Good Agricultural Practices for Fresh Tea Leaves of Tea Farmers in Royal Project Foundation, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study personal and economic fundamentals, tea growing conditions, good agricultural practices for tea planting, comparison of good agricultural practices for fresh tea leaves of tea farmers according to personal fundamentals and economic factors, and problems and recommendations. Data from 121 samples were collected using an interview form, described by statistics, and tested for the statistical hypothesis using t-test and F-test. The results showed that most of the farmers were female, had average age of 52.45 years, and had primary education. They had average household members of 4 people, average tea production experience of 10.67 years, average tea production area of 6.90 rai, average labor of 11 people, average tea productivity of 374.71 kg/rai/year, average income of 102,276.28 Baht/rai/year, and used their own accumulated capital as a source of funds for tea production. Farmers preferred to produce Assam tea on hillsides by cutting and using manure as fertilizer, and always implement Good Agricultural Practices for fresh tea leaves (Mean 2.64 scores). Moreover, farmers with different tea productivity practiced on Good Agricultural Practices for fresh tea leaves differently (P < 0.05). Problems encountered in tea production included irrigating which results in low yields and lack of quality, highland transportation, and lack of knowledge on tea processing by farmers. These results of the study showed that the management of tea farmers’ post-harvest production is still needed to urgently find solutions.