Relationships between socio-economic characteristics of farmers and their productivity: a study on paddy farmers in sub district Kelawat, Kota Belud, Sabah

摘要

Rice has been always been the staple food of the nation. There have been many factors affecting the paddy yield of farmers, as well as their productivity. One of the factors is socio-economic factors of paddy farmers such as age, marital status, educational level, number of family members, main occupation, main source of income, etc. This cross sectional study was conducted with the main objective to analyse the relationship between the selected socio-economic characteristics of paddy farmers and their productivity. A total of 60 paddy farmers in sub district Kelawat, Kota Belud were selected as respondents by using multistage sampling technique. The relationships were analysed using multiple linear regression model and Ordinary Least Square eOLS) method as the model estimation method. The perceptions of paddy farmers on factors which could affect their productivity were also included and analysed in this study by using factor analysis and Mann-Whitney U test. The regression analysis revealed that only marital status had a significant effect on the paddy farmers' productivity. Based on the factor analYSis, there were two main factors identified as the factors that affecting the paddy farmers' productivity which were environmental and human factor, as well as, input factor. The paddy farmers interviewed were then divided into two groups based on their productivity. But MannWhitney U test revealed that there were no significant differences between these two groups of respondents in terms of their perceptions on the environmental and human factor and also the input factor. The study successfully proved that socio-economic factors, based on the perceptions of the paddy farmers interviewed, would affect the productivity of paddy farmers. Therefore, the relevant parties, such as the Government should introduce a good strategy or program which could improve the socio economics, as well as, the productivity of paddy farmers in the studied area.