The knowledge and perception about COVID-19 among three tribal population of Khagrachari hill district, Bangladesh: a community based cross sectional study on ongoing outbreak

Background: The ongoing pandemic COVID-19 is a new disease that provides a little bit of knowledge. Modern society is getting further information about this pandemic. But the people who are far away from development may not get proper learning and instruction to defect the new virus. Keep this reality in mind, and we aimed via this study to find out the precipitance and knowledge about COVID-19 of the tribal community from Khagrachari district, who are backward and less developed people of Bangladesh.Methods: Simple random sampling method is used for selecting responders. A willing responder was interviewed using a per-developed questioner and 348 responders (Chakma-131, Marma-106 and Tripura-111) across the Khagrachari district. All statistical analyses were done by SPSS version 20.Results: COVID-19 is a viral disease known by 87.0% Chakma, 85.0% Marma and 81.1% Tripura alongside 54.2%, 53.8%, and 60.4% Chakma, Marma Tripura; respectively think that COVID-19 is a deadly disease. Using face masks as a safety measurement about 87% of Chakma, 85% of Marma, and 81.1% of Tripura but using hand sanitizer or shop was slightly low compared to facemask use. Although they were eager to take a vaccine at a particular time, it seems they are not optimistic about the vaccine's efficacy.Conclusions: Overall, the tribal population has sufficient knowledge about COVID-19 and has a good tendency to maintain proper health hygiene to prevent COVID19 infection.

Health Seeking Processes of Leprosy Patients in a Hill District of Nepal

To shorten delays in leprosy diagnosis, health-seeking processes have to be understood and documented. In 2015, the International Nepal Fellowship launched a three-year research project on the subject. One part of the project was a community study in which recent health-seeking efforts were to be studied in the light of earlier ones. The focus of this article is upon insights gained in field research in a village and its immediate surroundings in the district of Jajarkot, western Nepal. The research highlights the importance of a longitudinal, patient-focused study that covers the period from just before the start of leprosy services until late 2018. The research methods include participant observations, narratives, in-depth interviews, and documentary and statistical enquiries. The research shows that the introduction of the Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) in the early 1980s has drastically changed the local leprosy situation. The number of new cases has declined, there are far less impairments and disabilities, and those recognized as affected are no longer excommunicated. However, the delays before diagnosis tend to be long. A lack of leprosy diagnosing skills within the health services sector is one reason. The residents not recognizing early signs and symptoms is another. An expectation of leprosy endemic in certain kinship groups, and not in others, is yet another. And, for some, so is the fear of social stigma. Moreover, there is the delaying factor of more than one set of beliefs and practices in relation to leprosy:a traditional, mainly magic-religious outlook and approach which co-exists with allopathic (biomedical) views and methods.

Potential of Crop Residues for Energy Production in Nepal

The study aims at assessing the availability of crop residues for energy production in lowland, hill and mountain districts of Nepal. Rice, wheat, maize, millet and barley are included in the study that is based upon two different household surveys: (i) interviews conducted in 240 households to obtain key information about practices of crop harvesting, (ii) determination of the quantity of the main crops, their residues and alternative uses of the latter conducted in 27 households. Apart from the foremost use as fodder, there are five major uses of crop residues: building material, burning on the field, mulching of the field, selling and energy generation. Despite the higher amount of crop residues in the lowland (954 kg dry matter per capita and year) than in the hill district (547 kg capita-1 yr-1 ), the amount of crop residues used for energy generation higher in the hill (207 kg capita-1 yr-1 ) than in the lowland district (152 kg capita-1 yr-1 ). In the mountain district, the crop residue production is 263 kg capita-1 yr-1 , of which 26 kg capita-1 yr-1 are used for energy generation. The annual per capita energy equivalent from crop residues in the lowland, hills and mountains are 2.49 GJ, 3.42 GJ and 0.44 GJ which represent 30%, 33% and 3%, respectively, of the total annual cooking energy consumption.

Development of Land Management Technology for Continuous Jhum Cultivation in Hilly Area of Bangladesh

The experiments were conducted in three hill district of Bangladesh i.e. Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati under the Agro Ecological Zone (AEZ) 29 (Northern and Eastern Hills Tract) during March 2018 to November 2019 to study the fertilizers packages, NPK briquette and residual effect of fertilizers for continuous jhum cultivation. In this experiments, jhum crops were used as the test crop. The experiment was designed on Randomized Completely Block Design. The treatments consider as normal fertilizers packages (N60P20K30 S12 kg/ha), NPK briquette (N50P20K30 S12 kg/ha) and residual effect of fertilizers instead of farmers practice. By different fertilizers packages the results showed that the highest yield of Jhum rice was 3.81 tha-1 at Khagrachari, Maize (0.436 tha-1) at Rangamati, Sweet gourd (1.679 tha-1) at Bandarban, Chili (0.348 tha-1) at Khagrachari, Sesame (0.361 tha-1) at Bandarban and Marpha (Cucumis sativus) (0.742 tha-1) at Bandarban over farmers’ practice. Instead of normal fertilizer application, fertilizer NPK briquette was used with the highest yield of rice was 4.18 t ha-1 at Khagrachari, Maize (0.674 tha-1) at Bandarban, Sweet gourd (1.06 tha-1) at Bandarban, Chili (0.514 tha-1) at Khagrachari, Sesame (0.753 tha-1) at Khagrachari and Marpha (0.316 tha-1) at Khagrachari. After cultivation of jhum crops another short duration leguminous crops could be cultivated without fertilizers management. The highest yield of cowpea (1.043 tha-1) was obtained at Bandarban site. Yard long bean and Bean yield was also obtained 1.02 and 1.5 tha-1 respectively.

