Impact of adopting salt tolerant rice varieties in the coastal areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

Rice cultivation in saline prone area is very difficult. Some recently developed salt tolerant rice varieties are introduced in the coastal zone of Bangladesh. But their impact on income analysis is not done yet. The present study was designed to assess the adoption and impact on income of salt tolerant rice varieties viz., Binadhan-8 and Binadhan-10 cultivation in coastal areas of Bangladesh. In total 300 farmers from six salt tolerant rice growing areas, namely Patuakhali, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagang, Bagerhat, Khulna and Sathkhira districts were taken to conduct the present study. Profitability analysis was done to achieve the objectives of the study. The major findings of the study revealed that the average cost of production of salt tolerant rice variety (Binadhan-8 and Binadhan-10) was Tk 62670 ha⁻¹. Average cost of production for Binadhan-8 was Tk 61729 ha⁻¹ and it was Tk 63611 ha⁻¹ for Binadhan-10. Per hectare gross return of Binadhan-8 and Binadhan-10 were Tk 81934 and Tk 94786, respectively. Therefore, ha⁻¹ average cost as well as gross return of Binadhan-10 was higher than that of Binadhan-8. Average ha−1 net return received by adopting farmers was Tk 25690 and it was higher in case of Binadhan-10 (Tk 31175) than Binadhan-8 (Tk 20205). In the study area, the average yield of Binadhan-10 (5.45 t ha⁻¹) was higher than Binadhan-8 (4.92 t ha⁻¹). The undiscounted benefit cost ratio (BCR) was 1.40 which indicates that cultivation of these varieties is profitable to the farmers when all sorts of cost were taken into consideration. Results also revealed that most of the farmers are not using the recommended technologies regarding input usage and agronomic practices. The highest area coverage of salt tolerant rice varieties (Binadhan-8 and Binadhan-10) was in Cox’s Bazar district which is 3.7% of total cultivated area followed by Chittagong (2.62%), Bagerhat (2.40%), Patuakhali (2.18%) and Khulna (1.53%), respectively. In the study area, the highest income impact (27.1%) was in Sathkhira district, and it was the lowest (12.91%) in Patuakhali district.