Bangladeshi Extension Workers Attitude towards Sustainable Agriculture

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1 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research 3(11): , November 2015 DOI: /ajar ISSN: Academia Publishing Research Paper Bangladeshi Extension Workers Attitude towards Sustainable Agriculture Accepted 7 th October, 2015 ABSTRACT Shaikh Shamim Hasan 1,2 *, Mursaleen Zebin Turin 2 and Sabina Sultana 3 1 Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), No: 11A, Anwai, Datun Road, Beijing , China. 2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, BSMRAU, Gazipur 1706, Bangladesh. 3 Gazipur Sadar Upazila, Gazipur, Bangladesh. *Corresponding author. shinuextn120@yahoo.com; shamim@igsnrr.ac.cn. Tel: The production of more food for additional people forms a unit area of land associated with intensive farming system with increase in chemical use by the farmers in Bangladesh that helped to damage the environmental system. Sustainable agriculture is used as a means to transfer unsustainable agriculture to a sustainable one. This concept should be transferred to the farmers by the agricultural extension workers, but there is no sufficient information available as regards the attitude of agricultural extension workers towards sustainable agriculture. The field investigation was conducted using mailed questionnaire to the Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer (SAAO) in the five upazilas under five districts. Total number of respondents was a hundred and twenty (120). Results revealed that the extension workers of the five upazilas had moderate attitude towards sustainable agriculture. Therefore, it is recommended that good and higher attitude of the extension workers is necessary to transfer this technology to the farmers who are the ultimate implementer and user of technology. Key words: Attitude, sustainable agriculture, Bangladeshi extension worker. INTRODUCTION Agriculture is one of the largest producing sectors of the economy of Bangladesh as it has an agrarian economy and the agriculture sector comprises about 18.70% during the fiscal year of 2012 to 2013 of the country's GDP (Anonymous, 2014). White et al. (2014) defined agricultural sustainability as the ability of a system to maintain stable levels of production and quality in the long term without compromising economic profitability or the environment. The conservation of soil quality is fundamental to agricultural sustainability. FAO (2005) reported that since the last few decades, world food production has been on the increase due to the increment of agricultural production throughout the world and it started since the beginning of 1960s. From that period, world food production increased by 145% as a whole. If it is considered continent wise, in Asia it jumped to 280%, in Africa it bounced to 140%, in Latin America soared almost 200%. The agriculture of Bangladesh has changed fiercely, especially since the end of Independence. Productivity of crops ascended due to advanced and recent technologies, mechanization, boosting of chemical use, specialization and government policies that assisted maximization of production (ASR, 2006). On the other hand, soil fertility there was depletion in soil fertility when farmers cultivated crops without rebounding adequate nutrient to match the removals. Two strategies were followed for increasing national production that is, increasing cropping intensity and yield per crop, placing more pressure on soil nutrient reserves. Hatirli et al. (2005) portrayed that agricultural systems recently depends heavily on different types of chemical inputs. Increasing use of synthetic chemicals after contamination of soil and water supplies and generates different types of pests and diseases that led to a decline in food quality and ultimately environmental problem (Kiyani and Liaghati, 2007). Mafi (2008) also outlined that the merger of all these factors proves that environmental care, human health and environmentally safe food supply, at the

2 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 313 moment could become one of the crucial issues. This issue also influences human societies finding suitable solution and also accelerating adoption of sustainable agricultural system. Another cause of concern is that organic matter content of our soils is much lower. Findings obtained from Islam (2006) showed that organic matter content in Bangladesh soils is below 1% in about 60% of cultivable lands as compared to an optimal minimum value of 3%. Currently, dramatic changes are noticed in agricultural productivity, consumers attitude and behavior over food (Smith, 2008) as well as, the political economy of agricultural production and food (Goodman and Watts, 1997). Agricultural systems are now perceived as a powerful source of environmental damage (Tilman, 1999; Pretty et al., 2000; MEA, 2005). The consequence is in unsustainable agriculture. Transforming this unsustainable agriculture to a sustainable one requires first that the extension workers recognize and gather proper knowledge on sustainable agriculture to transfer the technology to the farmers and secondly, the farmers to adopt the program. Information about an