Behaviors on agricultural chemical application of fresh tomato growers in Northeast Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to study farmer’s behavior on agricultural chemicals applications on fresh tomato production system. Data were collected with 240 fresh tomato growers in 5 provinces in Nakhon Panom, Sakon Nakhon, Nong Khai, Buengkan and Nakhon Ratchasima by using structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using SPSS for windows and expressed through frequency, percentage, mathematic means, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation. The comparison of growers’ behavior was undergone by t-test and F-test. The results showed that the most of growers were female, 61.7 percent, average age was 52.51 years. An average fresh tomato annual income was 70,169.49 Baht. An average land for fresh tomato production was 2.74 Rai. The most 3 popular varieties were Tong Nueng, Lukla Kampang and Thepratan. Most of the seed were from agricultural commercial shops (82.5 percent).  Average yield was 3,876.33 kilograms /Rai. Middleman from both outside and inside the village, and factories were main markets. The growers faced with serious plant disease and insect pest, were Wilt and Damping-off, and Blossom End Rot (BER). It was found that the growers had high levels of behaviors on agricultural chemical application. When compared of growers behavior with sex, education level, experience of tomato production, size of plots, tomato’s income and tomato production’s zones, were found statistically significant differences at P < 0.001, P < 0.01, and P ≤ 0.05 in many items.