The Problems of RD43 Rice Production of Farmer Members of Large Scale Paddy Field in Mueang District and Pak Tho District, Ratchaburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to study 1) the demographic and economic data, 2) media exposure concern with RD43 rice, 3) knowledge on RD43 rice, and 4) problem of RD43 production faced by farmer members of Large Scale Paddy Field at Mueang and Paktho district in Ratchaburi province. The data was collected from 97 farmers using interview schedule during March – April 2019. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that most farmers were female at 53.6 percent. The average age of farmers was 54.24 years old and 71.2 percent of them had an elementary level of education with an average rice growing experience of 24.72 years. The average family members were 4 persons and the average rice farm labors were 2 persons. Those households who grew RD43 with the average area of 13.86 rai and could obtain the average yield of 580.87 kilograms per rai. The average income from paddy was 5,338.02 Baht per rai, while the average production cost was 2,879 Baht per rai. Most farmers at 83.5 percent used their own capital for rice production and 90.7 percent of them obtained water sources from irrigated canals. Farmers exposed the information about the RD43 rice from the Rice Research Center’s officers, local agricultural extension officers, and via television programs, which accounted for 88.7%, 72.2%, and 70.1%, respectively. Although 75.3 percent of farmers had a high level of knowledge about RD43 rice, they still misunderstood about key factors affecting grain yield. Therefore, concerned officers should educate farmers about these key factors. In term of problem of RD43 production faced by farmers, they could be prioritized from the top ranking as followed; (1) a marketing issue, (2) a farmer’s personal issue, (3) a production standard issue, (4) a production issue, and (5) a physical issue. Therefore, the public sector should establish a market network and marketing before implementing the project, as well as, help promoting the technology transfer related to product development for value adding. According to farmers’ personal issue and production issue, those concerned officers should revise and simplify a recording instruction that is easy for farmers to understand. Furthermore, there should be a mobile phone application that is convenient for farmers to record a field data and easy to implement.