Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (MJSA)

The primary objective of this research was to compare the utilization of ITKs across five specific upazila (Chitalmari of Bagerhat district, Paikgacha of Khulna district, Kotalipara of Gopalganj district, Shyamnagar of Satkhira district and Jashore Sadar of Jashore district). Data were collected through personal interviews conducted with a total of 500 (100 respondents per upazila) respondents, encompassing four distinct categories (crop, fisheries, livestock and weather related ITKs). Results revealed that crop related ITKs were used most by the respondents at an average of 67.8%, while fisheries related ITKs obtained the lowest level of usage. Among the five upazila, Jashore Sadar exhibited the highest (67.8%) utilization of crop related ITKs whereas Kotalipara showed the least (50.8%) usage. In terms of fisheries related ITKs, Shyamnagar upazila exhibited the highest utilization rate (41.7%), while the lowest (21.3%) usage was found in Kotalipara. Respondents of Chitalmari upazila found the maximum (42%) usage of livestock related ITKs contrasting with Kotalipara, which showed the minimum (36.7%) usage. Additionally, weather-related ITKs were utilized in Jashore Sadar upazila was maximum (75.3%), while least (47%) usage obtained in Chitalmari. Significant disparities were observed among the upazila concerning the categorization of adapters. Among five upazila, there had been a notable prevalence of a high rate of Early Adopters, while exclusively in Jashore, the dominance laid in the high rate of the Early Majority. This research sketches a clear finding that many respondents were primarily clustered within the medium-use category of ITKs, closely followed by those in the low-use category.