The Effects of Climate and Policy Information on Farmers' Alternative Cropping Decisions and Information Receiving Channels in High Risk of Drought Area, Uthai Thani Province

Abstract

      In the dry season, government measures that were introduced to farmers for water management involved planting alternative crops that required less water instead of off-season rice. However, it was found that the area of planting of off-season rice still exceeded the government’s expectations. A better understanding of farmer decision-making was required in order to shape policies for supporting farmer adoption of alternate crops. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate farmer decision making with regard to the planting of alternative crops when climate forecast information was available, and how farmers perceived government policy on drought relief measures. We performed an artefactual field experiment with game playing and analyzed farmer decision-making behavior using the Mann Whitney U test and a regression model. In addition, a survey of farmer information receiving channels was presented and analyzed using descriptive techniques. Data was collected in March 2021, from 79 farmers in Thap-than District, Uthai Thani Province, which was considered to be an area at high risk of drought. The results showed that climate forecast information influenced farmer decisions to do with planting alternative crops, and that policy information alone did not influence farmer decisions. Moreover, the evidence suggested that most farmers received climate information from television and the Line application, and received agricultural policy information from agricultural officers. The findings strongly suggest that climate forecast information should be provided to farmers in high-risk areas through channels that the farmers can easily access  (e.g., television and Line). Furthermore, agricultural officers have a crucial role to play in communicating agricultural policy.