sugarcane has been identified as insufficient number of millable stalks and lower unit stalks weight. Sugar industries in Bangladesh continuously need high yielding and high sugar varieties. After a considerable period of cultivation sugarcane varieties show a tendency to decline in yield and vigour (Barnes, 1954 and Humbert, 1959). It is an obscure and puzzling problem to scientists, growers and processors. To maintain high yielding, it is necessary to replace varieties every few years with new clones (Poehlman and Barthakur, 1969). Therefore, it is need of the time to introduce new high yielding varieties with good ratoon ability in the country (Chattha and Ehsanullah, 2003). Mian (2006) reported that variety plays a key role in both increasing and decreasing per unit area sugar yield. The use of inferior quality cane varieties affects sugarcane production negatively as situation prevails today. The solution of low cane yield and sugar recovery problem lies in the planting time of improved cane varieties (Chattha et al., 2006). Viator et al., (2005) stated that planting date is one of the important variables that affects sugarcane stand establishment. Hoy et al., (2006) observed that cane weight and maturity of sugarcane are highly associated with planting time that may influence its productivity. Due to late planting, the cane germination and tiller population become lowered consequently resulted in lesser millable cane stalk production and hence reduced final cane yield (Omoto and Abaya, 2005). Hossain et al. (2011) concluded that growth characters like tillers, millable cane stalks, cane height, girth and unit stalk weight were significantly influenced by different planting dates. The values of all the yield contributing factors and quality parameters were higher in the crops planted in November compared to that planted in February and

ABSTRACT

Water logging is an important abiotic stress which affects seriously for growth and development of brinjal production. To find out adverse effect of water logging on vegetative growth and fruit yield of brinjal a pot experiment was conducted on Jute Agriculture Experimental Station, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Jagir, Manikganj. Thirty days old healthy brinjal plants were subjected to continuous flooding stress of different durations 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 days. Earthen pots healthy brinjal plants were placed inside a larger concrete chamber and irrigated with tap water so that the water logging depth was maintained within 4-5 cm throughout the experimental period. Morphological parameters recorded include plant height, number of leaves, stem base diameter, leaf area, days to flowering and number of fruits per plant. Among three brinjal varieties Singnath perform better considering fruit production per plant. All the studied characters perform better at no water logging condition whereas the lowest performances at 12 days of water logging condition.

Key words: Brinjal, water logging stress, growth parameters, and fruit yield.

Introduction

 Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is a most important, inexpensive hot-weather vegetable that is commonly grown in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world. It is one of the popular vegetables and highly cultivated and consumed in Asia countries specially Bangladesh. This plant is indigenous to India and is found throughout Asia, with China serving as a secondary source of origin. Furthermore, in terms of acreage and production, brinjal is the second most important vegetable crop after potato, and the most important traditional vegetable in Bangladesh (Sabina et al., 2021). According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), it is cultivated by roughly 150,000 poor farmers on 50,955 hectares, with a total yield of 507,000 metric tons in 2018. In term of nutrition value of the brinjal, nutrients, minerals, antioxidants, vitamins, dietary fiber, and body-building components and proteins are abundant in it. Hence, Brinjal has a high nutritional content that is comparable to tomato (Choudhary, 1976). It also contains 0.7 milligrams of iron, 13.0 milligrams of sodium, 213.0 milligrams of potassium, 12.0 milligrams of calcium, 26.0 milligrams of phosphorus, 5.0 milligrams of ascorbic acid, and 0.5 milligrams of vitamin A per 100 gram serving, and offers 25.0 calories (Saeedifar et al., 2014). China, India, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran are the top five brinjal producers, with production of 28.4, 13.4, 1.2, 0.82, and 0.75 million tons, respectively (Taher et al., 2017). In Bangladesh, an average yield of 10.00 tons per hectare has been recorded which is comparatively lower than that produced by the other countries (Anon, 2017). In Bangladesh, brinjal can be grown all year in Bangladesh, but it is most productive during the winter months. It should be grown in well-fertilized soil with plenty of compost for maximum yields (Hossain, 2013). Although several types of varieties of the brinjal are cultivating in numerous zones of Bangladesh, they have varying yield potentials, and their yield appears to be impacted greatly by several biotic and abiotic stresses (Sabina et al., 2021). Infestation of diseases and pests are examples of biotic factors, while drought, water logging, salinity, cold and heat stress are examples of abiotic stresses that reduce productivity (Prabhavathi and Rajan, 2007). As a result of climate change, irregular climate conditions represent a significant threat to humanity, environment and crop production. Main cause of crop losses in worldwide is the environmental stress, reported average yield reduction of major crops by more than 50% (Bray et al., 2000). Global climate change makes the water logging more drastic, frequent and unpredictable (Jackson and colmer, 2005).