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

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.

Palay Check System; technology adoption; ordered logit; rice farming

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