Awareness and Acceptability of Commercial Cultivation of Golden Rice Among Farmers in Selected Municipalities of Laguna

Date

6-2022

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Maria Noriza Q. Herrera

Committee Member

Cris Edwin B. Bonalos, Renen Szilardo C. De Guzman, Mar Cruz

Abstract

The province of Laguna is one of the rural areas wherein Vitamin A Deficiency is higher compared to urban areas and most of them are stunted children aged 6 months to 5 years old who are experiencing malnutrition which usually are deficient in vitamin A. Golden Rice, a newly approved transgenic crop in the Philippines that obtains greater amount of beta carotene, could be a valuable asset to combat the Vitamin A Deficiency which could further enhance the body’s visual and immunological systems. Since the rice farmers are the ones who will be responsible for producing and growing this kind of genetically modified crop before it can be supplied to other key actors in the rice supply chain and be finally marketed to the public for consumption, this Special Problem Research Report will be significant as it aims to know and understand the awareness, perception, attitude, and willingness of farmers to accept and cultivate Golden Rice.

This research generally aims to assess the farmers’ awareness and acceptability towards the commercial production of Golden Rice in selected municipalities of Laguna. Specifically, the research aims to: (1) present the rice farmers’ sociodemographic profile and characteristics of rice farming in the area of study, (2) identify the rice farmers’ level of awareness towards Golden Rice and their reasons behind their awareness as well as the farmers’ perception and level of attitude towards it, (3) evaluate the rice farmers’ level of willingness to accept and cultivate Golden Rice in their respected locality and the determinants that are significantly related with their level of willingness (4) determine the factors that influence farmers’ prospective decision to accept and cultivate Golden Rice, and (5) formulate courses of action that can be taken to increase the farmers' level of awareness, attitude, and willingness to accept and cultivate Golden Rice. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was adapted to investigate the factors that significantly influence rice farmers’ decision to accept and cultivate Golden Rice. Descriptive and correlational research designs were used in this study wherein a face-to-face survey questionnaires were utilized to collect the data needed and these were quantitative in nature since the questions that were asked were answered using numerical data.

In this research study, a two-stage sampling approach was also adapted. The first stage entailed a selection of the research area – selection of three out of thirty municipalities in

Laguna, which is Calauan, Pila, and Victoria. The second stage involved a simple stratified random sampling of respondents across these three municipalities and by using this, 93 rice farmers were randomly selected to answer the survey. According to the results gathered, majority of the respondents are males who are married with ages ranging from 46 to 59 years old and attained an undergraduate secondary education. Most of them belong to a family that has 4 to 5 household members with estimated annual income ranging from Php 50,001 to 100,000 which is described as a poor income class, and they have less than 50% non-farm income share and monthly expenditure for essentials ranging from 10,001 to 15,000. In terms of the rice farmers’ characteristics of rice farming operation, majority of the respondents are tenants who operate on a 1 to 2 ha farm wherein they chiefly sold rice ranging from 81-100 percent of their operated farm’s total rice output, and most of them plant rice twice a year and most varieties they cultivated are modern ones. Based also on the results of this study, most of the rice farmers in selected municipalities of Laguna have limited awareness. In line with this, majority of them obtained information about Golden Rice from the authority. This reveals that agricultural services units have started initiatives to spread awareness about Golden Rice. Afterwards, the results show that overall, most of the respondents agreed with the statements provided in accordance with their level of perception and it shows that they mostly have positive attitude about Golden Rice. Based on this, it was noticed that despite their slight awareness towards Golden Rice, the rice farmers still believed that Golden Rice has a positive impact on economy, livelihood, health, particularly on Vitamin A Deficiency, as well as on the market, environment and society. This also shows that majority of the respondents are moderately willing to accept and cultivate this GM crop.

By using the Pearson R statistical test and chi-square test of independence, both the respondents’ sociodemographics and characteristics of rice farming operation have negligible relationship and are not significantly correlated to their level of willingness to accept and cultivate Golden Rice. Meanwhile, both the respondents’ level of awareness and attitude towards Golden Rice have high positive relationship to their level of willingness to accept and cultivate it. In terms of the factors that may influence rice farmers’ prospective decision to accept and cultivate Golden Rice, it reveals that the

economic impact of Golden Rice and all the attributes of the developers and government are considered as very important factor, health impact and cost as important factors, and environmental impact and crop management of Golden Rice as moderately important factors, and among their social pressures, they voted government as very important factor and other key factors key actors in the rice supply chain, developers of Golden Rice, and joined organization, as important factors. Last but not the least, this study also showed that developers’ stewardship of golden rice (e.g. training, actual demo, activities organized by developers and government) is the highest suggestion of rice farmers to promote Golden Rice with their co-rice farmers.

It is recommended that rice farmers should have profound knowledge in agribusiness management and entrepreneurship specifically, they should know how to think, learn, and perform like agri-entrepreneurs. They should be able to understand the importance of exploring innovative technology to reach the needs of the market; for instance, the importance of cultivating Golden Rice for consumers with Vitamin A Defficiency. As a rice producer, farmers should realize that capturing the value of Golden Rice requires producing for buyers and final consumers. Farmers should be able to greatly understand the value chain of Golden Rice and why they are very important key actors for participating further down the value chain. With the support of agricultural services units of their municipality, a comprehensive stewardship program for Golden Rice should be set in place, explaining to rice farmers that they will support the entire value chain from seed production to post-harvest processing, to marketing. They should also educate farmers about management and entrepreneurial skills such as the risk management skills. Additionally, it is recommended that extension workers in their municipality should develop mechanisms and processes for information sharing and education on the rice farmers as well as training to better learn how Golden Rice will be cultivated and how it will be distributed and marketed to the consumers. Lastly, it is recommended that future researchers should conduct additional studies on the other factors influencing rice farmers’ decision to accept and cultivate Golden Rice and a qualitative analysis such as focus group discussion so as to gather a deeper understanding and detailed information about the knowledge, perception and, attitude of rice farmers towards Golden Rice.

Language

English

LC Subject

Rice trade--Philippines, Rice farmers

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2022 M17 P35

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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