Analyzing the Capital Requirements and Willingness to Shift of Gardeners to Propagation and Trading Tissue-cultured Aglaonema Plant, Selected Towns, Laguna, 2024

Date

6-2024

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Julieta A. Delos Reyes

Committee Member

Geny F. Lapina, Maria Angeles O. Catelo

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Abstract

One of the current concerns for the ornamental plant industry is how the locally grown beautiful plants will compete with imported tissue-cultured plants. The expensive in vitro seedling production remains a significant obstacle to wider implementation of this technique. As a result, the absence of investment funds becomes more apparent. While lending facilities exist, it is unclear how much should be made available to potential borrowers. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the capital requirements of gardeners for shifting to propagation and trading of tissue-cultured Aglaonema plant in selected municipalities in Laguna. It also: profiled the Aglaonema plant growers in selected municipalities in Laguna; estimated the investment costs needed by the growers/gardeners to enable them to propagate and trade tissue-cultured Aglaonema plant; evaluated the garden owners’ access to credit sources; ascertained the willingness of the garden owners to shift to propagation and trading of tissue-cultured Aglaonema plant; determined the factors associated with willingness of the garden owners to shift to propagation and trading of tissue-cultured Aglaonema plant; identified the issues they encounter in shifting to and propagating tissue-cultured Aglaonema plant; and recommended possible courses of action that would help other garden owners to shift to propagating and trading tissue- cultured Aglaonema plant.

A total of 102 gardener -respondents were interviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the garden owners’ age, marital status, level of education, household size, gardening experience, educational attainment, technical knowledge in tissue-culture, access to credit, and capital requirement. The total cost of the gardeners’ investments, amount of capital that they are willing to invest, labor expenses, and input expenses were also determined, from which the capital requirement was obtained. Partial budget was used to analyze the net change in income when gardeners shift to propagation and trading of tissue-cultured Aglaonema plant. The results showed that garden owners are 51 years old on the average, are married, have reached high school with average household size is four, average farming experience of 13 years. There will be a positive net change in income of PhP93,483.33 suggesting that shifting could improve their income even though the capital investments are high. The average distance between credit providers is 4.48 kilometers which implies that credit facilities are accessible to the gardeners. The results of the Fisher’s Exact test revealed that technical knowledge of the garden owners is significantly associated with their willingness to shift at a p-value of 0.006.

It was concluded that the gardener-respondents would be willing to shift to propagation and trading of Aglaonema, but they will have an average capital requirement of almost PhP100,000. They need to enhance their knowledge on how to properly propagate and care for tissue-cultured plants. They will earn additional income if they push through with the change even if the additional capital requirement is high. Recommendations include: conduct of seminars and trainings to improve the gardeners’ knowledge on tissue culture; increase local production of tissue-cultured aglaonema and other ornamental plants; government partnership with gardeners for greenhouse facilities; and promoting use of greenhouses for other ornamental plants.

Language

English

LC Subject

Aglaonema, Ornamental plant industry, Gardeners, Plant propagation

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2024 A14 M34

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Document Type

Thesis

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