Factors Affecting Farmers’ Acceptance of Highland Paddy Rice Variety Planting in Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

Rice has been the national food in Thailand and the most important economic crop bringing numerous incomes to the country for a long time. Farming is the main occupation of most Thai people. The most popular and famous rice variety in Thailand is Khao Dok Mali 105. In the research, it is to study factors affecting farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice. From the population of 244,291 ethnic farmers in Chiang Mai, the sample was 400 ethnic farmers who plant highland paddy rice in Chiang Mai Province by calculating from Taro Yamane’s formula. The research instrument was a four-part questionnaire. However, two farmers did not complete the questionnaire, so the sample remained 398 farmers. Statistics for analysis consist of frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and logit model. The findings revealed that five factors affected farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice planting in Chiang Mai Province including gender, education, rice planting experience, monthly average income, and the number of labourers in the household, which were all statistically significant at p≤0.01. ‘Gender’ could decrease farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice planting in Chiang Mai Province in the percentage of 12.10. ‘Education’ could increase farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice planting in Chiang Mai Province in the percentage of 43.20. ‘Rice planting experience’ could decrease farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice planting in Chiang Mai Province in the percentage of 57.30. ‘Average monthly income’ could increase farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice planting in Chiang Mai Province in the percentage of 38.80. ‘Number of household labourers’ could increase farmers’ acceptance of highland paddy rice planting in Chiang Mai Province in the percentage of 21.50. For problems and barriers of the farmers planting highland paddy rice varieties in Chiang Mai Province, it was revealed that the farmers had two problems at the highest-level including paddy rice seed shortage for planting and co-growers’ internal problems.