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During the study of butterflies of Bangladesh (Insecta: Lepidoptera) which carried out since June 2014 to March 2016, several expeditions were made by the authors in the different areas of Bangladesh and many butterfly species were collected and identified. Among them, five species namely, Zezius chrysomallus Hübner, 1823, Rapala tara de Niceville, 1988, Cethosia biblis Fruhstorfer, 1912 and Atrophaneura coon Fabricius, 1793, Cephren estrichopepla Lowe, 1908; and one subspecies, Pelopidas subochracea subochracea Moore, 1878 are newly reported for the fauna of Bangladesh and their distribution data are presented. This study was achieved with an aim to update the checklist of butterflies of Bangladesh. The previous sampling gaps in some areas of Bangladesh indicated by these newly reported species which may put forward further investigations on the butterflies of this country.

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True flies (Insecta: Diptera) are widely distributed and the key components in most ecosystems. The objective of this study was to identify the true flies’ diversity through DNA barcoding technique (658 bp sequence from the 5′-end of cytochromeoxidase I) in Bangladesh. Specimens were collected by a Malaise trap at Chittagong University Campus between April 2014 and March 2015. In this study, we examined 36476 sequences of 38267 true flies, and resulted 105 species, 109 genera, 54 subfamilies and 59 families. Among them 79 species, 69 genera, 12 subfamilies and 23 families are new country records. All the specimen records with the Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) (the species proxies), are available on the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD).

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Efficiency in agricultural production is indicative of the efficiency level of farm households in their farming activities. Farmers in developing countries do not make use of all the potential technological resources, thus making inefficient decisions in their agricultural activities. Herein, technical efficiency in relation with the production of three types of rice crop (Boro, Aus and Aman) was evaluated, with some determinants of technical efficiency identified, in Bangladesh. It was attempted, throughout this study, to access the status of technical efficiency in rice production in Bangladesh for panel data while using the Stochastic Frontier Production Model with either of truncated normal or half-normal distributional assumptions. Both time-variant and time-invariant inefficiency effects models were estimated, one at a time. Collected data from agricultural sector pertaining to three main rice crops in Bangladesh for the period of 1980 to 2008 were made used of throughout the study. The results revealed that technical efficiency gradually increased over the reference period with the half normal distribution being found preferable to the truncated normal distribution as regards the technical inefficiency effects. The value of technical efficiency was found high for Boro rice while low for Aus in comparison with Aman rice in Bangladesh for both distributions in either of time-variant or invariant ones. It was observed that the most efficient rice production system has occurred for the case of Boro with a technical efficiency of 0.98. Yearwise mean technical efficiency increased during the reference time periods.

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This study investigated adoption and determinants of adopting the bed planter developed by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and the impacts on productivity and farm income in the Rajshahi and Faridpur districts of Bangladesh. Primary data were collected during 2019 from 41 adopters and 80 non-adopters using a multi-stage random sampling technique. On average, the adoption rate of the BARI bed planter was 15%. Socio-economic characteristics such as farm size, farming experience, training, and extension contacts significantly differed between adopters and non-adopters. A probit model showed that farmer experience, extension contacts, and farmers’ club membership were key variables influencing the likelihood of BARI bed planter adoption. Policy recommendations based on these results include modifying current extension approaches and increasing investment in farm machinery.