Adoption of Rice Crop Manager Recommendations Among Rice Farmers in Pila, Laguna

Date

5-2018

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Hanna D. Miranda

Abstract

The study was conducted in Pila, Laguna wherein the municipality was awarded by the Department of Agriculture as the fourth top rice producing municipality in the country in the year 2016. According to World Rice Statistics, in the year 2017, Philippines was only able to produce 11.2 million tons of rice while the demand was around 13 million tons giving a rice shortage of about 1.8 million tons. Due to rice shortage, the country was forced to import the lack of supply from the neighboring countries. To combat this, there is a need to increase the rice yield. Several technologies were introduced to address this concern; one is the introduction of Rice Crop Manager recommendation for the rice farmers.

Rice Crop Manager was developed by the International Rice Research Institution in 2013. It is a decision tool provided for the rice farmers that serves as their guide. Rice Crop Manager generates a field-specific, three-part recommendation. These recommendations are: the fertilizer recommendation, the pesticide recommendation, and the irrigation recommendation. For the fertilizer recommendation, it provides the suggested type and amount of fertilizer that needs to be applied at a certain given time. The pesticide recommendation only provides the time for application. Lastly, the irrigation recommendation suggests specific methods of irrigation such as the alternate wetting and drying method.

This study was conducted to meet the following objectives posed by the researcher: 1) to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of rice farmers in Pila, Laguna; 2) to describe the awareness and perception of rice farmers to Rice Crop Manager recommendation in Pila, Laguna; 3) to determine the Rice Crop Manager recommendation level of adoption of the rice farmers in Pila, Laguna; 4) to determine what are the factors and analyze how it influence the adoption of rice farmers to Rice Crop Manager recommendation; and lastly, 5) to formulate a recommendation to facilitate adoption of Rice Crop Manager recommendation.

In order to meet these objectives, a sample size of 56 rice farmer adopters was obtained through simple random sampling. The rice farmers were then personally interviewed though the use of questionnaires. Focus discussion group method was also used for the non-adopters. Convenience sampling was used due to the resource constraints. After collection of data, factors were processed through the use of spearman correlation coefficients to determine the significant variables. Established significant variables were then processed in the ordered logit model to determine the probability of adoption.

For the socio demographic characteristics, majority of the rice farmers interviewed were male and in the age bracket of 41 to 60 years old. Furthermore, 50% have more than 15 years of farming experience; and, 40% were high school graduates. All rice farmers were able to describe the Rice Crop Manager as a guide that provides recommendation for their farm management. Majority has already been using the technology for at least a year and the reported source of information was mainly the local government. As for the non- adopters, it was concluded that majority of them are unaware of Rice Crop Manager recommendations. This might be due to the lack of information dissemination by the local government units. Comparing the previous practices before and after adopting the technology, 51.79% of the rice farmers strongly agreed that the recommendations lessened their inputs without compromising the outputs. On an average, the rice farmers were able to decrease their fertilizer inputs by 38.20 kg in urea and 22.12kg in complete fertilizer per hectare. Only 35.71% of the respondents agreed that the recommendations helped them in terms of pest management; while 35.71% disagreed that Rice Crop Management recommendations were able to help them in terms of irrigation management. For the overall assistance, majority or 58.93% strongly agreed that the recommendation gave a significant impact to their farm practices. On an average, the farmers’ yield increased by 392.27 kg in one hectare.

The adoption level of the rice farmers in Pila, Laguna was also classified through the use of adoption score and adoption index. After each respondent was classified, majority were under the medium adoption category. Hence, the rice farmers of Pila, Laguna can be classified as a medium adopter of the Rice Crop Manager recommendations.

Significant variables were processed in the ordered logit model and gave the following interpretations: 1) education gave a positive and significant association with the adoption of the technology. 2) the probability of adopting the Rice Crop Manager recommendation will increase if the educational attainment of the farmer increases. 3) if the financial ability of the farmer increases, it will also increase the probability that the farmer will have a higher adoption to Rice Crop Manager recommendations.

Based on the factors affecting the adoption of Rice Crop Manager recommendation, various recommendations for the government, the farmers, and the developers of the technology were made to increase the probability of adoption. The recommendations for the government included the provision of credit facilities because most of the farmers are customers of usurious lenders. Specifically, CARD Bank Incorporated was suggested. Provision of training for the rice farmers to be conducted by the local government units was also recommended. For the employees of the local government units like the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute that are the large scale disseminators, seminars conducted by the developers should be arranged. For the developers of the technology, omission of unnecessary functions and addition of other essential recommendations was added. Lastly, recommendation that the rice farmers of Pila, Laguna should conduct or participate in experiential group learning was included.

Language

English

LC Subject

Rice trade--Philippines, Rice farmers

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2018 M17 S53

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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