Abstract:
The main objective of this research was to find out the determinants of the adoption of organic farming by pepper farmers. A sample of 60 pepper farmers from Udadumbara Divisional Secretariats division in Kandy district was randomly selected and the data were collected using a field survey during July-September, 2017. The data analysis was done using frequency, chi-square and binary logistic regression. According to the results, 36.67% farmers were adopters and 63.33% were non-adopters. Adopters of organic have more knowledge on organic farming practices. According to the binary logistic regression, gender (female) negatively affects the adoption for organic pepper farming while trainings attended and fulltime involvement in farming positively affect the adoption towards organic fanning. According to the SWOT analysis, high quality of Sri Lankan pepper, less contaminated pepper fields are the most significant strengths while high labor cost, high cost for organic certification, yield reduction due to adverse climatic conditions and slow adoption for organic farming are the major weaknesses. Growing international demand is the major opportunity whereas price competitiveness and low price of imported organic pepper are the main threats to organic pepper production. In developing organic pepper farming, the importance of systematic awareness programs for farmers regarding market information, organic certification and rising world demand for organic pepper in order to increase the rate of adoption is obvious. An appreciation for the positive externality of organic farming is desirable to motivate farmers. Furthermore, a government authority is required to control organic certification, farm gate price of organic pepper in order to receive the farmers a fair value for their commitment.
