Factors influencing Peri-urban Residents' Decisions to Adopt Gardening Innovations, Hat Yai District, Thailand

Abstract

Pressing and urgent environmental and social issues have taken on prominence in recent years. Thus, many individuals and organizations seek ways to alleviate these issues. One such way is through urban agriculture, which has been advocated as benefiting individuals, society, and the natural environment. Though some proponents' claims are hotly disputed, the potential for these benefits remains. This research comprised 2 objectives. The first was to investigate the current situation of urban agriculture in Hat Yai, Thailand's third largest urban area. Data was collected through a focus group and a questionnaire, with the local urban agriculture group for both tools. Content analysis and descriptive analysis were used to examine the data. Results indicate that the majority of urban gardeners are 46-75 years old, female, making less than the provincial household average. Due to lack of land for gardening, they predominantly grow in pots and other containers in front of their homes. Their major motivations for gardening, were to improve their health and to save money. The second objective was to determine various factors influencing residents to adopt or reject gardening innovations. It was reasoned that obstacles to adoption of urban gardening could be mitigated by adoption of one or more of the innovations that were introduced in the research. Answering the second objective made up the major portion of the research, where several new methods were introduced that participants were asked to try, then decide to adopt or reject. A questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and observations by the researcher were the main data collection tools. Content analysis was used to examine these data. Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations formed the theoretical foundation. Three sets of factors set forth in the book, namely attributes of innovations, characteristics of adopters, and contact with the change agent, along with aforementioned obstacles constituted the basis for examining the influential factors in participants' decisions to adopt or reject. In addition to these factors, other limitations were examined, including know-how, and space and time available for gardening. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were also investigated for their roles underlying participants' decisions. Attributes of the innovations and contact with the researcher were influential among both adopters and non-adopters, however, motivation was determined to have the most influence. Additionally, an unwillingness to further complicate urban life, and a misunderstanding of the methods and their design flexibility hindered adoption.