PERCEIVED IMPACT OF TEA FARMING ON LIVELIHOODS OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN PANCHAGARH DISTRICT

Özet

The main objective of the study was to assess the perceived impact of tea farming on livelihoods of the smallholder tea growers. The research was conducted in the Tetulia upazila under Panchagarh district. A total of 550 farmers constituted the population of the study, and 118 small tea growers were selected as samples of the study following simple random sampling techniques. An interview schedule was used for data collection, and data was collected from 28 August to 12 October 2023. Perceived impact on livelihood of the small tea growers were assessed based on a five-point Likert scale. In contrast, both Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient (r) and multiple linear regressions were performed to determine the relationships, influence and contribution of the selected characteristics to perceived impact of tea farming on livelihood of smallholder farmers. The results of the study showed that tea farming had a medium perceived impact on livelihood of the 67.8 percent farmers. The selected characteristics of the farmers such as education status, farm size, tea cultivating area, income from tea farming, innovativeness, knowledge on tea farming, and attitude towards selling price of tea leaves have significant and positive effect on perceived impact of tea farming on livelihood of the small holder tea growers. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the whole model explained 63.9 percent of the total variation in the perceived impact of tea farming on livelihood of the small holder tea growers. Education status, innovativeness, knowledge on tea farming, and attitude towards selling price of tea leaves showed significant positive contributions to the perceived impact of tea farming.

Key Words: Livelihood, Smallholder tea growers, Percieved impact, Tea farmers, Panchagarh district