Farming Practices and Knowledge in Vegetable-Growing Farms: An Economic Survey in Three Years Farming
Authors: PUHAGAN EDWIN M. 
Published: August 2020

This study conducted based on the issues of local agriculture economic capabilities of the small farmers distributed among municipalities of Tawi-Tawi with its aim of providing feedback with regard to socioeconomic of local vegetable farmers during farm operation periods in 2016 up to 2019. It collected several indicators of socioeconomic that are deem products of vegetable farming framework and focused on the following specific problems: What is the socioeconomic profile among local vegetable farmers in terms of the following indicators such as, age, civil status, family members, household, type of house, ownership, farm size, food security, gender participation in farming and annual net income? Is there variation of socioeconomic status among vegetable farmers in three years farming? What are vegetable farming practices and knowledge learned from the services offered by the agricultural institutions adapted in three years vegetable-growing farms? What is the level expenditure by farmers in three years vegetable farming? Is there significant influence of vegetable farming practice as profession on the socioeconomic of the local famers? Only graduates of agriculture who farmers themselves were invited as respondents. The design used was descriptive. Its respondents comprised individuals who learned knowledge of farming offered by the Tawi-Tawi Regional Agricultural College in three academic years 2016-2019. The data interpreted using percentages and frequencies; mean and standard deviation through Likert scaling of the responses. For more concrete, it used all tools packaged in the SPSS software. This study is phenomenal in nature across the impact of farming on the socioeconomic of the vegetable farmers and its interpretation explicitly coupled with the literatures relevant to the issue on Tawi-Tawian VegetableGrowing Farms: An economic survey in three years farming. Respondents were in 35-40 age bracket, married, having 8-10 members in family living in one roof with 2-extended families attached, living in wooden nipa house with personally own garden lot and with food sustained by their respective harvest, almost all male participates in farming and gaining an annual net income of 130k to 160k. The Tawi-Tawian vegetable-growing farms had exclusively outdoor vegetable farming operation in the same system with slight variation in three years. Variables such as gender participation in farming, age, civil status, household size, food security and environment, income, family members and farm size are determinants to the socioeconomic of local farmers and the relationship among identified variables leads to conclusions about the influence of farming in reducing poverty hence, farming improves socioeconomic of those who engaged on it as a vocation. The strength of vegetable production pertaining to the area planted with vegetables affecting the socioeconomic depends upon the knowledge learned and practices adapted by farmers in farming. The increasing percentage of expenditure on vegetables farming related works over time per farm implies slight variation of total area planted to vegetables on individual farms from year to year. The farmers’ expenditures across all years, on average, the ratio of expenditures over the area planted each year varied by only very less percentage and very slight variation ranged in the value of peso and the percentage of expenditure. Further, the was a significant influence of vegetable farming practices as profession on the socioeconomic among vegetable farmers in Tawi-Tawi province.