Rubber based farming systems planning in Seaw subdistrict, Muang district, Loei province

Abstract

The objective of research was to plan the rubber-based farming system in Seaw Subdistrict, Muang District, Loei Province regarding the economically optimal cropping pattern. The researcher utilized a purposive sampling for 3 villages and then a total of 50 farmers were interviewed accidentally with the aid of structured questionnaire. The methods of descriptive analysis as well as linear programming (LP) approach were employed. The LP results were revealed mainly as follow. In the first cropping year, the net on-farm income of rubber based farming systems increased according to the replicated farm. As the result of area allocation, the optimal ratio of cultivated area for the rubber, corn and millet should be 41.20: 22.73: 36.07. Meanwhile, if the farmer would like to grow only one type of inter crop, the optimal ratio of planted area for the rubber and corn or millet should be 48.93: 51.07. Apart from this, the simulated farm reflected that the scarcity of labor input was not appeared in the study area. The results also implied that the government and private financial institution should expand the credit line to the rubber farm in Seaw Subdistric.