Author : Narong Sompong

Summary : This study investigated the communication networks and factors related to agricultural technology adoption among the respondents of two villages in the Kao Hin Sorn Research and Development Project (KARDC) area in Thailand. Its major objective was to determine the relationship of three factors, namely: communication network, individual characteristics and media exposure and agricultural technology adoption. Both direct and indirect influence of the three factors toward the KARDC's agricultural technology adoption were studied. All household heads in the two selected villages were respondents of this study. These respondents were interviewed by using an interview schedule with five parts. The first part asked about the respondents' demographic, socioeconomic, and agricultural characteristics. The second part sought information on media ownership and media exposure. The third part stressed the who-to-whom seciometry to identify the communication links of the individual with the others in a network. The fourth part dealt with characteristics of the agricultural technology based on the respondents' perception of these technologies. The last part asked about farmers' practices of the selected agricultural technologies promoted by KARDC within the fiscal year 1988-1989. The network analysis was accomplished using the UCINET program while the descriptive statistics and hypotheses testing used the SPSS/PC + program. Results of the study revealed that there were significant differences in interepersonal communication network indices between the two villages for betweenness, openness, and diversity. There were no significant differences in connectedness and integration. This was significant in that respondents differed mostly in socioeconomic and agricultural characteristics. At 0.05 level, correlation analysis revealed betweenness and connectedness was positive correlated with income, organizational memberships, and irrigation system. Farm ownership were correlated with connectedness.