Farmers’ Expectations on Oil Palm Plantations Project of Lanna Oil Palm Cooperative Ltd. in Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate expectations of farmers toward the oil palm plantation project of Lanna Oil Palm Cooperative, Chiang Rai Province, and identify the problems, threats, and restrictions of farmers participating in this project in Chiang Rai. The sample groups were a number of 175 oil palm farmers who were members of Lanna Oil Palm Cooperative in Chiang Rai. The questionnaire was used for data collections. Statistics used in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, maximum, minimum, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis.
The study found that most farmers had a moderate level of expectations toward production such as oil palm trees at special prices, financial credits and sources for plantation, and credits for supplementary plants, shown by the mean of 2.26. Economic expectations such as regular income, price guarantee for crops, and available markets were rated at 2.60. Social expectations such as information and knowledge accessibility, academic knowledge from relevant government agencies, and supports from grouping were also rated at 1.67. The hypothesis test revealed that educational levels and genders exposed the positive relations with expectations toward production with statistical significance, whereby males had lower expectations toward production than females. Costs, educational levels, and farmer status demonstrated the positive relations while genders showed the negative relations with economic expectations in a statistically significant way. In fact, males held more economic expectations than females. Ages exposed the positive relations, but educational levels disclosed the negative relations with social expectations in a statistically significant way. Most of the problems and restrictions found among farmers were low yields per rai of land, soil degradation, insufficient water in the dry season that leads to crop damage, unclear regulations within the cooperative, and planning for crop prices.