innovation is a meaningful and influential factor affecting farmers adoption of an innovation. Different sources can transmit this information to the farmers and sources include extension workers, researchers, scientists and also graduates of the universities (Shiri et al. 2014). However, many researchers like Feder and Slade, 1984; Fuglie and Kascak, 2001; Kromm and White, 1991; Marsh et al., 2000; Van den Ban and Hawkins, 1988 identified significant role of extension experts towards the initiation of technology or innovation to the farmers. According to Agunga (1995), extension workers should be convinced at first on the importance of sustainability, so that they can be able to motivate and train farmers on these thoughts. Liaghati et al. (2008) also mentioned that attitude is an important determinant of the behaviors of human and thus, provides guidance and target to behavior and performance. Tiraieyari et al. (2013) in their study stated that extension workers attitudes towards the concepts of sustainable agriculture are fundamental in building a strong sustainable agriculture program for Malaysia. A superior understanding of the attitude of the extension workers on sustainable agriculture would support the managers to realizing if extension workers have adjusted themselves to carry out the task. Extension workers need to gain positive attitude on sustainable agriculture practice to influence the adoption of the farmers on this issue or technique. Findings of Udoto and Flowers (2001) also showed that positive attitude of the advantage of sustainable agricultural practices towards the welfare of environment may provide a considerable consequence for extension workers to transfer sustainable agriculture to the farmers. Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) explained that one's activities in any field are the demonstration of one s attitudes towards it and these attitudes consist of a combination of complex assumptions, motivations and experiences. Grossman (1972) in his research also described that an attitude can be represented as a tendency to answer to a concept or a position in a particular way which is mostly considered as a concept to guide individual s behavior. Wheeler (2008) worked on factors influencing agricultural professional views towards organic agriculture. With this research she concluded that extension professionals decision making did not depend not only on scientific findings and innovation of the scientists, but some other factors including knowledge, experience, information, education, occupational effect and attitudes on individual aspects of organic agriculture also influenced the extension professional attitude towards organic farming. LITERATURE SURVEY Several researches have been administered so far to judge the attitude of the extension workers towards sustainable agriculture (Allahyari et al., 2008; Allahyari, 2008; Chizari et al., 1999; Minarovic and Mueller, 2000; Shiri et al., 2014; Tiraieyari et al., 2013; Udoto and Flowers, 2001; Williams and Wise, 1997). The scientists concluded that change in the attitude of the extension workers towards sustainable agriculture could be used as a solid basement for the extension workers to transfer this to the farmers. Still, little research is being conducted in Bangladesh to assess the extension workers attitude towards sustainable agriculture. Therefore, the current study was undertaken in the Department of Agricultural Extension s (DAEs) Sub Assistant Agricultural Officers (SAAOs) who are lowest level agricultural extension workers of Bangladesh that directly handle the farmers. Considering the aforementioned facts, the research was conducted with the flowing specific objectives: 1. To investigate the attitude of the extension workers on sustainable agriculture so that they can adopt themselves and transfer this practice easily to the farmers; 2. To determine and explore the selected sociodemographic characteristics of extension workers which influence their attitude on Sustainable Agriculture. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study applied a descriptive research design. Mailed questionnaire was used to collect data from the extension workers. The respondents were the Sub Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) working at the respective Department of Agricultural Extension Office under the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of Bangladesh. The respondents were selected from five Upazilas (smaller administrative unit) of five Districts namely, Kaliganj

