IDENTIFICATION AND USE OF INDIGENOUS TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE BY THE FARMERS IN CROP CULTIVATION

The main focus of the study was to identify the Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) in crop cultivation and to examine the extent to which the farmers were using the identified ITK. The study also explored the relationships between farmers' selected characteristics and their extent of use of the identified ITK. Data were collected from 108 crop growers from three selected villages of Dumuria Upazila, Khulna District, Bangladesh, during December 2003. Only 1.85% of the farmers were high users, 13.89% moderate users, 47.22% low users and 37.04% are very low users of ITK. The family size and farm size were negatively related to their extent of use of ITK and the remaining characteristics did not have any significant relationship with the extent of use of ITK in crop cultivation.