Motivation model for reducing the use of chemicals in the Water Chestnut’s farm in Si Prachan district Suphanburi Province

Abstract

              Objectives of this study included the investigation about motivation to reduce chemical fertilizer usage and propose the model of Motivation factors for reducing the use of chemicals in the Water chestnut’s farm in Si Prachan district Suphanburi Province This study was a qualitative research that applied focus group and in-depth interview to collect data. Participants in the focus group included 2 groups of water chestnut growers in Wangyang Sub-district.The researcher had consulted sample recruitment with Wangyang community leader, Participants with in-depth interview included 4 water chestnut growers including a farmer who was using bio-fertilizer, a farmer who used to use bio-fertilizer and was using chemical fertilizer, a farmer who reduced using chemical fertilizer and another farmer who was primarily using chemical fertilizer. Interview guide was applied with the interview. We had codified data from tape recording, classified data and transcribed the data into a concept based on content analysis.
            The research found that The motivation to reduce the use of chemicals is divided into 3 types: 1) The motivation to reduce the use of chemicals successfully consists of 1.1) Motivation in the group that was originally produced by using chemical and changed to reduce use chemicals. The important motivation to reduce the use of chemicals successfully are Social motivation, Economic motivation, Health motivation, Family relationship motivation, And personal motivation and 1.2) motivation in the group that used biological substances and changed to reduce the use of chemicals, the important motivation to reduce the use of chemicals successfully are Economic motivation And the difficulty in producing water chestnut by using biological substances 2) motivation to produce water chestnut by using biological substances Consisting of social motivation, Motivation in knowledge about using biological substances, And personal motivation 3) factors that make farmers still produce water chestnut by using chemicals mainly are Economic factors, Knowledge of chemical use Belief factor that no fertilizer or chemical residue, Marketing factors, And the difficulties in the operation. Suggestions from this research were focusing on motivating water chestnut growers who possessed small field or applying new agricultural theory in Wangyang Sub-district, Sriprachan District, Suphan Buri Province to reduce chemical fertilizer usage. We also recommended to create a network of agriculturists and specialists to advise about bio-fertilizer usage and reducing chemical fertilizer so that agriculturists could save their production cost and increase their yield. In addition, there should be an activity to encourage self-determination and intention among agriculturists to reduce chemical fertilizer usage consistently.