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 selfentrepreneurship. Therefore, to build a favourable attitude towards self-entrepreneurship, it is essential to create a comprehensive approach that integrates educational initiatives, capacitybuilding 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.