CHAPTER THREE
3.0. MATERIALS AND METHODS:
3.1. Selection of the study site:
Gopalganj district was chosen purposively because it is an excellent representative site of Date palm husbandry. A list of five Upazilas of Gopalganj district, Muksudpur Upazila was selected randomly because most of the khejur palms of the district are concentrated there.There are 17 Union Parisads in the Muksudpur Upazila. Among the 17 union parisads,Gobindapur Union was selected randomly. There are 30 villages in Gobindapur union. Out of 32 villages Gobindapur village was selected randomly. Gobindapur village consists of huge plantation of Date palm. So this village was selected purposively.Out of 240 households 48 househods were selected randomly from the list.
3.2:Selection of the Respondents:
A preliminary socio-economic survey was carried out to ascertain important socio-economic parameters of the study areas to select the respondents for detailed study. The villages were surveyed completely at that stage. The instrument used for that survey was a structured questionnaire worked out in advance and pre-tested for intelligibility.The survey was designed to gather information relating to:family size, educational status,total annual income,occupation of the respondents, total land holdings,state of Date palm plantation,cultural practices,harvesting etc. After preliminary survey; socio-economic parameters of potential value for the study were reviewed.20 % sampling intensity was applied and thus a total of 240 households, 48 households were selected randomly from the village.based on the total annual income,the study peoples were categorized into thee groups as follows( High income groups,having total annual income more than 140,000Tk),(medium income groups,having total annual income range of Tk.80,000-139,000),(Low income group,having total annual income of not more than 79,000).
3.3 Collection of Secondary data:
Secondary data were collected from different sources, like internet, journals, books, seminar library of Forestry and Environmental Science, SUST, Sylhet,Upazila statistics office etc.
3.4 Data Processing:
The surveyed questionnaire was processed through a data base program. Tabular methods of analyses were intensively used to analyze the data.
3.5 Study Area:
The study was conducted at Gobindapur village of Gobindapur union of Mukudpur Upazila in Gopalganj district.
background:
Gopalganj district is a southern district of Bangladesh. Lying between 23°20¢ N latitude and 89°80¢ E longitude,. It consists of five upzilas namely Gopalganj sadar,Tungipara,Kutalipara, Kashiani and Muksudpur.Modhumati Beel route is an important manmade waterway. (BBS 2005).
Area and location:
Mukudpur Upazila occupies an area of 309.63 sq km.It is bounded by Nagarkanda and Bhanga upazilas on the east,Kahiani and Gopalganj sadar upzila on the west,kashiani and Boalmari upazilas on the north,Razoir upazila on the south.The upazila consists of 1municipality,17 union parishads,206 mouzas,260 villages. Here Main River is old Kumar.
Temperature and Rainfall:
Annual average maximum temperature is 35.8°C and minimum is 12.6°C with an annual average rainfall of 2105 mm (BBS 2005).
Soil:
The soil is alluvium,sandy to loamy fertile (BBS 2005).
3.6 Land use system:
Total cultivated land 24256 hactare, fallow land 6664 hactre, single crop 8.46%, double 87.34% and treple crop land 4.20%. main crops are paddy, wheat, suger cane, onion, garlic, betel leaf, vegetables, and sweet potato. Extinct or nearly extinct crops are linseed, sesame, indigo, china, kaun. Main fruits are mango, jackfruit, paaya, palm, lemon, litchi, coconut, and banana. Main exports crops are jute, onion, wheat, palm molasses, sweet potato.
3.7 Socio-economic condition:
In Muksudpur Upazila 43.09% of the total households depends on agriculture as main source of income, agricultural laborer 23.45%, wage laborer 2.21%, commerce 10.10%, service 7.69%, fishing 1.71%, industry 1.11%, hawker 2.32%, construction 1.39%, and others 6.93%. Among the peasants 18.6% are landless, 55.6% small, 23.3% intermediate and 2.5% rich, cultivated land for head is 0.11 hactor. The upazila consist of poultry 40%, fishery 6%, dairy 13%, and hatchery 2%.
3.8 Demography:
The upazila has a population of 295818 of which 150942 are male and 144876 are female. Out of total population 51.02% are male, and 48.97% are female. Various religious people are present in the upazila of which muslim 67.84%, hindu 30.41%, Christian 1.72%, buddhist 0.03%. Average literacy is 34.3% for both sexes in the upazila, 41.2% for male, and 27.3% for female.
Map of the study Area:
