Do Farmers Not Widely Adopt Environmentally Friendly Technologies? Lesson from Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Abstract

Integrated pest management (IPM) is such approach where pest are controlled by following a number of technologies that are environmentally sound. The study attempted to determine the adoption rate of IPM by the vegetable growers in Bangladesh for better understanding about what extent farmers adopt to IPM and find the current adoption rate also analyzed. Data were collected from 331 vegetable farmers of Narsingdi district, Bangladesh by following a structured questionnaire. To determine the adoption rate of IPM, the study applied one of the three global used methods which were better than others and suitable for the study area and crop type (vegetables). Less than one third (30%) farmers adopted IPM while others fully dependent on chemical method for controlling pest. Moreover, lack of knowledge about IPM, lack of training facilities and inadequacy of IPM equipments were the major reasons to keep far away the farmers to adopt IPM. Factor analysis showed that farmers faced by three types of barriers such as institutional, social and management. Discussion on these barriers focusing on ways to overcome is presented. The findings can play important role to increase adoption rate of this environment friendly farming approach.