IJERDInternational Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2018) 9-2

Research articleerd

Farmers Perception of Fertilizer Management Practices forCotton Production in Magway Region of Myanmar
KHIN KHIN MU*Yezin Agricultural University, Research Based Ph.D. Course, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
Email: Khinkhinmu96@gmail.com

KYAW NGWE
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

THANDA MIN
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

AUNG NAING OO
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

SWE SWE MAR
Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, MyanmarReceived 27 January 2018

Accepted 25 October 2018(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract Cotton production is one of the main agricultural activities in the dry zone ofM anma . Unde anding he fa me
fe ili e managemen p ac ice fo co on
production was important to develop appropriate technology in order to increase cottonyield and ali . The main objec i e of heda o e al a e he fa me fe ili emanagement practices on cotton production in Magway Region. The survey was conductedin eight villages from four districts; Magway, Minbu, Pakokku and Thayet during May toJune 2017. Totally 160 famers from survey region were chosen by simple random sampling
method and individually interviewed with structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed byusing descriptive methods. Most of the farmers generally applied the urea fertilizer (65.6%),
NPK-compound fertilizer (93.13%) and foliar fertilizers (82%) as well as farmyard manure(97.5%) in this study area. Most of the farmers interested combine application of compoundand foliar fertilizer more than single nutrient fertilizer application. According to the resultsfrom the study, the cotton yields were directly related with fertilizer application practices.
So, lower crop yield and less profit in cotton production were found due to inadequate
amount of fertilizer applied by respondent farmers. Farmers were needed to improve theperception of fertilizer management practices in cotton production for increasing crop yieldand ho ehold income . Fa meag ic l al kno ledge i an immen el
al ableresource that provides farmer-to-farmer training or local technology transfer. Therefore, theextension stuffs should be upgraded the awareness of farmers for increasing seed cottonyield and agricultural knowledge on cotton production.
Keywords nutrient management, foliar fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, cotton

INTRODUCTION
Cotton is a principal fiber crop in Myanmar. Cotton lint quantity and quality depended upon
availability of nutrients and weather conditions of cultivated site. Most of the cotton grows farmers
sown during monsoon and post monsoon within June July and August September. Harvesting
practices were on October - November and December January. Fertilizer application was animportant factor in profitable cotton production in Myanmar. The main activities of cotton
cultivation and production were found in Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Bago divisions. About
52 percent of total cotton sown area was occupied in Magway Region (DoA, 2016). The targetⒸ ISERD

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IJERDInternational Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2018) 9-2

yield of seed cotton was 1600 kilograms per hectare (MCSE 2012). Modern agriculture provides
improved technology, breeding and using most viable hybrid seed. Then optimum use of fertilizer
has made waste saving in agricultural production (Nyein, 2000). Urea, triple super phosphate andmuriate of potash containing major nutrients N, P and K, respectively, were mainly used for cotton
production at the recommended rate ranging from 62 - 62 - 62 kg ha-1 for fertile soil to 124 - 62 62 kg ha-1 for poor soil depending on soil type and availability of irrigation water in Myanmar. PyeTin (2006) reported that although only 50 percent of cotton area applied fertilizers, an average of
30 to 40 percent practiced the recommended rate for cotton production. This result pointed out thatthe inadequate and imbalance fertilizers application in cotton productivity.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to e al a e he fa me
production in Magway Region.

fe ili e managemen p ac ice on co on

METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted in eight villages from four districts such as Magway, Minbu, Pakokku
and Thayet during May to June 2017. Totally 160 famers from survey region were chosen bysimple random sampling method and interviewed individually with structured questionnaires.
Descriptive statistics of demographic characteristics such as age, education level, farm size,
fertilizer application practices on their cotton production fields were recorded. These data wereanalyzed by using SPSS (Version 16).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Mayway Region situates approximately between north latitude 18° 50' to 22° 47' and east longitude
93° 47' to 95° 55'. These location is the second largest among Myanmar's seven divisions, with anarea of 44,820 square kilometer (17,306 sq. mi).The demographic characteristics of the sample
respondents showed that the majority of cotton farmers were male (97.5%) whereas female wasonly (2.5%). This indicate that women participation in cotton cultivation is low while they
participate more in harvesting and post-harvest activities such as processing and marketing of farmproduct. Sixty one percent of total respondents were 41-60 years old. The educational level of thefarmers was primary education (72%) and middle education (18%) in survey areas (Table 1).

