Knowledge, Practices, and Marketing Channels of Vegetables with Good Agricultural Practice Standard in Chiang Mai

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to analyze knowledge and practice levels of farmers who produced vegetables under Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) standard by means of the testing means differences with F-test and to measure satisfaction levels of output distribution in each marketing channel with weighted mean score. The farmer households were randomized by means of stratified random sampling. Data were collected in the form of interviews with questionnaires from 166 farmer households. It was found that farmers had knowledge levels under GAP standard at a high level with the correctness of 74.58%. Testing differences in knowledge levels between farmer groups, it indicated that correct chemical use and suitable harvesting were different between farmers who were Royal Project’s or processing companies’ members and independent farmers and farmers who were members of GAP vegetable groups and independent farmers. In addition, the practices were at a very suitable level, especially in hygienic practice management in the fields. Furthermore, GAP vegetables were safe and were distributed to the certain markets where they could be traced for production back to the field, leading to the trade advantage and satisfaction levels of output distribution in each marketing channel were at a high level.