Farmers’ awareness of the low yield of conventional rice production in Ayeyarwady region, Myanmar: A case study of Myaungmya district

Abstract

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation introduced the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) of rice in 2008. The adoption rate of GAPs is still low. As the first step of the adoption process, this study investigates farmers’ awareness of the low yield of conventional rice production. Based on the data of 315 farmers collected from a field survey conducted from July to August 2018 in Myaungmya District, Myanmar, and by applying the cluster analysis and binary logit model, the study found that farmers’ awareness was low for the aspects of farmer management and Ministry management. The finding of most interest is that farmers with more experience, higher income level, larger farmland size, and receiving agricultural information were associated with low awareness. Farmers with more farming experience were satisfied with the return of rice from conventional production. Some farmers received a higher total income from crop production because of a larger farmland size, and they are less aware of the low yield of conventional rice production. Even though farmers received agricultural information, they could not apply the information to rice production. Farmers’ awareness of the low yield can be increased through developing extension services programs to distribute useful information on rice production effectively.