The Use of Integrated Smart Farming Technologies in Rice Production among Members of the Udon Thani Rice Seed Center

Abstract

     The objectives of this research were to study; 1) personal and economic factors, and exposure to information regarding rice production among members of the Udon Thani Rice Seed Center; 2) the use of integrated smart technology in rice production; and 3) a comparison of personal and economic factors and information exposure with the use of integrated smart technology. The sample group consisted of 210 members of the Udon Thani Rice Seed Center, using a simple random sampling method.  Data was collected using interviews. Statistical analysis included percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-tests, F-tests, and LSD analysis for pairwise comparison.

The research findings revealed that most farmers were female, with an average age of 57.36 years. Most had primary school education (68.60%). The average annual income was 83,070.00 baht, while average annual expenditure was 39,333.81 baht. The average experience in rice production was 28.53 years, with an average of 3.16 laborers and an average rice cultivation area of 20.57 rai. Information exposure was mainly through mass media and activity media. Overall, the use of integrated smart technology was at a moderate level. This included the use of technology in land preparation, rice planting, and harvesting and post-harvesting. Hypothesis testing showed that differences in income, expenses, rice cultivation area, and exposure to activity-based and online media had a statistically significant different on the overall use of integrated smart technology at the 0.01 level. Furthermore, different rice production experiences had different overall uses of integrated Smart technology at a statistical significance level of 0.05.