Author : Boonsom Waraegsiri

Summary : The study surveyed 200 household head farmers in four villages covered by the Maejo Institute of Agricultural Technology (MIAT), Social Laboratory in Chiangmai, Thailand. The study aimed to describe socioeconomic characteristics of the farmers and to determine their level of socioeconomic changes, identify the problems encountered in the Social Laboratory, and ascertain the relationship of the Social Laboratory exposure level to the level of socioeconomic variables. An interview schedule in Thai language was used to gather data. Frequency counts, percentages, ranges, means, and ratings were used to determine the farmer respondents' socioeconomic characteristics. Chi-square test, Student's T-test and Siegel's Sign test were used to evaluate the reliability of indices, determine the changes and relationship, and compare the differences, respectively. The average age of the farmer respondents was 43 years and 93.5 percent of them were males. Two percent had attended the secondary school level and 34.5 percent had no schooling at all. The average duration of their residency in their present villages and average years in farming were 21 and 18 years, respectively. Eighty-eight percent of the families were nuclear type, with an average of three children and five people per household. The minimum and maximum costs of their dwelling were 300 bahts and 100,000 bahts, respectively, with an average of 15,752 bahts. The average size of the land they owned was 7 rais. Their average annual net farm income was 12,930 bahts.