The Factors Affecting to The Farmers’ Household Debts in Lopburi Province

Abstract

        This qualitative research study aims to study the condition of Thai farmers’ household debts in Lopburi province, and the factors affecting to the framers’ household debts. The samples were 400 farmers living in Lopburi province. The questionnaire was employed to collect the data which were analyzed using average, mean and regression analysis as well as ordinary least squares.
        The results showed that: 1) In average, the farmers’ households debts were at 83,992.50 baht. Most of them werethe formal debts which the farmerstake a loan for their agriculture productions from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) who isthe main creditor. The group of cassava farmers had more debts than the rice farmers, and the sugar cane farmers had as much debts as the rice farmers; 2) the important factors that lead to the farmers’ household debts were the savinghabits, the income from the non-agriculture activities and the expenses on both agriculture activities and non-agriculture activities with the statistical significance at 0.05. The reason is that the expenses on the agriculture activities could help reduce the debts, while the expenses on the non-agriculture activities could causethe farmers more debts.