Awareness and Compliance of Corn Farmers to Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines

Abstract

This study investigated the level of awareness and extent of compliance to certification of corn farmers with Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in corn development projects in the cluster municipalities of Nueva Vizcaya. The study sought to determine the demographic characteristics of the respondents, their level of awareness in GAP corn certification requirements, and extent of compliance in GAP corn certification. One hundred sixty (160) corn farmers who are active participant in GAP corn project were randomly selected. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, and mean were used in describing the demographic characteristics of the respondents. A four-point Likert-type scale was used to analyze the level of awareness and extent of compliance. The result revealed that both men and women are active corn farmers, older farmers, most have formal education, smallholder farms, more experience in farming and members in farmers’ organization and cooperatives. Likewise, the study indicated a high awareness of the respondents in GAP corn certification requirements gained through their participation to various GAP and GAP-related trainings and activities while compliance to GAP certification is moderate which resulted to low certified corn farms in Nueva Vizcaya. Demographic profile such as sex, education and trainings have positive correlation to the respondents’ awareness, however, there is no significant correlation to their compliance.