Adoption level of integrated crop management practices among rice farmers: Does the adoption of production technology predict postharvest technology adoption

Abstract

SAMARICA is the second district of Occidental Mindoro province in the Philippines having a vast land area for rice production. It supports the rice milling sector of the province with promising facilities for postharvest of rice. This study investigates the rice farmers’ adoption level of integrated crop management practices (ICMPs). The adoption ICMPs aims to promotes farm productivity and efficiency. A total of 404 rice farmers participated in this study selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Quantitative data were generated from the survey questionnaire and were analyzed using Descriptive Statistics. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the relationship between production and postharvest practices. The results revealed that rice farmers have “very high” adoption of rice production technologies except for water technologies and intermittent irrigation with “high” adoption level. In terms of postharvest, there is “very high” adoption of mechanized harvesting and recommended moisture content for rice but “moderate” adoption for rice parboiler, dying machines, and threshing of rice right after harvest. On the other hand, a statistically significant evidence was found for production technologies as predictor of postharvest technologies, specific for the care and management of rice (β =0.55; P<0.01).