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Evaluation of the Pilot Project on the Integration of Agricultural and Credit Extension Services to Small Farmers in Phrae and Nakhon Sawan Provinces, Northern Region of Thailand
Field Study Abstract:
The study evaluated the operations of the pilot project on the integration of extension and credit services to small farmers in Phrae and Nakhon Sawan provinces, northern region of Thailand. The owners of this project were the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) both of Thailand. The study also attempted to determine the factors that increase net family income of small farmers to more than 10,000 baht annually and the level of adoption of new technologies by small farmers in the rural areas.
Data were gathered from primary and secondary sources. Complete enumeration of 112 respondents (72 participants, 20 non-participants, and 20 involved officers) was done. A descriptive techniques was used to analyze project implementation "before" vs "after" in both provinces, comparison between "participants" vs "non-participants," and comparison of three sizes of landholdings (small, medium, and large). This was used to evaluate the impacts on respondents in terms of changes in level of income and new technology adoption. Other statistical tools were also used to facilitate analysis. It also applied farm investment and financial management using the cause-and-effect framework of analysis of the operations of the project.
Results indicated that the project led to increased net family income of small farmers from 8,129.79 baht or an increase of 59.97 percent while the aggregate was decreased from 23,569.67 baht to 20,440.81 baht or a decrease of 13.28 percent after the project. In Phrae, which was mainly composed of small farmers, net family income increased from 10,059.34 to 13,442.79 baht (33.36%). In contrast, Nakhon Sawan composed mainly of medium- and large-scale farmers, net family, income decreased from 32,681.28 to 25,160.07 baht (23.01%) after the project. On the other hand, net family income of participants after the project was higher than non-participants by 4.57 percent (20,440.61 baht compared with 19,547.50 baht).
The project failed to achieve the targeted rate of adoption of recommended technologies such as the general farm plan, usage of fertilizer, and high-yielded rice varieties. Half of the sampled farmers (50.29%) had planned for their crops but only 43.39 percent of them followed their plans. Although the percentage of sampled participant farmers who used the recommended fertilizer after the project was higher than before the project and non-participant farmers (61% vs 52% and 51%), the amount of fertilizer used was still below the (7.73 kg/rai) recommended amount (only 38.65% of the recommended). High-yielding varieties of rice used was low for both participants (25.47%) and non-participants (20.93%). After the project, the percentage of sampled participants who used high-yielding varieties of rice was lower than before the project (25.47% vs 35.60%) because of drought in the 1985 crop year.
Although the pilot project was not successful on the whole, assessment of sampled farmer beneficiaries' satisfaction indicated that they were satisfied with the project (73.61%). Sixty-nine sampled participants (95.8%) were willing to continuously participate in the project and 55 (79.3%) were willing to continue availing of credit extension services.
The pilot project failed in such aspects as recruiting small farmers, rate of adoption of new technologies, and marketing assistance because of low level of coordination between involved agencies' field officers and lack of administrative control system.
Expansion of the project and its redesign and readjustments depend on both involved agencies' executive groups.