3 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 314 Upazila of Gazipur, Sadar Upazila of Gaibandha, Kaliganj Upazila of Jhenaidah, Pakua of Cox s Bazar and Jhuraicharri of Rangamati District. Total number of SAAOs in all the five Upazilas was 170 which were the population of the study. The instrument used in this research was a questionnaire converted in the Bengali language for easy understanding of the respondents. It consisted of two parts: (a) personal characteristics of the extension workers with also some professional characteristics and (b) their attitudes toward sustainable agriculture. In the second part of the questionnaire, twenty (20) attitude measurement items adapted and reported by Al-Subaiee et al. (2005) and Hersman (2004) were used. All the 170 SAAOs were given mailed questionnaire. Out of the 170 questionnaires administered, 124 were returned. Of those returned, 120 (70.59%) were usable. These 120 SAAOs were treated as the sample of the study. Measurement of dependent variables Feedback of agricultural extension workers towards sustainable agriculture is the dependent variable of this study. The questionnaire accommodated 20 statements/items to judge the attitude of the extension workers related four areas of sustainable agriculture: production viability, economic viability, environmental viability and social viability (Tiraieyari et al., 2013). The questionnaire was translated into Bengali language and transferred to the respondents. Before the survey, the instrument was checked for content and validity by panel of experts. Extension workers attitude was measured by constructing a 5-point Likert type scale ranged from 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. Each respondent was asked to express his extent of agreement or disagreement by checking against any of the five attitudes on negative statements reverse score given and Chouichom and Yamao (2010) also used this scale. The highest possible value for the general attitude in this scale was 100 and the lowest 20. Higher values designated positive attitude towards sustainable agriculture concepts. degree he/she obtained in technical education system (That is, after SSC and HSC, Bachelor and Master Degree). A literacy score of 1, 2, 3 and 4 was given to a respondent who obtained his/her diploma degree after SSC, HSC, Bachelor and Master Degree respectively. Tenure of extension services of any respondent was determined by the duration of service experience of a respondent in agricultural extension work in the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and expressed in years. Training exposure was measured by the total number of training that an extension worker participated so far in his/her entire life from different agricultural related organizations and other organizations. On the other hand, training exposure on sustainable agriculture was measured by the total number of training that a respondent participated specifically on sustainable agriculture from different agricultural related organizations and DAE. For measuring source of information communication and contact of the extension workers, a three point scale, that is, not at all, occasionally and frequently was used and appropriate weights were assigned to quantify this variable. Environmental awareness of the respondents on different environmental issues were measured by using a 4- point Likert type scale like; strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree and appropriate weights were used to quantify this variable. Statistical analysis Collected data were analyzed by means of the SPSS for Windows (version 16.0). Descriptive statistic including the mean and standard deviation were measured to achieve objectives of the study. Different categories were used to classify the data. As regards the objectives in view, statistical tests like frequency percentage, mean, and standard deviation were applied for analysis and interpretation of the data. Coefficient of correlation was used and 0.05 and 0.01 levels of probabilities were used as the basis for exploring relationship between the sociodemographic characteristics and the attitude of the extension workers throughout the study. Measurement of independent variables The independent variables of this study were extension worker s age, educational qualification, tenure of extension services, training exposure, and sustainable agriculture training exposure, sources of information communication and contact, and environmental awareness. Age was measured on the basis of actual length of his life and expressed in years. In Bangladesh, minimum educational qualification requirement of an Extension worker SAAO is Diploma Degree. Here, educational qualification of an extension worker was measured in terms of diploma RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1 represents seven demographic information of the respondents including age, level of education, tenure in extension service, number of in-service training received, number of in-service training received on sustainable agriculture and contact with source of information communication and environmental awareness. Table 1 shows categories, frequencies and percentage for all these demographic variables. According to the data presented in Table 1, most percentage of extension workers (36.5%) were between 31 to 40 years of age as compared to 30.2%

