Adaptation towards Drought Crisis of Rice-Farmers in Plai Klat Sub-District, Bang Sai District, Province Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

     The main objective of this research was to study factors affecting adoption towards drought crisis of farmers. The Sample group consisted of 230 farmers by accidental sampling in Plai Klat Subdistrict, Bang Sai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. The research instrument was a questionnaires. Data analysis used Descriptive statistics and Enter multiple regression analysis.

     The results found that most of the respondents were male, 50.30 years old on average, rice income was 354,208.33 baht per year on average in 2022, and didn’t have their land holding. Most of them had 24.50 rai of rice cultivated area on average, rice variety was RD 41 (paddy), had 3 workforces on average, rice cultivating 2 times per year, and had 25.50 years of experience on average in rice growing. Most of them had sources of funds from their own, not being membership of the social group, and perceived agricultural news from neighbors. Adaptation of farmers towards drought overall was at a moderate level (2.93). The most adaptation of farmers was media exposure to drought information (3.16), followed by participation in drought responsibility (2.88), changing planting season/alternative plant (2.87), and water sources preparing (2.80) respectively. Factors affecting farmers’ adoption to drought found that there were 3 factors statistically significant at p-value ≤ 0.05. as follows: age, a source of funds that comes from own capital and loaning from Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), and farm area. Farmers’ problems in adaptation to drought had 3 issues: 1) improving and restoring water sources in the community; 2) participating in projects related to drought response; and 3) receiving knowledge and support for drought response from government agencies.