Agricultural information exposure of Future Farmers of Thailand Organization members in Northeastern Region

Abstract

Labor is the most affecting factor to agricultural production sector. According to the preliminary data, the agricultural population is likely to decline continuously. There is also a lack of young farmers entering to the agricultural sector. Therefore, the study of agricultural information exposure of Future Farmer of Thailand Organization (F.F.T) members in Northeastern region was conducted. The F.F.T members are considered as youth and may be a new generation of farmers in the future. The total of 362 respondents served as sample of this study from May to August 2016. Interview schedule was used to collected data. Data were analyzed and presented through percentage, means, maximum, minimum, standard deviation, t-test and multiple linear regression analysis. The result showed that the agricultural information exposure of F.F.T members in Northeastern region were sometimes exposure (mean 1.09). The main information channel was teacher/lecturer (mean 1.63) followed by their family (mean 1.32), television (mean 1.29) and internet (mean 1.28). The frequency of information exposure was determined into 3 levels from 0-2. The comparison of different factor of F.F.T members was indicated that: 1) the different of age was statistically significant difference in study tour (P < 0.05) 2) the different of agricultural experience were statistically significant difference on 7 sources including teacher/lecturer, radio, television, printed media, friends (P < 0.05), study tour and government agricultural extension staff (P < 0.01) and 3) the different of agricultural training experience were statistically significant difference on 6 sources including teachers/lecturers, neighbors, printed media, study tour and government agricultural extension staff (P < 0.05) and radio (P < 0.01). The comparison of different factor of F.F.T members’ family was found that: 1) the different of father's occupation were statistically significant difference on 2 sources including family (P < 0.05) and teacher/lecturer (P < 0.001) 2) the different of mother's occupation were statistically significant difference on 5 sources including neighbors, community news broadcasting tower, television (P < 0.05), family (P < 0.01), and teacher/lecturer (P < 0.001) and 3) the different of parent’s land holding were statistically significant difference on 3 sources including teachers/lecturer, family and friends (P < 0.05). The influence of personal and family factors on agricultural information exposure were found that GPA, agricultural experience, membership of agricultural groups and number of household agricultural labor were influencing the agricultural information exposure of F.F.T members in Northeastern region statistically significant at P < 0.05 and agricultural training experience was influencing the agricultural information exposure statistically significant at P < 0.01. The result was indicated that intimate person was an important agricultural information source which was a great influence on the exposure of information to F.F.T members.