Fig. 1 Cotton cultivated areas in the Myanmar 2015-2016 (DoA, 2016)
Among the sample respondents, 95% of them cultivated cotton in which Gossypium hirsutum
cultivated farmers were (85.63%), G. arboreum cotton farmers were (13.75%) and two varieties
cultivated farmers were (4.37%). Ninety four percent of the cotton farmers applied fertilizer.
Among them, 88.67% of the farmers practiced only basal application and a few percentagesⒸ ISERD83

IJERDInternational Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2018) 9-2(11.33%) were used at seedling stage. Forty four percent of the farmers applied only one time atflowering stage and (6.67%) applied two times at squaring and flowering stage (Table 2). In thestudy area, urea, compound fertilizer, farm yard manure and foliar fertilizer were applied by 65.6%,93.13%, 97.5% and 82% of the sample respondents respectively (Fig. 2). Sixty five percent of thesample farmers commonly followed mono cropping (cotton) and 30% practiced intercropping withsesame, pulse, and pigeon pea.
Table 1 The demographic characteristics of the sample respondents in survey area
Item
GenderAge (years)
Education Level

So ce; SCharacters
Male
Female20-40
41-60
61 <PrimaryMiddle
High
Graduate

Frequency
156
4
2196
41116
29
96

Percent of Respondents
97.5
2.5
13.0
61.0
26.0
72.0
18.06.0
4.0

e da aTable 2 The cotton production and input application management in farmers practices
No

Distribution categories

1Cotton cultivation
G. hirsutum variety cultivatedG. arboreum variety cultivatedTwo varieties cultivatedFertilizer using
Basal application
DAE application
Side dress once time
Side dress two time
Urea using
Compound fertilizer using
Foliar fertilizer using
F.Y.M using
Cropping pattern
Mono cropping
Inter cropping

23
4
5
6
7

Used practices
Percent offrequency
respondents
152
95.00
137
85.63
2213.75
74.37
150
93.75
133
88.67
1711.3366
44.00
106.67
105
65.60
149
93.13
131
82.00
156
97.50
104
48

65.00
30.00

Unused practices
Percent offrequency
respondents
85.00

106.25

55
1129
4

34.40
6.87
18.00
2.50

56
112

35.00
70.00

Farmers Perception of Fertilizer Management Practices
Total cotton cultivated area possessed by sample respondents were ranging from 1.05 to 2.23 ha
and 1.87% of the respondents occupied above 4.86 ha. Urea (62-124 kg ha-1) and 15:15:15
compound fertilizer (124-248 kg ha-1) was mostly used by respondents. In Table 4, it was observedthat compound fertilizer usage (92.5%) with the rate of 18.52 to 248 kg ha -1 and unused (7.5%).
Although the recommend rate of 15:15:15 compound fertilizer for cotton was 248 kg ha-1 (MCSE2012), most of the fields applied the rate less than 248 kg ha-1. Foliar fertilizer spraying frequency
was 1-7 for the whole crop season and mostly applied 3 times. The foliar fertilizers commonly usedwere cotton special (11.45%), Armo 1 and 2 (23.66%), Comet plus (27.48%) and golden lionproducts (10.69%). Farmyard manure (5 - 7 tons ha-1) was mainly used by 46.87% of therespondent farmers.

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Fig. 2 Farmer s perception of fertilizers management practices in the study region
Table 3 Distribution of respondents by fertilizer management practices [n = 160]
No1Features
Cotton cultivated area (ha)2

Urea application (kg ha-1)

3

Compound application(kg ha-1)

4

Foliar application (time )5

F.Y.M application (ton ha-1)

6Fa meo ned a ea (ha)Categories
0.2 - 1
1.1 -2.2
2.4-4.84.8 - above
Below 62
62 -124
124 - 248
248 above
Below 62
62 - 124
124 -248
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
Below 1.5
2-3
3.5 4.5
5 and above
0.4-2.0
2.4-4.0
4.4-6.0
6.4-8.0
8.5-10.0
10.5-12.0
12.5 & above

frequency
52
73
24
3
2576
3
1
22
111
13
1
2451
42
10
1
2
41
75
20
24
30
63
34
13
6
8
6

