Quality of Life of the Farmers Enrolling in Thailand’s Rice Pledging Scheme

Abstract

This research aimed to study the quality of life of the farmers enrolling in Thailand’s rice pledging scheme and the factors affecting their life satisfaction. Regarding research methodology, a quantitative feld survey was carried out to collect the data. The multi-stage sampling technique was applied to draw 2,115 samples from the farmers enrolling in the rice pledging scheme in the following four regions: 1) the northern region (Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok), 2) the eastern region (Ayutthaya and Nakhon Nayok), 3) the northeastern region (Ubon Ratchathani
and Surin), and 4) the southern region (Nakhon Si Thammarat). The results revealed that most of the farmers enrolling in the rice pledging
scheme had a moderate to relatively high level of satisfaction, which accounted for 96.5%. It was also found that they had the highest satisfaction on family well-being, followed by happiness in life, standard of daily living, environmental surroundings, and leisure and recreation. The factors affecting the quality of life of the farmers enrolling in the rice pledging scheme were income, family, standard of daily living, and satisfaction towards the rice pledging scheme.