Farmers' Willingness to Adopt the Drought-tolerant Rice Varieties -the Role of Farmer Field Schools and Farm Labor Force in Pangasinan, the Philippines-

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out factors affecting farmerswillingness to adopt the drought-tolerant rice varieties in the Philippines. This study performed a household survey with a total of randomly selected 151 rice farmers living in the rain-fed areas of Pangasinan, the Philippines. According to ordered probit and logit estimation, farmers adoption of the drought-tolerant rice varieties is positively affected by their participation in the Farmer Field Schools, experiences on drought events, and years of residence. On the other hand, village effects, the number of female household members engaging in the agricultural sector, and the distance to output markets negatively affect their adoption willingness. As the impacts of droughts are rising in the survey area, increasing the availability of the drought-tolerant rice varieties needs to be prioritized first of all. For it to do so, it is required to deliver the information on the varieties to farmers through the Farmer Field Schools. Besides, providing female farmers with information on the drought-tolerant rice varieties will be useful. Furthermore, it is recommended to facilitate farmersaccess to output markets for selling their farm products and linking it to their income increase. In facilitating farmersadoption of the drought-tolerant rice varieties, utilizing community organization or agricultural cooperatives could be helpful for encouraging their information exchange on the varieties and increasing their bargaining power in the output markets. Those implications will be effective for supporting potential users of the drought-tolerant rice varieties at the initial stage of the seed adoption in the survey area.