4 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 315 Table 1. Demographic profiles of the respondents (n = 120). Variable Categories Frequencies Percentage (%) Age years years years years Level of Education Diploma after SSC Diploma after HSC Diploma after Bachelor Diploma after Master Tenure in Extension Service Fewer than 08 years to 30 years More than 30 years No. of in service training received No. fewer than No. 11 to No. 21 to No. more than No. of in service training received on SA No. fewer than No. 06 to No. 11 to No. 16 to No. 21 to Contact with source of information communication Score fewer than Score 10 to Score 16 and above Environmental Awareness (EA) Low EA Moderate EA High EA who were between 51 to 60 years of age flowed by 41 to 50 years of age (22.5%). Majority (57.5%) of them got their diploma degrees after completing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. Majority of the extension workers (60%) tenure of extension service was between nine to thirteen years. Data in Table 1 also showed that 75.8% extension workers received fewer than 10 in-service trainings during their tenure of extension services, while 94.2% of the extension workers received fewer than five trainings on sustainable agriculture. As indicated in Table 1, most percentage of the extension workers (97.5%) had scores fewer than 15 on the basis of their contact with different information communication sources. Only 2.5% respondents had a score more than 15, while most percentage (about 91%) of the extension workers had moderate level of environmental awareness. Table 2 gives the mean and standard deviation of individual attitude items of the production viability towards sustainable agriculture of the extension workers. According to data in Table 3, a number of six statements were used for assessing the production viability of sustainable agriculture. Among all these statements, the statement Technology must be used as best as possible to increase efficiency of agricultural production had the highest mean of 4.33 (also SD was 0.75). The second ranked statement was Sustainable agriculture is useful to maintain long-term productivity of farm (Mean = 4.07, SD = 0.89). Table 3 lists the mean and standard deviation of the extension workers attitude towards economic viability. According to the data in Table 3, it is seen that, the statement on Research emphasis should be given to those crops which have a potentiality to grow with less

5 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 316 Table 2. Mean and standard deviation of extension workers attitude towards production viability. Statement Mean SD Technology must be used as best as possible to increase efficiency of agricultural production Sustainable agriculture is useful to maintain long-term productivity of farm Sustainable agriculture practices are beneficial to agriculture Sustainable agriculture practices are not easy to apply Sustainable agriculture system should produce adequate food to feed the whole world population Agroforestry system is important for agricultural production Overall Note: 1 = Strongly disagree, and 5 = Strongly agree. Table 3. Mean and standard deviation of extension workers attitude towards economic viability. Statement Mean SD Agricultural system which using crop rotation, green manure and animal manures can be economically comparable to traditional system that uses synthetic fertilizer Research emphasis should be given to those crops which have a potentiality to grow with less investment Many sustainable agricultural practices that may be successfully adopted in other parts of Bangladesh, may economically be feasible to grow at this region Overall Note: 1 = Strongly disagree, and 5 = Strongly agree. Table 4. Mean and standard deviation of extension workers attitude towards on Environmental viability. Statement Mean SD Sustainable agriculture practices are useful to protect the environment Sustainable agriculture reduces the uses of chemical fertilizer In sustainable agriculture recycling of agricultural wastes is also possible Most of the insects can be controlled without the use of chemical insecticides Few fungal diseases can be successfully controlled without the use of fungicides Planting more trees is an indicator of sustainable agriculture Overall Note: 1 = Strongly disagree, and 5 = Strongly agree. investment had the maximum mean with 4.21 and SD was Table 4 includes the data for the environmental viability statements of the extension workers of this study. There were six statements relating to the environmental viability. Among those statements, the statement Sustainable agriculture practices are useful to protect the environment had the highest mean and that was 4.16 (SD was 0.61). The second highest mean was 3.89 (SD = 0.86) on the statement Planting more trees is an indicator of sustainable agriculture. Table 5 showed the mean and standard deviation of the extension worker s attitude statements on social viability. There were a total number of five statements used to measure the attitude of the extension workers. Out of these five statements, the statement, Farmers must be informed to use sustainable agricultural practices was ranked first (Mean = 4.37, SD = 0.49). The second and third ranked statement was Extension programs are needed for educating the farmers on sustainable agriculture whose mean was 4.34 and Sustainable agriculture practices enhanced the quality of life for farmer and society as a whole whose mean was 4.14, respectively. Extension worker s overall attitude towards sustainable agriculture Extension worker s overall attitude scores towards sustainable agriculture ranged from 46 to 91, with an average of The respondents based on their overall attitude scores on sustainable agriculture were classified

