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Farmers' Perspective of State of Well-being and Benefits from Participation in an NGO Agricultural Extension Project
Abstract:
The study endeavored to determine the nature of farmers’ participation in the Alternative Rice Production Pattern Project (APPP) of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), to come up with farmer-identified benefits accruing from their participation in the APPP, and to find out the farmers’ perception of their well-being.
The study was conducted in Nueva Ecija, in the municipalities covered by the PRRM’s APPP, namely: San Jose City, Science City of Muñoz, Lupao, Talavera, and Buimba. Data were gathered through personal interviews with five PRRM-Nueva Ecija personnel. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Sixty-five percent of the respondents exhibited genuine participation in the planning of APPP activities. About 51 percent had pseudo-participation in the implementation phase and 60 percent had genuine participation in monitoring and evaluation of the APPP.
The respondents identified 14 economic, 10 psychological, eight family, six social, six environmental, four political, and two organizational benefits. Family benefits were perceived by the respondents as hierarchical. Satisfaction of financial and material needs of the family was ranked first followed by enhanced knowledge and skills in farming.
The five most mentioned meaning of well-being were (1) neither rich nor poor, (2) have just enough to live on, (3) have enough food, (4) able to give good education to children, and (5) able to lead a comfortable life. The study was also able to identify adequacy in financial and material resources, physical and mental health, and quality education as most important to the respondents’ well-being.
Majority of the respondents reported that their state of well-being “improved somewhat” as compared to when they were not yet part of the project. Another 25 percent perceived that there was “very little improvement” in their current state of well-being. The economic, psychological, and family benefits were also noted by the respondents to have contributes to the improvement of their well-being.
Respondents belonging to older group, and smaller family size and farm size tended to exhibit genuine participation in the planning phase of the APPP. Majority of respondents who identified economic benefits were males, while more females reported to have gained social and psychological benefits. Moreover, majority of those who indicated to have gained psychological and political benefits belonged to more educated group. Results also indicated that the benefits had contributed much to their current state of well-being.