LAND USE PATTERNS AND ADOPTION OF AGROFORESTRY IN BANGLADESH 195
standard of living. People practise agroforestry traditionally and the increasing
trends of its adoption are seen in the area. Most of the farmers are engaged in
traditional farming growing the main annual crop of rice with some wheat and
sugarcane – and with beans and vegetables as intercrops.
Sample selection
Very few farmers were found who were not practising agroforestry in some
form or other, but 60 traditional farmers were found and selected in order to
determine their reasons for not practising agroforestry. 110 other farmers who
were practising agroforestry on various scales and using various patterns were
selected purposively to provide as wide a range of information as possible.
Data collection and analysis
The primary data were collected from July 2005 to January 2006 by:
• rapid rural appraisal (RRA) for basic information on the farms;
• short structured interviews with the 60 traditional farmers – focusing especially
on the reason for non agroforestry system adoption;
• structured interviews with the 110 agroforestry farmers – focusing especially
on their experience, land use pattern, benefits and reason for agroforestry
adoption;
• direct observation and
• interviews with five groups focussing on species combination and motivation
for adopting agroforestry;
• interviews with key informants from Government, non-government and public
organisations.
Secondary data were obtained from statistical yearbook