Abstract:
The objective of this study was to assess the factors
associated with farmers’ choice of Paddy Marketing Board (PMB)
supply chain to sell their paddy in Ampara District. The research
was conducted among 100 farmers from ten Divisional Secretariat
divisions in the coastal belt of Ampara District. Stratified random
sampling was used to select the farmers of PMB supply chain
and private sector supply chain in the study area. A pre-tested
semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Binary
logistic regression was deployed to test the hypotheses by using
the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results revealed
that only 34% of farmers had knowledge about the PMB operation
among the private sector suppliers. The analysis further indicated
cultivating only on own land (p<0.05) positively impacted on the
choice of PMB. On the other hand, the scale of farming if less than
5 acres (p<0.01), if more than 10 acres (p<0.05), educational level
of the farmer if below secondary level and tertiary level (p<0.05)
were negatively impacted on the choice of PMB. However, there
was no impact with gender, contacts of extension services, transport
facilities and time of sales after harvest in the choice of PMB supply
chain of farmers. Late operation of PMB is the major issue in this
district, it has to be restructured to attract the commercial farmers.
