Farmers Willingness for Adopting Turkey Farming: A study on Some Selected Areas of Joypurhat District in Bangladesh

To meet the increasing domestic demand of meat, the productivity of poultry sector needs to increase significantly where turkey farming can be a good option due to its higher potentials. In this regard, the present study aimed at determining the willingness of the farmers for adopting turkey farming. Willingness of the farmers was measured by developing willingness index. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews from six villages of Joypurhat district in Bangladesh. Total number of 2928 farmers of the selected villages constituted the population and out of them 293 farmers (10 percent) were selected by proportionate random sampling technique as sample of the study. Period of data collection was from October, 2019 to February, 2020. The selected twelve characteristics of the respondents were considered as independent variables while willingness of the farmers for adopting turkey farming was the dependent variable. More than half (58 percent) of the respondents had no willingness while about one-third (31.1 percent) of them had medium willingness for adopting turkey farming. On the other hand, very few (6.8 percent) of the farmers had low willingness and only 4.1 percent had high willingness for adopting turkey farming. The majority of the farmers (64.8%) had no to low willingness while only 35.2% of them had medium to high willingness for adopting turkey farming. Therefore, it can be observed that the willingness for adopting turkey farming by the farmers is not satisfactory level while still there is a huge scope to improve the scenario. Risk orientation, training exposure, attitude towards turkey farming, social mobility, annual income, innovativeness and knowledge on turkey farming significantly influenced the willingness of the farmers for adopting turkey farming. DLS and other concerned GOs and NGO along with private entrepreneurs need to take necessary steps to increase the willingness of the farmers for adopting turkey farming and undertake special program on various risk averting strategies for the development of turkey farming that might contribute in adding a momentum in the poultry sector of Bangladesh.