Abstract:
This study was conducted to investigate the impact of tea smallholders’ socio- demographic,
economic and farming characteristics on their adoption decisions towards three tea plant
varieties in Badulla district of Sri Lanka. Data used in the study was collected from a survey
using a multi-stage sampling technique during the period November to December in 2019. 108
respondents were randomly selected from three major tea producing regions in the district.
Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, chi-square test and one way ANOVA were used to
describe the basic features of tea smallholders whereas multinomial probit model was estimated
to examine the impact of the above characters on adoption decisions on tea plant varieties in
the study. Among the respondents, 43.5% of the smallholders chose VP 20/25 while 29.6%
and 26.9% of them chose VP 20/23 and CY9 tea plant varieties respectively. Chi-square test
revealed that, females are more likely to adopt VP20/23 variety while males more prefer to
choose VP 20/25 variety in the study. In order to identify the mean differences in yield across
three tea plant varieties, one way ANOVA was used and its results found that, average yield
derived from the two varieties namely, VP20/25 and VP 20/23 are the same and they are differ
from the variety CY9. Estimated results of multinomial probit model showed that, gender,
secondary education, farming experience, output from the chosen tea plant variety, prices of
each tea plant variety, types marketing channels and frequency of harvest were major
determinants on adoption decisions of tea smallholders. Findings of the study recommended
that government and extension agents should create a favourable environment like training
facilities, pricing policies and proper marketing channels for further improvement on their
adoption decisions towards the different types of tea plant varieties in the study area.
