Author : Jularat Techapeolert

Summary : The study aimed to asses the self-confidence in farming of students among members of the Future Farmers of Thailand (FFT) in selected agricultural colleges in the Central Region of the country. It also studied the relationships between selected variables such as students' characteristics and the FFT activities and the self-confidence of FFT students. Seven agricultural colleges and 133 students with option in the fifth year level were randomly selected from the provinces of Singburi, Pethburi, Cholburi, Supanburi, Chacheangsao, Karnjanaburi, and Ratchaburi. Data were gathered through a questionnaire and analyzed using frequency counts, means, standard deviation, percentage, range, t-test, F-test, analysis of variance, and the Spearman-Brown method. Most of the FFT students were male and about 20 years old. Almost all lived in rural areas, especially in the farms. About half of them had good grades in the third year level ranging from 2.51 to 3.50, and they aspired to continue their studies after graduation. Most of their parents who were mostly farmers finished elementary grades. The FFT students perceived as favorable the economic environment where they resided. Five of the nine FFT activities had a high influence on students' participation in the programs. These were supervised farming program, cooperation, leadership, community services, and conduct of meetings. Self-confidence in farming was developed generally to a high level. The students' characteristics, namely: sex, residential background, educational attainment of mother, and occupation of parents, were significantly correlated to the development of self-confidence. However, only three factors (sex, residential background, and educational attainment of mother) were found to have contributed 16 percent of the development of self-confidence. While all the nine FFT activities were highly significantly correlated to the development of self-confidence, only four of them (i.e., supervised farming program, leadership, community services, and earnings and savings) contributed 43 percent to the development of self-confidence in farming. Among the independent variables, student characteristics, and FFT activities, the FFT activities had more effect on the development of self-confidence. Though the students generally had a high level of self-confidence in farming, their aspiration after graduation was still to continue their studies.