FACTORS INFLUENCING NUMBER OF TREES ON FARMS AND FARMER'S CRITERIA FOR TREE INTEGRATION INTO FARMING SYSTEM A CASE STUDY OF DISTRICT OF KRANUAN, KHON KAEN

Abstract

The decline of forest resource, once the mainstay of many life supporting items for rural people, has highlighted the potential of existing trees in farming system of Northeast Thailand as the forest substitute. Public forest, a common resource, is seen as a factor influencing number of trees on farms. The objectives of this study were to identify factors influencing number of tree on farm and farmer's criteria for integrating tree into farming system based on the different levels of public forest use made by the communities. Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) technique was employed to study three villages in District of Kranuan, Khon Kaen which had different levels of forest use (high, medium and low) as indicated by their different distances from the forest. In each village 3 categories of households were selected based on number of trees on farms, high, medium and low. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on the selected households along the line of the predesigned main topics. The results showed that the public forest situated outside the villages had influence on the number of trees in the village. The village which made frequent use of the forest, due to its short distance to the forest, had more trees on farms than those <which made less use of the forest due to their further distance from the forest. Size of cultivated land of each farm had significant positive correlation with number of trees, and appeared to be the most significant factor influencing the number of trees on farms. Larger farms (areawise) usually had more trees on farms than smaller ones. Terrain where a farm was situated was another factor identified. Farms with large farm size tended to be more ready for tree integration, as they could produce enough agricultural crops. for subsistence and for cash than those with small farm size. Other criteria included kinds of trees to be grown which had to fit the primary use made by farmers, and place to grow trees which was determined primarily by farm's terrain type. Effects of trees on agricultural crops grown in association and on the ecosystem and availability of seedlings were the other criteria for tree integration on farm.