Effect of Slope Length on the Soil and Nutrients Loss from the Upland (Hill) of Bangladesh on Jhum Crops

The experiments were conducted in the hill district of Bangladesh (CHTs) i.e Bandarban, under the AEZ 29 (Northern and Eastern Hills Tract) during March 2016 to November 2017 to study effect of slope length on the soil and nutrients loss from the upland (hill) of Bangladesh. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments for the experiment were: T1 30m slope length, T2 20m slope length, T310m slope length and T45m slope length. The highest soil loss of 50.0 t/ha/yr was recorded in treatment L1 having the slope length of 30 m and the plot size 150 m2 (30 m × 5 m). The lowest soil erosion was noted (4.75 t/ha/yr) for L4 treatment with the 5m slope length having area coverage area of 25 m2. The amount of soil loss in L2 (20 m length) and L3 treatments (10 m length) were 42.7 and 21.9 t/ha/yr, respectively. Nutrient depletion increased with the increasing lengths of the hilly land along the slope. The highest depletion of OM and plant nutrients were recorded under the maximum slope length of 30 m (L1) being followed by the losses observed in L2 (20 m), L3 (10 m) and L4 (5 m) plots respectively. The maximum losses of OM, total N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S were 2542, 93.1, 0.295, 2.73, 35.2, 20.6, and 1.34 kg/ha/yr, respectively for L1 (30 m) plot. Slope length created a very positive impact on yield of Jhum rice. The maximum yield of Jhum rice was produced under 30m slope length (2.25 t/ha). Slope length had considerable influence on the performance of Jhum crops like sweet gourd, marpha, maize, white gourd and cowpea.

Different Fertilizer Packages has Positive Effect on the Yield Performance of Cauliflower and Tomato in the Upland and Hill Valley

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effect of different fertilizer packages on the yield performance of cauliflower and tomato in the upland and hill valley. Influences of different fertilizer packages on yields and fruit quality of cauliflower and tomato were compared during 2015 to 2017 growing periods under field conditions. The experiments were conducted in two hill district of Bangladesh (CHTs) i.e Bandarban and Khagrachari under the AEZ 29 (Northern and Eastern Hills Tract). In this experiments Cauliflower and Tomato in the upland hill valley soil were used as the test crop. The experiment was designed on Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with three replication. The treatments consider as Cauliflower: *T1= Farmers Practice, T2= N100P50K90 S18 Zn2.3 B0.5 kg/ha, Cowdung 5 ton/ha, T3= 125% of T2 and T4= 150% of T2. Tomato: *T1= Control, T2= N100P50K90 S18 Zn2.3 B0.5 kg/ha, Cowdung 5 ton/ha & lime 1.5 t/ha, T3= 125% of T2 and T4= 150% of T2. In khagrachari, the highest yield of cauliflower (44.98, 59.07 and 45.67 t/ha) and in Bandarban site (57.98, 53.47 and 55.66 t/ha) was recorded with T4 treatment that received 150% of T2 while the lowest yield was observed with T1 treatment receiving no fertilizer. In case of tomato, the highest yield (59.72, 55.73 and 36.07 t/ha) in Khagrachari site and in Bandarban site (56.43, 58.33 and 59.64 t/ha) was recorded with T4 treatment that received 150% of T2while the lowest yield was observed with T1 treatment receiving no fertilizer.

Soil and Nutrient Loss from Hill as Affected by Different Cropping and Mulch Practices in Hilly Area of Bangladesh

Soil and nutrient loss is a multifactor threat to crop production and the environment in hilly area of Bangladesh. Most studies on soil erosion characterization have not focused on soil and nutrient loss associated with erosion which were affected by different cropping and mulch practices. The demand for food is expected to significantly increase with continued population growth over the next 50 years, indicating that agricultural efficiency should be simultaneously stabilized and enhanced. The experiments was conducted in the hill district of Bangladesh (CHTs) i.e Bandarban, under the AEZ 29 (Northern and Eastern Hills Tract) during March 2016 to November 2017 to study the soil and nutrient loss from hill as affected by different cropping and mulch practices. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments for the experiment were: T1 Mulch (20 t/ha with rice straw) and T2No mulch in maize and turmeric field. Turmeric and maize cultivation showed economically better under mulch condition in hilly region. More nutrient depletion took place in no mulch condition under the cultivation of turmeric and maize crops. Due to non-mulching, the productivity loss in maize and turmeric was 1.37 and 2.56 t/ha, respectively. Turmeric showed higher benefit-cost ratio (BCR) in mulch practice (2.64) than in non-mulch (1.63) cropping.