Farmers’ knowledge and practices on cardamom production in Namor district, Oudomxay province, Lao PDR

Abstract

The objectives of the research was to study factors related to farmers' knowledge and practices on cardamom production. The samples were 168 cardamom production farmers in Namor district, Oudomxay province, Lao PDR. Data were collected from December 2020 to January 2021 by using interview schedules. The statistics used for data analysis included frequency, percentage, maximum, minimum, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The result revealed that 87.50% of the cardamom production farmers were male, with an average age of 41.88 years, attained primary school, the average household labors were 3.2 people, the average cardamom cultivation areas was 12.04 rai/household, the average cardamom yield was 23.50 kilogram/rai and the average net income form cardamom production was 3,273.14 baht/rai. Most farmers have not received information and training about cardamom production. Overall, the majority of farmers had moderate knowledge levels and had high practices levels in cardamom production. The result of the hypothesis testing revealed that the knowledge in cardamom production of farmers was (positive) statistically significant (p<0.05) related to education levels, number of household labors and cardamom cultivation areas (negative). While the practices in cardamom production of farmers were statistically significant (p<0.05) related to gender, education levels, number of household labors, and net income from cardamom production. The important recommendations are the relevant agencies should transfer cardamom production techniques to farmers, provide cardamom marketing support, and arrange dryer constructions for farmers to use in drying cardamom.