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Although the government policy supports the adoption of hybrid rice in Bangladesh but there is no significant progress has been made over the last decades. The study aimed to determine farmers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of hybrid rice adoption, and the causal relationship between them in Bangladesh. Using a stratified random sampling technique, 244 cross-sectional surveys were done from the Sherpur district of Bangladesh. The descriptive statistics, two-round Delphi method, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to estimate latent variables and identify the causal relationship between KAPs. The results revealed that farmers' knowledge and attitudes were directly and significantly associated with the adoption of hybrid rice. This implies that farmers who are well informed about the usage of hybrid rice and are likely to embrace it and raise their revenue, can be influenced by knowledge. The study found a significant positive role for knowledge about hybrid rice, attitudes, and practices in adopting hybrid rice. This study provides a primary understanding of the relationship between psychological factors and the adoption of hybrid rice technology to increase rice farm productivity. The findings suggest that policymakers, researchers and development agencies should focus on farmers' psychological factors in improving the adoption of hybrid rice in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foodborne disease is a major health problem worldwide and unhealthy food handling practices are a cause of foodborne disease (FBD) transmission among – populations. Red meat handlers play an important role in ensuring food safety throughout production, processing, transportation, and preparation. This study investigates the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of red meat handlers in the Dhaka megacity of Bangladesh (DMCB). Four hundred cross-sectional samples were collected from the DMCB using a pretested survey-structured questionnaire. Descriptive, and inferential statistics, and the KAP model were applied using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with the help of SmartPLS 0.3 software to achieve objectives. All factor loading scores (>0.5) and Cronbach's alpha (α ≥ 0.69) were greater than the reference value, which means that indicators of reliability and internal consistency measure latent variables. The results found a significant positive association between red meat handling practice and knowledge and attitude. Red meat handlers' knowledge has a moderating effect on the relationship between attitude and practice, where attitude positively affects practices toward food safety. The findings revealed that the KAP model met the goodness-of-fit criteria (HTMT<1, SRMR<0.08, NFI>0.90) and was acceptable (AVF≤0.50). The estimated model for food safety knowledge, attitude, and practices is well-suited and deemed acceptable. The findings also reveal that food safety knowledge has a significant and beneficial impact on food safety attitudes. Furthermore, attitudes regarding food safety and its measures are linked in a significant way. The findings could aid public health professionals and practitioners in developing focused initiatives to improve meat handlers' food safety knowledge and practices and prevent FBD. The government should pay special attention to improving food safety knowledge and ensuring quality handling practices to protect FBD transmission in the DMCB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The domestic rice procurement program in Bangladesh aims to build stocks for the public foodgrain distribution system and provides income support to farmers. The support price is higher than the cost of production. We analyzed the factors influencing farm-level rice stocks and examined the effectiveness of this program. Understanding farm-level stocks is a pre-requisite in designing an effective procurement program in Bangladesh. In doing so, we used Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010, historical and survey data. We found that the farm-level stocks vary positively with production. Also, the stocks varied positively with respect to prices in Boro and Aus seasons, but negatively in the Aman season. Results also showed that government stock was negatively correlated with domestic procurement, but the planned distribution was positively correlated with it. Apart from that, annual household income including farm income increased due to participation in the procurement program. The implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper measures the total factor productivity (TFP), technical change (TC) and technical efficiency change (TEC) in rice production, and traces the impact of market reform policies of the 1990s on these indices at the farm level in Bangladesh using a unique cohort of three-period panel data (1987, 2000 and 2004) of 73 farms by applying stochastic production frontier approach. Results reveal that the TFP index has increased by 27% largely due to an upward shift of the technology frontier. Although TC has increased by an impressive 57%, TEC declined by 30.1% during the post-reform period, thereby depressing overall TFP growth. The market liberalization policies exerted significantly positive impacts on TC and TFP growth but negatively on TEC. Farm size and household size also significantly improved these indices while education, tenancy and off-farm income exerted negative effects. Policy implications include continued liberalization of markets and land reform measures to increase farm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]