6 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 317 Table 5. Mean and standard deviation of extension workers attitude towards on Social viability. Statement Mean SD Farmers must be informed to use sustainable agricultural practices Sustainable agriculture practices enhance the quality of life for farmer and society as a whole Extension programs are needed for educating the farmers on sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture should be considered only in agriculture The practice of sustainable agriculture is less because the farmers have less knowledge about it Overall Note: 1 = Strongly disagree, and 5 = Strongly agree. Table 6. Distribution of the respondents according to their attitude towards sustainable agriculture. Categories Number Percentage Mean SD Low attitude (score less than 70) Moderate attitude (score 70 to 82) High attitude (score more than 82) Total Note: A = Low: Mean 2SD < B Mean SD; B = Moderate: Mean - SD < C < Mean +SD; C = High: Mean + SD D < Mean + 2SD. Table 7. Extension workers characteristics and their influence on attitude towards sustainable agriculture. Variables Coefficient (b) SE t - value p Age Level of education Tenure in extension service In service training received* Sustainable agriculture training received** Source of information communication Environmental awareness** R 2 = 0.247, Adjusted R 2 = 0.200, Critical Value of F = 5.21 (*p< 0.05, **p 0.001). into three categories as shown in Table 6. From Table 6, it is observed that equal 18% of the extension workers had high level as well as, low level of attitude towards sustainable agriculture. On the other hand, 70% of the extension workers had moderate attitude towards sustainable agriculture. Islam et al. (2013) worked on the perception of agriculture extension agents towards sustainable agricultural practices in Bangladesh and concluded that most percentage (51.25%) of the extension agents had medium perception as compared to 37.5 and 11.25% that had high and low perception, respectively on sustainable agricultural practices. Relationship between selected characteristics of the extension workers and their attitude towards sustainable agriculture Coefficient of correlation was computed in order to explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the extension workers and their attitude towards sustainable agriculture. The null hypothesis was no statistically significant relationship exists between the selected characteristics of the extension workers and their attitude towards sustainable agriculture (Table 7). From the findings presented in Table 7, it is shown that sustainable agriculture training received and source of information communication and environmental awareness had positive and significant relationship with the attitude of the extension workers towards sustainable agriculture and on the other hand age, level of education, tenure in extension service and service training received of the extension workers had no significant relationship. The number of sustainable agriculture training received had significant positive relationship with the attitude of sustainable agricultural practices of the extension workers as value of r was 0.427** at 1% level of significance. It means that the higher the number of sustainable agriculture training of the respondents, the higher their attitude towards sustainable agriculture. It means the respondents who have taken

7 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 318 training on sustainable agricultural issue had better understanding of sustainable agriculture. Similarly, source of information communication of the extension workers had significant positive relationship with their attitude ( r value 0.196*). Shiri et al. (2014) in their study on attitudes of agricultural extension workers towards organic farming in Iran also found that the extension workers using more sources of data, more internet, reading more scientific magazines and research journal and also watching more TV were all associated with favorable attitude to organic farming. They concluded that the extension workers exposed more to information contacts of many types will show more positive attitude towards organic farming. The current research also shows similar type of finding. Environmental awareness of the extension workers also had significant positive relation with the attitude of them (value of r was 0.388**). Islam et al. (2013) worked on perception of extension agents about sustainable agricultural practices in Bangladesh and found similar positive and significant relation like this study of environmental awareness and extension agents perception. They also concluded that an environmentally conscious person can exert more effort towards practicing sustainable agriculture and more attentive person is likely to be more responsive to new ideas or innovation. Fertility management of soil through integrated way as well as, nutrient management of plants is an important prerequisite for boosting up and sustaining higher crop production. There are a number of strategies developed for the future for increasing agricultural production to be focused on using available