Determinants of Palaycheck System Adopter Category among Rice Farmers in Northern Mindanao, Philippines: Evidence from an Ordered Logit Model

Abstract

This study quantitatively examines the determinants of the Palay Check System adopter category among rice farmers in selected provinces of Northern Mindanao, Philippines. Using a cross-sectional survey of 271 Palay Check-trained farmers, the study employs descriptive statistics and an ordered logit model to estimate the association between socioeconomic, institutional, and farm-level factors and the adopter category, measured on a five-point ordinal scale (laggards to innovators).
Descriptive results indicate a mean adopter category level of 3.454 (SD = 1.157), meaning in the early majority adopter category, with substantial variation across farmers. The ordered logit model is jointly significant (LR χ² = 95.48, p < 0.001) with a pseudo R² of 0.121. Institutional membership exerts a strong and statistically significant positive effect on being in the higher adopter categories (β = 1.371, p < 0.001), increasing the probability of being in the innovator category by 20.41 percentage points. In contrast, tenure insecurity emerges as a binding constraint; tenants (β = −0.910, p < 0.01), leaseholders (β = −1.412, p < 0.01), and farmers under other tenure arrangements (β = −1.304, p < 0.01) exhibit farmers in the lower adopter categories, with reductions in the probability of being in the innovator category of up to 19.81 percentage points.
Non-farm income is negatively associated with the adopter categories (β = −0.000009, p < 0.001), consistent with opportunity cost effects. Education shows a weak negative relationship (β = −0.066, p < 0.10), while age, household size, farm income, and farming experience are not statistically significant.