การตัดสินใจในการเลือกระบบกรีดยางพาราของเกษตรกรชาวสวนยางพารา อำเภอนาทวี จังหวัดสงขลา

Abstract

This study aimed to (1) examine the conditions of the economy, society, and production conditions of rubber planters, (2) examine the tapping systems and the conditions for decision making of rubber farmers in the selection of rubber tapping systems, (3) analyze economic, social, and production factors that affect the selection of rubber tapping systems of rubber farmers, and (4) look for the problems and suggestions for the use of appropriate rubber tapping systems. 382 households in Na Thawi District, Songkhla Province were selected to involve with this study. The structured-interview questionnaire was used for data collection. Frequency distribution, percentage, mean, highest and lowest values, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis were statistics used for data analysis. The results of the study indicated that the average age sample size was 49.98 years. Rubber plantation was the main occupation. The average experience in rubber plantation was 19.36 years. The average income from rubber plantations was 276,335.28 baht per year. Farmers chose to use tapping systems which were divided into 2 main systems. The first tapping system was the one suggested by the rubber research institute for 29.32%. And the second system was the one commonly used by rubber farmers for 70.68%. However, the study found that the tapping systems always used were 1/3S 3d/4, 1/2S 3d/4, 1/2S 2d/3, 1/2S d/2, 1/3S d/1, and 1/3S 2d/3 for 30.37%, 30.10%, 16.75%, 7.07%, 4.97%, and 2.88%, respectively. Rubber farmers would choose the tapping system that had a high tapping frequency (tapping day). Three factors affected the decision making to choose the tapping system. Those factors were decreasing of rubber prices (=4.08, S.D = 0.84), incomes from rubber plantation (=4.04, S.D = 1.45), and the age of rubber trees (=4.02 S.D = 0.92). Most of the farmers (account for 70.94%) would change the tapping system after opening the tapping. The main reasons that farmers would change the tapping system were increasing incomes, changing of the season, and increasing the ages of rubber trees for 38.22%, 35.34%, and 21.99%, respectively. Changing tapping systems, rubber farmers would change the frequency tapping and the tapping length. Also, for factors affecting the decision to choose the rubber planting system of rubber farmers in all 3 aspects, the study found that the economic factors affecting the decision to choose 3 variables included the price of products with statistical significance at the level of 0.001, household debt, and rubber production with statistical significance at the level of 0.01. Social factors affecting decision making to use tapping system to choose the 2 variables included gender which had a statistical significance at the level of 0.01 and experience in rubber plantations with statistical significance at the level of 0.05. And factors of production affecting the decision to use the 4 variables of tapping system included characteristics of rubber plantations with statistical significance at the level of 0.001, number of rubber trees, rubber species with statistical significance at the level of 0.01, and age of rubber trees with statistical significance at the level of 0.05. For the rubber tapping problems, the study found the management of rubber tapping systems of farmers that the overall problems were at a moderate level. The rubber tapping problem encountered with the high level of impact were farmers lacked skills in rubber tapping with resulting in damage to the tapping page. Therefore, farmers should be trained to develop their skills in tapping rubber to prevent bark consumption excessive, short tapping life, and the occurrence of diseases affecting the tapping page.