Respondents %
32.50
45.63
15.00
1.87
15.60
47.60
1.90
0.10
13.75
69.38
8.12
0.60
15.00
31.90
26.30
6.30
0.60
1.30
25.63
46.87
12.50
15.00
18.75
39.37
21.25
8.13
3.75
5.00
3.75

Source: Survey data

Descriptive Statistics Information of Farmers Perception in Survey Area
The mean al e of he age of e ponden fa mea 53 ea . Fa me indi id ally owned area
was range from 0.6 ha to 16.19 ha. The ranges of total cotton cultivated farm size were 0.2 ha to
7.3 ha and the mean farm size was 1.59 ha. The mean value of urea usage was 55.58 kg ha-1 incotton crop production in study areas. Some of the sample farmers applied as recommended rate

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whereas some of them used less than it. Moreover, the mean value of compound fertilizer was92.63 kg ha-1 (Table 4.).
The mean seed cotton yield was 1280 kg ha-1 while national target yield was 1600 kg ha-1.
Therefo e, fa me ac al ield a le han ha of a ge ield. Pe hap , i migh be d e o heapplica ion of fe ili e le han ecommended a e. The p opo ion of fa me income o p ice ofseed cotton revealed that 2010 kyats per kilogram. The mean val e of fa me
income a2,152,215 kyats. Depending on cultivated area, cotton variety, seed cotton yield, and price of seed
co on in hee a ea , fa me income a anging be een 1,782,335 k a and 2,522,096
kyats.
Table 4 Descriptive Statistics information of farmers perception in survey area (N =160)
Characters
Age (years)
Education level
Total ownership area (ha)Cotton cultivated area (ha)Urea (kg ha-1)
Compound (kg ha-1)
Foliar (spraying frequency)
Farm yard manure (ton ha-1)
Seed cotton yields (kg ha-1)
Seed co on P ice (K a kg-1)

Minimum
30.00
1.00
0.60
0.20
3.71
18.53
1.00
2.47
161.341306.40

Maximum
79.00
4.00
16.19
7.29
370.50248.007.00
14.82
3226.812939.40

Mean
53.27
1.39
4.95
1.59
55.58
92.63
2.75
6.66
1280.88
2010.63

Std. Deviation
10.933
0.761
8.106
3.049
0.482
0.463
1.590
2.677
210.263328.602

Source: Survey data

CONCLUSIONAs the study area was situated in dry zone, farmers willing to grow cotton than other crops during
dry season. Most of the respondent farmers cultivated G. hirsutum variety and cotton sole cropping
pattern in the study area of Magway Region. The results indicated that combine application oforganic and inorganic fertilizers response to higher cotton yield especially cultivating G. hirsutum.
If weather is favorable, the farmers realized that fertilizer application could increase crop yields.
Results of this survey provided some valuable and applicable ideas for further fertilizer appliedresearch. Cotton is very sensitive to fertilizer management practices. For this reason, farmers
should apply fertilizers carefully and precisely. Only a few respondent aware fertilizer application
management and effective application of fertilizer in crop production. It is required not only toreduce crop yield losses but also cotton quality should be improved. Therefore, fertilizers
application management practices should be systematically trained to farmers in cotton production.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to express my appreciation to Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Director,
Department of Industrial Crops Development, and Department of Agriculture for their support inmy study. I would like to thank to Magway, Minbu, Pakokku, and Thayet District municipality
Agricultural Manager and staff as well as to all the farmers who participated in this interview. A
Lot of thank to the Magway Division Manager and staff who kindness and careful in this studyejo ne an po a ion. I i h o e p e m mo l hank o mpe i o commi ee
their kindness and good suggestion for way of education.

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REFERENCES
Department of Agriculture (DoA). 2016. Statistical yearbook. Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock andIrrigation, Myanmar.
Myanmar Cotton and Sericulture Enterprise (MCSE). 2012. Good agriculture practices in cotton production.
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Myanmar.
Nyein Zin Soe. 2000. The role of agriculture in the development of Myanmar economy. Thesis submitted to
School of Public Policy and Management, Korea Development Institute, 51. Korea.
Pye Tin. 2006. Cotton in Myanmar. Myanmar Cotton and Sericulture Enterprise, 45, Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock and Irrigation, Myanmar.

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