Author : Puthachart Chunsakorn

Summary : This study sought to identify alternative strategies in extension education to promote technology transfer among the farmers and determine the effectiveness of these strategies in perception, knowledge level, and attitude changes among the farmers. A total of 473 farmers were respondents in this study, most of whom, were males (90 percent). Their mean age was 45.27 years and most of them (87 percent) had completed the primary (grade four) level of formal schooling. All were Buddhists and regularly attended temple exercises as required by their faith. Respondents were members of a minority group called SUEI of the Loantian tribe in Thailand and spoke the PASA ESAN dialect. Their main source of livelihood was rice cultivation, followed by animal raising and fishing. A few were also engaged in sericulture, silk-weaving, and bamboo basket making. The average annual household income was US$323.65, while the average cultivated land per household was 3.53 hectares. Three alternatives strategies were used to disseminate technological information on various farm pratices in the six villages in Tunglung subdistrict, namely: 1) formal group contact; 2) contact farmer; and 3) informal group contact. Perception, knowledge level, and attitude were measured before and after the implementation of the three strategies. Analysis of co-variance with unequal sub-samples, with completely randomized design (CRD) and T-test were used to test equality between mean of each variable before and after implemtation of the three strategies. Inter-relationships between variables were tested using the coefficient correlation.