Analysis of decision models for upland soil conservation in Argao, Cebu [Philippines]

Results of the study revealed that adopter farmers were generally male, younger, more educated, better informed of soil erosion problems and more optimistic about the yield benefits of soil conservation technologies. Cost and return analysis of their farm enterprises showed that adopter farmers, especially the early adopters, gained higher net return due to higher crop yields and lower use of fertilizer. Net return gap between the farmer groups further showed that non-adopters were incurring significant amount of opportunity cost in terms of foregone net returns from maize production due to non-adoption. Analysis of the three decision models showed that institutional and physical factors (i.e., training on soil and water conservation technologies, radio listening to agricultural programs and farm size) were the most important variables in explaining differences in farmer's perception of soil erosion problem and the decision to adopt soil conserving technologies. On the other hand, economic and institutional factors (i.e., farm income and access to credit) were the more dominant factors in explaining variations in soil conservation investment. The relative importance of each factor category were therefore observed to vary according to the stage of the decision process the farmer is facing. Hence, this study supports both claims that economic and non-economic variables played important roles in the adoption process of soil conservation technologies. However, one needs to qualify the stage of the decision process the farmer is faced with. Specifically, in the initial stages of the adoption process, i.e., the first and second stages which represent perception of the soil erosion problem and the decision on whether or not to adopt a soil conservation technology, the non-economic variables were the more dominant factors. On the other hand, in the final stage of the decision process which determines the degree of conservation effort and amount of soil conservation investment, farmers evaluated their adoption decision based on economic factors