Participation in Farm Decision-Making by the Sharecroppers in a Selected Upazila of Mymensingh District

The purposes of the study were to determine the extent of participation in farm decision-making by the sharecroppers and to explore the relationships between sharecroppers’ participation in farm decision-making and their selected characteristics. Data were collected by using interview schedule from a sample of 240 sharecroppers selected through multistage random sampling procedure from eight blocks of Phulpur upazila of Mymensingh district during May 2012 to August 2012. Participation was measured on the basis of two dimensions namely; type of participation and pattern of participation on four aspects of farm decision-making, finally an overall participation index was calculated. The participation in farm decision-making by the sharecroppers was comparatively high in the aspect land preparation, sowing and transplanting and the mean overall participation index was 64.19 with a standard deviation of 7.70. Correlation test was used to ascertain the relationships between each of the concerned variables and participation. Out of the sixteen selected characteristics of the sharecroppers opinion leadership, agricultural knowledge, dependency on crop farming, extension contact, organizational participation and farm size showed significant positive relationships whereas, landowner relation showed negative significant relationship with their participation in farm decision-making.