Farmers’ Perception of the Effect of IPM towards Sustainable Crop Production

The main objectives of this study were to determine the perception of the farmers of the effect of IPM towards sustainable crop production and to explore the relationship of the selected characteristics of the farmers with their perception. The study was conducted with randomly selected 80 farmers in Kumergatha Union under Muktagachha Upazila of Mymensingh district. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents during March to April, 2009. Farmers’ perception of the effect of IPM towards sustainable crop production was the dependable variable and it was measured by 20 statements on 5-point rating scale. Ten selected characteristics of the respondents constituted the independable variables of the study. Majority of the respondents had high favorable perception while 23.75 percent and 21.25 percent of them had respectively less and moderately favorable perception of the effect of IPM. Six characteristics of the respondents viz. family size, training received, annual family income, knowledge on IPM and innovativeness showed significant positive relationship with their perception but their education and farm size were negatively correlated with perception. The major constraints faced by the farmers in using IPM were lack of beneficial insects, unavailability of biofertilizers and lack of knowledge about beneficial and harmful insects.