FARMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS SELF-ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN PANCHAGARH DISTRICT

This study aimed to determine farmers’ attitudes towards self-entrepreneurship and identify the contributing variables. One hundred thirty-three (133) farmers from Sadar Upazila in the Panchagarh district of Bangladesh were selected for data collection using a multi-stage random sampling procedure through a structured interview method. Data were collected from November 2023 to February 2024. To assess the attitude of the farmers, Likert scale was used. The findings revealed that a significant proportion (69.2 percent) of the respondents held a favourable to highly favourable attitude towards self-entrepreneurship. Among the eight selected variables, seven, namely, age, educational qualification, farm size, annual income, organisational participation, extension media contact, and entrepreneurial behaviour, had significant relationships with their attitude towards self-entrepreneurship both in correlation and regression analysis. In regression analysis, age, educational qualification, organisational participation, and extension media contact had a positive contribution, while the other three variables, namely, farm size, annual income, and entrepreneurial behaviour, revealed a negative contribution to farmers’ attitudes towards self-entrepreneurship. Therefore, to build a favourable attitude towards self-entrepreneurship, it is essential to create a comprehensive approach that integrates educational initiatives, capacity-building programs, active engagement in agricultural organisations, acknowledges the experience and wisdom of aged farmers, and encourage them to share their knowledge and success stories with younger farmers.