Determinants of the Adoption of Mechanical Transplanting Among Palay Farmer Beneficiaries in Nueva Ecija, 2019

Date

1-2020

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Bates M. Bathan

Committee Member

Bates M. Bathan, Antonio Jesus A. Quilloy, Agham C. Cuevas

Abstract

Rice is a staple food and the main source of income for many Filipinos. Unfortunately, current local palay production could not meet the country's growing demand. Palay farmers experience problems such as urbanization, climate change and high labor costs during peak farm operations. Mechanization is one of the many solutions sought to replace labor unavailability and achieve farm productivity, profitability and global competitiveness. However, there is a low adoption of mechanical transplanting. The study aimed to determine the factors that affect the adoption of mechanical transplanting among palay farmer beneficiaries in Nueva Ecija. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of palay farmers and the internal and external conditions of their farms; to assess the net income of palay farms by the type of planting method; to determine the relationship between socio.economic characteristics of palay farmers, the internal and external conditions of the farm and net income on the adoption of mechanical transplanting; and to identify problems in the adoption of mechanical transplanting and provide policy recommendations. A total of 43 randomly sampled palay farmers were interviewed for the study where 19 farmers adopt mechanical transplanting and 24 farmers are non-adopters.

Descriptive analysis was used to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers and the internal and external characteristics of the farms. Cost and returns analysis was used to determine the net farm income associated with each planting method. Welch ANOV A analysis was used to assess the significance of the mean values of the variables and Games-Howell post hoc test was used to compare the mean values between planning methods. Partial budget analysis was used to determine the positive change in net farm income from adopting mechanical transplanting. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the probability of choosing to adopt or not adopt mechanical transplanting based on four general factors, namely socio-economic characteristics of the farmer, internal and external farm characteristics, and net farm income.

Results of the analysis of cost and returns per hectare showed that farmers adopting mechanical transplanting have a significant difference in net income when compared to broadcasting but have no significant difference when compared to manual transplanting. Partial budget analyses showed a positive incremental change in net income amounting to PhP 22,097 per hectare for renters of the mechanical transplanter, PhP 21,663 per hectare for owners of the mechanical transplanter, PhP 17,602 for farmers availing mechanical transplanting services, and PhP 32,169 per hectare when compared to broadcasting. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that years in palay production, years of membership in cooperative, attendance in seminars and trainings on mechanical transplanting, and net farm income significantly increase the probability of adopting mechanical transplanting. The following recommendations were formulated based on the results of the study: strengthen partnership between DA-PHilMech and cooperatives that provide mechanical transplanting services; conduct more promotion and monitoring of the technology; and improve current practice of seed preparation.

Language

English

LC Subject

Agriculture

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2020 A14 M37

Document Type

Thesis

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS