Learning Process of Reducing Cost of Rice Production of the Farmers in Pasang Sub-district, Wiang Chiang Rung District, Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

The purposes of this study was to get the farmers of Pasang sub-district, Wiang Chiang Rung district, Chiang Rai province to learn the method of cost reduction in rice production appropriately. The samples were 70 of the registered farmers from Huay Kee Lhek village number 1, Pasang sub-district, Wiang Chiang Rung district, Chiang Rai province, The major rice seeds used by the farmers were RD6 (62.86%) for in-season rice field which occupied 1-10 Rai (58.57%) , 70% of the area was lowland rice field, and the method used was transplanting rice cultivation (58.57%). The reason of using rice transplanting was that the farmers had followed it traditionally and they had grown rice once a year. The water source was rain water. The amount of the harvested rice in 2018 was less than 5, 000 kilograms (58.57%). The farmers kept 51-100 kilograms of the rice seeds for breeding. Also, the study showed that most of the area was covered by weeds (95.71%) , not burning the rice straw before growing rice (72.86%) , the production cost of transplanting rice cultivation before joining the project was 3, 290 baht per Rai, and the production cost of broadcasting rice cultivation was 3, 420 baht per Rai. After joining the project, the farmers had learned 8 steps of reducing cost of rice production as follows: 1) rice seed selection, 2) soil preparation, 3) weed elimination 4) using chemical fertilizer and organic fertilizer, 5) pest prevention and elimination, 6) appropriate water management, 7) harvesting process, and 8) farm accounting. Before joining the project, the farmers had knowledge of reducing cost of rice production at a fair level with average score (¯x) = 2.41. After joining the project, the posttest score revealed that the farmers had an overall knowledge at a high level with average score (¯x) = 3.42, and the production cost of transplanting rice cultivation was 3, 050 baht per Rai and the production cost of broadcasting rice cultivation was 3, 060 baht per Rai. The project enhanced the farmers’ capability of cost management which could lead to production cost reduction further.