Tea Production Practice under Good Agricultural Practice of Farmers in The Royal Project Foundation in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate: 1) socio-economic attributes of farmers; 2) practice of tea production under good agricultural practice; 3) factors effecting tea production under good agricultural practice of the farmers and 4) problems encountered and suggestions about tea production of the farmers. The sample group consisted of 153 farmer members of the Royal Project in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai province. A set of questionnaires was used for data collection and analyzed by using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.

            Results of the study revealed that most of the respondents were 53 years old on average, elementary school graduates and married. They had 4 family members and 3 household workforces on average. The respondents had a yearly income earned from tea production of 49,740.79 Baht but they had household debt for 67,486.84 Baht on average. They received information about good agricultural practice 4 times a year and contacted agricultural extension twice a year on average. The respondents attended a training on good agricultural practice once a year on average and most of them did not have any social position. The respondent had an average of 7 years of experience in tea growing under good agricultural practice on average and had a high level of knowledge and skill about tea production. Factors effecting tea production under good agricultural practice of the respondents with a positive statistically significant level were a number of family member, social position and knowledge about tea production under good agricultural practice. Only the number of household workforces was found to have a negative one. For problems encountered, the following were found: 1) there are restriction in use of chemicals to prevent weeds and insects and others such as expensive price, inadequate tea drying area, lack of skillful labors in tea processing and lack of continuity in purchasing tea products from various markets. It was suggested that body of knowledge about marketing should be supported; database on diverse sources purchasing tea products should be developed; and the tea price should be determined in advance to motivate farmers in management of the standard tea production process.