Noppon Nampradit. A study on the behavior of farmers regarding chemical utilization for the protection, control and elimination of plant pests : case studies of cassava, sugarcane and maize in Chainat and Suphanburi province . Master's Degree(Environmental Planning for Community and Rural Development). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2007.
A study on the behavior of farmers regarding chemical utilization for the protection, control and elimination of plant pests : case studies of cassava, sugarcane and maize in Chainat and Suphanburi province
Abstract:
This research on the behavior of farmers planting cassava, sugarcane and maize at
Chainat and Suphanburi Provinces aims to study their behavior in chemical application.
Data collection was conducted with a total of 278 farmers by questionnaire with structured
interviews. 51 of the farmers plant cassava, 150 sugarcane and 77 maize data assessment
was computerized with SPSS for Windows. General data is presented with description of
features and characteristics, quantity, frequency and data distribution. Statistical
applications are Percentage, Mean and SD. The relation of co-efficient between an
independent variable (level evaluation) and dependent variables is conducted by one tail
variation statistical analysis.
The research reveal that the farmers have a high level (97.48%) and medium level
(2.52%) knowledge of chemical application; medium level (98.20%) and high level
(1.80%) experience in the dangers of chemical application; moderately corrected (98.92%)
and highly corrected (1.80%) behavior in chemical application. Most of the farmers
(84.17%) encounter problems with chemical application particularly with expensive
chemical fertilizers. In this aspect, the related chemical suppliers and government agencies
should disseminate additional practical knowledge on chemical substances to the farmers,
for example, Effective Micro-organisms (E.M.).
For the hypothesis testing, the study found that personal factors such as gender,
age, educational level, annual income, size of farm land, characteristics of land tenure,
information received, agricultural period, period of pesticides usage, and risk experience
from pesticide application have no effect on behavior-use of chemical pesticides. The key
factors that affect their behavior on the use of chemical pesticides are their experience of
the danger of using chemical substances and their knowledge of chemical application.
The result of the study reveals the necessity of providing knowledge of chemical
application to improve the understanding of chemical pesticides for farmers generating.