Le Anh, Tuan (2009) Socio-economic constraints to rice farmers’ adoption of the community trap barrier system for controlling rodents in rice-based farming systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Masters (Research) thesis, James Cook University.

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Abstract

In the Mekong delta region, rodents are one of the major pests that rice farmers need to control regularly using physical and chemical methods. Chemical methods are more commonly used because they are convenient. The Community Trap Barriers System (CTBS) is a new environmentally-friendly, physical rodent control method. Despite being introduced to farmers, the adoption has been slow because the technology requires collective adoption to overcome cost constraints. In this study, collective use of this method was found to be challenging because of two main reasons. First, farmers found it difficult to manage the trap barrier system as a common pool resource. Second, collective use at the field level is constrained by the difficulties to obtain consensus among farmers in the adoption area. Current levels of social capital, the source of collective action, at the field level were found to be in decline when compared with those in the past. The decline is attributed to the changes in relationships between farmers at the field level. Farmers are unable to maintain their traditional networks which were grounded on kin, neighbour, and friendship relations. In addition, social and economic development has improved rural lifestyles but this has resulted in a lack of need for the social capital represented by those traditional relationships, especially for the rice farming practice. The adoption of the CTBS, as well as other collective based technologies will be challenging unless there are efforts to improve social capital at the field level. This may well be best achieved at the local government level because farmers have a strong reliance on the government to facilitate the social capital generation process.

Item ID:	14973
Item Type:	Thesis (Masters (Research))
Keywords:	rodent traps, rice farms, Mekong Delta, community trap barrier systems, social capital, economic development, pest control, diffusion of innovation, common pool resources, agricultural extension, rice, rodent management, collective action
Date Deposited:	21 Nov 2010 23:23
FoR Codes:	07 AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES > 0703 Crop and Pasture Production > 070308 Crop and Pasture Protection (Pests, Diseases and Weeds) @ 50% 16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1604 Human Geography > 160401 Economic Geography @ 50%
SEO Codes:	82 PLANT PRODUCTION AND PLANT PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 8204 Summer Grains and Oilseeds > 820402 Rice @ 50% 91 ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK > 9102 Microeconomics > 910202 Human Capital Issues @ 50%
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