M. A. HOSSAIN1*, M. S. ULLA2 and M. Z. HAQUE3
1First Assistant Vice President of Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL), Dhaka and 2&3Professor, Department of Agricultural Extension and Information System, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka, Bangladesh. *Corresponding author’s Email: aoladh@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The study was conducted at the Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during September to October 2006 to determine the extent of participations of Santal women in agricultural income generating activities (IGAs) in Dinajpur district and to explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the respondents and their extent of participations in agricultural IGAs. The study was conducted in five upazilas of Dinajpur district namely, Birganj, Biral, Sadar, Birampur and Nawabganj. Data were collected randomly from 100 Santal women by through interview schedule. Extent of participations of Santal women in agricultural IGAs was measured on the basis of participations of the Santal women in four agricultural IGA domains viz. (i) homestead vegetable cultivation, (ii) post-harvest activities, (iii) poultry rearing and (iv) goat rearing, each consisting of 10 income generating activities (IGAs). The study revealed that highest proportion (58%) of the Santal women had low participation in agricultural IGAs compared to 28% and 14% having medium participation and high participation respectively. Findings also revealed that level of education, farm size, annual family income, cosmopoliteness, extension contact, innovativeness, knowledge on agricultural IGAs and attitude towards agricultural IGAs of the respondents had significant positive relationships with their extent of participations in agricultural IGAs. Other variables of the study viz. age and family size of the respondents had no significant relationships with their participations in agricultural IGAs.
Keywords: Agriculture, Extension, Development, Income generating activities, Women, Minority and Ethnic group.