natural resources more effectively, efficiently, and sustainably than in the past (Gruhn et al., 2000). According to the report of FAO (2004), there is no scope to increase the net cultivable land in Bangladesh; intensive cropping through integrated soil fertility and nutrient management could be one of the important ways to further increase of crop production. This adoption of sustainable agricultural practice require the farmers to take decision regarding proper management that enhances their higher crop yields and improves the soil fertility in the long run. Hence, there is a crucial role of the extension workers to play in assisting the farmers to take their decision regarding the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. Minarvic and Mureller, 2000 reported that, extension workers knowledge and support for sustainable agricultural concept is not favorable, although, the concept was recognized as very important. Therefore, for transferring the knowledge, skill and management of sustainable agriculture to the farmers, it is important to generate desirable changes in the attitudes of extension workers. Several researchers like Chizari et al. (2006), and Allahyari et al.(2008) showed that extension workers have problems of understanding the sustainability concept. In the USA, through a study, Agunga (1995) reported that the extension workers of Ohio did not have a firm understanding of sustainable agriculture. This influenced them to be less interested to promote sustainable agriculture. Extension workers in New England also have doubting attitude toward sustainable agriculture (Conner and Kolodinsky, 1997). Finding of the study of Pretty and Hine (2001) mentioned that currently sustainable agriculture is implemented in only 3% of the total farming land of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Singh and Osawaru (1990) also indicated that one of the main obstacles to adoption of sustainable agriculture is the lack of information for farm producers and way of disseminating this information to them. Barrow et al. (2010) conducted a study in Cameron Highlands in Malaysia and concluded with similar findings that adoption of sustainable practices is apparently less prompted by the efforts of the extension workers. A result of study indicated by Allahyari et al. (2008) showed that attitude of Iranian agricultural extension professionals including extension workers is not in favorable condition. The findings of the study conducted by Minarvic and Mureller (2000) indicated that extension workers attitudes reflected that they recognized the importance of the sustainable agricultural concept and had knowledge on it, but when asked about actions to be taken to apply a towards sustainable agriculture, there was no evidence of strong extension efforts. It is a great role of the extension workers to promote sustainable agriculture and help to adopt this sustainable agriculture towards the farmers. Hence, they should adequately have competent and good orientation themselves with sustainable agriculture. It is a basic need for them to acquire enough understanding of the sustainable agricultural concept. According to the World Bank (2006) and Toness (2001), the role of extension workers is very important to support sustainable agriculture. Karbasioun et al. (2007) reported that extension workers low level knowledge and skills regarding sustainable agriculture is a major barrier among many barriers of the adoption of sustainable agriculture. CONCLUSIONS Findings of this study indicated that the extension workers of the study area had moderate attitude towards sustainable agriculture. This indicates that more exposure of sustainable agriculture is needed for the extension workers. Most of the respondents in this study were between 31 to 40 years aged, while they obtained their diploma degree after SSC degree with their tenure of extension services between 9 to 30 years. They received less than or equal to 10 trainings as in service training organized by their department mainly while less than five trainings were on sustainable agriculture related training. All these characteristics might have impact on their

8 Academia Journal of Agricultural Research; Hasan et al. 319 sustainable agriculture and related practices in their job sector. In addition to this sustainable agriculture training received of the workers, source of information communication and environmental awareness had significant positive relationship with the attitude of the workers. RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the discussion and conclusion, major recommendations may be put forward for further policy formulation. The extension workers should be provided with different types of training programs related to sustainable agriculture. Extension workers should be encouraged to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in sustainable practices. However, in order to achieve better understanding of the attitude of extension workers on sustainable agricultural concept, it is necessary that further data collection with more areas be taken into consideration with more parameters. REFERENCES Agunga RA (1995). 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