Effect of Farmers’ Attitude and Behavior on Farm Succession in the Philippines

抄録

Two of the major problems worldwide are the decreasing number of new farmers and aging of existing ones. These problems correlate to the challenges of the increasing demand on safe food and food production of the growing population. Decreased number of new farmers can be associated with the perception of new generations towards agriculture as most of them do not see farming as a lucrative profession. In addition, farming is also known to be a back-breaking, underrated, and undervalued occupation which leads the current farmers to think twice about handing-over their farm to their successors. In order to change the discernment of the society towards farming and to boost the confidence of farmers to bequeath their farm to their children, this paper aimed to understand and interpret farmers’ attitude and behavior towards farm succession. Specifically, this clarified the farmers’ actual situation on the ground, their attitude and behavior, and their family’s perception about farming. Organic farmers in Laguna, Philippines, were interviewed and observed. Life History Approach (focused on analyzing of the farmers’ lives to farm succession) and Grounded Theory Approach (provided guidelines to identify categories and make links and establish relationships between categories) were utilized. Results showed that farmers had varied perceptions in transferring knowledge and motivations to their successors. Upon being acknowledged in the society, most of the farmers’ moral were uplifted. They displayed positive attitude and outlook towards agriculture that were reflected through their encouraging behavior to engage their children in farming. Their children were also proud of their farmer-parents. In general, farm succession is one way to ensure agricultural sustainability. In order to do so, situation of farmers on the real ground must be understood through proper interpretation of their attitude and behavior that greatly affect farm succession.