Needs for Agricultural Advisory Services of Farmers in San Sai District, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

     This study was conducted to investigate: 1) the socioeconomic context of farmers in San Sai District, Chiang Mai Province; 2) the agricultural advisory services needed by the farmers under investigation; 3) the factors underlying the farmers’ need for agricultural advisory services; and 4) problems encountered by the farmers under study and their suggestions on what should be done. A set of questionnaires was used for data collection, administered to a sample group of 206 farmers in San Sai District, 2018/19 planting season. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the multiple regression technique.
     The study results revealed that most of the respondents were characterized as male, 54 years old, married, elementary school graduates, with 4 household members. On the average, they had 5.87 rai per household of farming area mostly under the field crop cultivation with three household members being the farm labor and earned a yearly income of 119,264.42 baht. Most of them did not have household debt and had less than 30 years of farming experience. Most of them did not have social position and they had never participated in agriculture-related community activities. Also, most of the respondents had never attended a training or joined educational trip on agriculture. They received news or information about agriculture 26 times per month on average and they mainly used water from the irrigation canal for agricultural purpose. Most of the respondents did not produce processed agricultural products. It was found that as a whole, the respondents had a moderate level of needs for agricultural advisory services. In details, their need for the development of the body of knowledge about agriculture was found to have the highest average mean score. Age and farmland area factors were found to have a positive statistically significant relationship with the needs for agricultural advisory services of the respondents. However, the farm income has a negative statistically significant relationship with such needs.
     The following were problems encountered: agricultural price uncertainty; drought or natural calamity, farmers’ ill health from aging, the lack of production factors, and the short-term nature of most agricultural extension programs which have prevented the continuity of development efforts and the presence of their clear impacts on the community. Therefore, the respondents suggested the followings to the Faculty of Agricultural Production of Maejo University: providing technical knowledge on crop production to meet standard quality; assistance for the sampled farmers to work with the community in developing the production and marketing plans; basic health care promotion particularly on safe food consumption; and preparing the long–term project for agricultural extension and development.