Chiang Mai Dairy Farmers’ Adaptation to Free Trade Area (FTA) Impacts

Abstract

     The main objective of this research was to study the factors related adaptation of Chiang Mai dairy farmers to Free Trade Area (FTA) impacts. The samples consisted were 164 dairy farmers who are members of dairy cooperative in Chiang Mai province. The research data was collected using interview schedules between September to December 2020. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics including Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation. Hypotheses were tested using Enter multiple regression analysis. The results showed that the majority of farmers are male with an average age of 50.3 years with a primary level of education, had 14.5 years of experience. In 2020, farmers had an average net income from dairy farming of 90,817.07 baht per month and an average outstanding debt of 499,330.77 baht. In addition, in 2020, it was found that farmers received information about the free-trade area an average of 4.48 times per month. However, farmers had a moderate level of the overall perception of the free-trade area (FTA) and farmers had to adjust to cope with the impact of the free-trade area (FTA) was at a moderate level. The hypothesis-testing results were education level and perceptions of free trade area (FTA) were positive statistically significant related with the farmers’ adaptation to Free Trade Area (FTA) impacts.