Factors Affecting the Decision Making of Para Rubber Tree Plantation Farmers in Khlong Sai Sub-district, Tha Chang District, Surat Thani Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study: 1) the demographic and economic conditions of the farmers, 2) media coverage and famer exposure to media coverage concerned with para rubber tree planting, 3) the decision making of para rubber tree farmers, and 4) the relationship between demographic factors, economic factors, media coverage and the decision making of para rubber plantation farmers. The sample set consisted of 322 farmers.
Data were collected by interview. Statistics used to analyze the data included frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, maximum, minimum, and Chi-square test. The results indicated that most farmers were females and had an average age of 53.89 years. Most had been educated to the elementary school level, had 4-6 people in their family, and had been working as farmers for an average of 20.66 years. Most farmers had never been members of any group and their average income was 167,437.89 Baht/year. Farmers faced an average expense as rubber tree farmers of 12,326.09 Baht/year, and they generally paid this with their own capital. For most of
the farmers, their main occupation was para rubber plantation farmer. Two people generally worked on a farm and the average area under plantation was 19.00 rais. The average area of a plantation was 18.02 rais. Farmers received information about their industry from various sources. 33.5% of farmers got their data from government officers, 88.9% of respondents said they got information from the medium of television, 33.2% said they acquired information via seminars and conferences, and for 40.1% of respondents, the internet was an important source of information. The farmer’s activities as para rubber planters were strongly influenced by various factors mentioned above.
Testing of the hypothesis revealed that annual income, exposure to mass media, and training and seminars related to the decision making of para rubber planters at the 0.05 and 0.01 levels of significance.