Financial and factor demand analysis of broiler production has been estimated in this paper using a farm survey data of 210 farmers from four major broiler producing areas (i.e., Dhaka, Rajshahi, Mymensingh and Chittagong) of Bangladesh. Findings showed that broiler farming incurred most of its cost from its operating input, mainly feed. Broiler farming was financially profitable, but the performance of Mymensingh division was comparatively low, arising from a high unit cost of production and low unit price selling than the others. The net return was highest in Dhaka division, while Rajshahi division showed the highest ratio in returns on investment. However, in terms of cost (variable) and net return of broiler farming, no significant difference among the study areas was observed. The value of own price elasticity for feed, chick price, and labour price were negative and inelastic, which were -0.00249, -0.05718, and -0.13101, respectively. Besides, a complementary relationship was found between feed and day-old chick and feed and labour while day-old chick and labour were substitutes. The study also revealed that cross price elasticity was highly inelastic, and changes in the prices of inputs did not result in massive changes in the quantity demanded of other inputs for broiler farming.

The present study was mainly an impact of farm and off-farm activities on household income and participation of rural women in the Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh. The specific aim was to compare the rural women's participation considering their socioeconomic characteristics, income contribution to household income, and its influencing factors. An Independent Sample T-test was used to compare socioeconomic differences. Pearson's correlation test was used to determine the relationship between women's personal income and household income. The propensity Score Matching (PSM) model was used for impact evaluation of off-farm activities. The result of the t-test showed that off-farm activities were significantly ahead for women from the farm women in terms of socioeconomic variables. There was positive and a strong correlation between women's personal income from off-farm activities and their household income. The result of PSM shows that off-farm activities have a positive and significant impact on rural women's income. Estimation of the binary Probit model and marginal effects of related explanatory variables revealed that educational status, family size, work experiences, personal income, saving, and training, significantly affected rural women's involvement in off-farm activities. Therefore, to increase the pace of work, the participation of rural women in off-farm activities needs to be made more effective and efficient, for which government and non-government organizations need to take necessary steps in area-based development (such as work environment, credit facilities, communication, infrastructure, etc.).

Fisheries sector has high potential for the economic development of Bangladesh. Bangladesh earns a considerable amount of foreign currencies by exporting fish, shrimps and other fisheries products. This study addresses profitability of tilapia production using benefit cost ratio. The study also examines input demand and output supply of tilapia farming in Bangladesh by applying a profit function approach. Results revealed that benefit cost ratio is greater than 1, means that tilapia production is profitable in the study area. Tilapia farmers are also responsive to changes in market prices of inputs and outputs. Tilapia price is the most dominant determinant of output supply and input demand. A 1% increase in tilapia price will increase output supply by 3.836% and increase demand for lime, fingerlings, feed and labour by 0.941%, 0.987%, 0.523% and 1.00%, respectively. Problem facing index analysis shows major problems faced by the farmers were low market price of tilapia, high prices of fish feed with adulteration and inadequate supply of good quality fry. Progressive Agriculture 29 (3): 248-258, 2018

This study was conducted to analyze the profitability of banana farming in some selected areas of Tangail district of Bangladesh during 2015. A total of 60 samples (16 small, 19 medium and 25 large farmers) were directly interviewed using a structured questionnaire for achieving the purpose. Apart from the descriptive analysis of the socio-economic variables of the selected respondents, the benefit-cost and functional profitability analysis of banana farming were also performed. The Cobb-Douglas production function was chosen to determine the effects of various inputs on the profitability of banana. The finding of cost-benefit analysis reveals that banana farming is a profitable activity in Bangladesh as the estimated cost of production was lower than the return in the selected study areas. However, the profitability differs among different farmers’ group and large farmers are more profitable in banana farming than small and medium farmers. In addition, the functional analysis identifies four inputs such as the cost of human labor, manure, fertilizer and irrigation as the significant determinants of profitability of banana farming in the study area. In this study, resource use efficiency was also measured to show the efficient resource allocation to attain the goal of profit maximization which showed that human labor, seedling, manure, fertilizer, insecticides, irrigation and bamboo has inefficient use of the resources, and farmers should limit the use of these inputs. The researcher suggested some recommendations to improve the present production situation so that banana farming could be more viable and attractive commercial enterprise. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 9(2): 67-75, December 2019