Determinants of Farm Decision to Enter Land Diversion: The Case of Upland Farmers in Northern Thailand

Mixed cropping has advantages to famers because it allows diversification for reducing risk, which caused by unfavorable weather and market price variability. This research aims to analyze and determine factors that influence farmer’s decision to transfer from growing traditional crops (a single crop such as corn and lychee) to diversified crops. The logit model was used to identify factors associated with the farmer’s decision. Models based on a face-face survey of 185 respondents from six villages in Lampang province belonging to the highland community of northern Thailand. The results showed that farmer’ decision to enter into land diversion was different in terms of farmers’ socio-economic factor such as the education level of the farmer and household debt. The government subsidy and technical assistance of the agricultural extension services also significantly influent the farmer’s decision to accept the crop diversified method.