Extension of Coffee Production According to Good Agriculture Practices for Farmers in Mae Ramat District, Tak Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study (1) socio-economic conditions for farmers, (2) coffee production conditions for farmers, (3) knowledge about coffee production according to good agricultural practice for farmers, and (4) the extension guidelines of coffee production according to good agricultural practice for farmers.

The population of this research was 112 coffee farmers in Mae Ramat District, were studied from the entire population. The data were collected by using interviewing method and analyzed by using frequency, percentage, minimum value, maximum value, average, standard deviation and ranking.

The findings of this study showed that (1) 90.2 of the famers were male with the average age of 47.23 years old. The average year of experience in producing coffee was 4.47 years. The average coffee production area was 2.61 Rai (1 rai = 1,600 square meters). The average members of workers in coffee production were 2.48 persons. The average coffee production cost is 1,006.25 Baht/production cycle and the average coffee production income is 3,463.39 Baht/production cycle. (2) Using rainwater to produce coffee. Most farmers do not add fertilizer and do not use pesticides/pesticides. They sell their produce as fresh fruit with merchants coming to buy at the production plot. (3) Most farmers have the highest level of knowledge about coffee production according to good agricultural practice. (4) Farmers have a high level of need for extension from personal media, that is, fellow farmers.