Extension Guidelines to Participation in Agricultural Management in the area of Land Readjustment and Irrigation for Agriculture

Abstract

The purposes were to study: 1) factors of farmers' participation in agricultural Management 2) problems related to participation of farmers in agricultural Management, and 3) extension guidelines to participation in agricultural Management.

The populations were 1) 348, 595, and 567 farmers participated in the land readjustment and irrigation for agriculture project in Chainat, Kalasin, and Phatthalung provinces, respectively. The samples were determined using Taro Yamane's formula at an error level of 0.1, resulting in a sample of 78,86, and 85 people, respectively. The simple random sampling was used. Data were collected using an interview form on participation factors and farmers' participation problems. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and exploratory factor analysis. 2) Key informants on extension guidelines to participation consisted of 50 farmers, entrepreneurs, and agricultural extension scholars. The purposive sampling was used. Data was collected using focus group and analyzed by content analysis.

The study found that 1) An exploratory factor analysis of 13 variables related to the participation of farmers indicated that there were 12 variables organized into components. Two components could be summed up: 8 internal factors and 4 external factors. 2) An exploratory factor analysis of the 22 variables of farmers' participation problem showed all variables were included. It could be summarized into
5 components, namely, problems in extension and supporting production planning of 7 variables, problems of members and leaders of 6 variables, problems in wisdom / technology and production agreements of
4 variables, problems in capital and resources of 3 variables, and problems of incentive compensation of
2 variables. 3) extension guidelines to participation were: (1) encouraging participation in every step of the work process; (2) launching of collaborative learning process; (3) designing methods/activities appropriate to the community context; (4) creating activities for continuous participation; (5) establishing mechanisms to drive participation at different levels; and (6) linking with network partners.