The present research examined the extent of adoption of improved farm practices by the farmers of Northern Bangladesh and determined the influencing factors for adopting these practices. This study was carried out in purposively selected Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur district and Sherpur upazila of Bogra district as a representative of the northern Bangladesh. Data were collected from randomly selected 218 farmers through pre-tested interview schedule. Various descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied for getting meaningful results. Findings portray that most of the respondents belong to middle age group with a mean age of 47.02 years. The highest 37.2 percent of the respondents completed secondary level of education. Agriculture is the primary occupation of 89 percent of the respondents. The farmers have very low level of participation in various organizations. Contact with various communication media is very low for Sherpur compared to Parbatipur. The farm practices adopted mainly by the farmers are modern varieties, line sowing, power tiller, optimum tillage, balanced fertilizer, STW/DTW, IPM, balanced irrigation, rice weeder, sprayer and threasure. Among all practices, ‘power tiller’ adoption is the highest and ‘line showing’ is the lowest. Mean adoption score is 70.60. Results of multiple regression model indicates that communication score, total cultivable land, and socio-economic score have significant positive relationship, and total land area affected due to drought has significant negative relationship with adoption of improved farm practices by the farmers. Moreover, logistic regression model portrays that technology adoption is 1.49 times lower for Sherpur compared to Parbatipur. Finally, we can say that socio-economic factors influencing adoption of improved farm practices may be taken into consideration while accelerating the face of technology adoption under farming system.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 13(2): 291-298, December 2015

This paper reviews the existing literature on gender differentiated climate change vulnerabilities in developing countries including Bangladesh. It is evident that climate change amplifies the vulnerabilities of poor people who are marginalized and more dependent on the threatened natural resources. Among the poor people women are seemed to be disproportionately affected by climate change. The review took utmost effort to unfold the root causes of gender differentiation under climate change scenario. It identifies some governing factors such as ownership, political affiliation, labor force participation that determine the extent of the effect of climate change. Deeper analyses of the literatures indicate that 'gender differentiated impacts'-are directly related to traditional gender roles of women. It also reveals the constraints to women's adaptation resulting from access to resource allocation and other elements of society. Drawing lessons from the existing literatures, finally it outlines some of the policy options to ensure the inclusion of women in development arena.

Abstract:-The study investigated the causes of drug addiction among the youth and identified the problems faced by young drug addicts as consequences of drug addiction. In this study, through purposive sampling technique total 42 drug addicts were identified. Data was collected by using structured questionnaire, interview schedule and observation. To identify the causes of drug addiction, an analytical technique namely Influencing Causes Index (ICI) was used. The study depicts that curiosity was first and foremost reason and temptation by friends was the second reason behind drug addiction among youth. This study also revealed that highest 76.19% of drug addicts changed taking of drugs one after another to get adventure by tasting different drugs. About 88.09% drug addicts feel being neglected by their relatives due to drug addiction. About 95.24% felt that they did not have any discipline in their daily life and 50% have experienced some sexual problems due to their involvement in drug addiction. About 33.33% were faced some physical problems like kidney failure, lungs problem, heart disease, paralysis and psychological problem in pornography etc. Areas and context specific data are important for future policies and effective surveillance initiatives.

Drought is a major constraint on agricultural production and livelihood in the north-western region of Bangladesh. An understanding of the effects of drought and farmers’ coping mechanisms is essential in designing technological and policy interventions for effective drought mitigation. The current study investigates the impacts of drought, examines farmers’ coping strategies for drought induced crop failure and the determinants of their mechanism choices by employing both quantitative and qualitative approach.  Multiple data sources, including semi-structured interview survey with 218 randomly selected farmers; and four focus group discussions with farmers, local leaders, NGO workers, and government officials were used to capture various aspects of drought risks and coping practices.  ‘Multinomial logit’ model was adopted to analyze the factors affecting the decision of coping strategies in response to drought. Results of farm household survey data indicates that the respondents experienced 3.15 droughts on an average in last five years which affected about 15 percent of their crop land and resulted more than 17 percent crop loss per year. Focus group discussions confirm that farmers followed various traditional ex ante and ex post coping strategies in order to avoid crop loss and minimize livelihood constraints.  The coping mechanisms mostly adopted by farmers among others were borrowing money, cultivating less water consuming crops and cutting meals.  Findings of multinomial logistic regression model reveal that the environment determinant of the choices of coping options was frequency of drought and main socio-economic determinants of coping choices were crop loss due to drought and land holding systems. J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 17(1): 58–64, March 2019

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