Motive Factors of Adopting Organic and Conventional Farming among Spice Growers in Kandy District

Abstract

Organic products are popular and experiencing a rapid growth over the past two decades. Although government efforts in promoting organic agriculture with favourable policy changes and promotions, a minority of farmers still involve in organic agriculture. Previous studies showed that, farmers have adopted different agricultural practices due to various reasons. But very few studies focused on understanding local farmer motivating factors related to organic agricultural practices. Therefore study focused on to identify different factors that affect the adoption of organic agriculture. The study was conducted as a cross-sectional study with a pre tested interview schedule administered to organic and conventional spice farmers. A sample of sixty farmers (thirty for each category) was randomly selected from Udunuwara, Yatinuwara and Harispattuwa Divisional Secretariats in the Kandy District. In data analysis percentages, frequencies and means were used as descriptive statistics while T-tests, correlation and binomial logistic regression were used as inferential statistics. Results showed that most of the organic farmers were older part-time farmers who were having more interactions with local organizations compared to conventional farmers. Perceived health benefits of organic agriculture were the mostly stated motive factor of organic farmers while conventional farmers had strong economic motivations. Further, conventional and organic farmers had significantly different (p<0.05) attitudes towards their respective agricultural practice. Policymakers should consider non-economic aspects of farmer motivation such as health and environmental concerns, explored in this study to formulate policies addressing key attributes of farmers when encouraging them to convert to organic farming. Furthermore, the results of this study can also be utilized by extension services to create better extension programs to promote organic farming effectively and efficiently.