Factors affecting farmers’ satisfactions with mechanized rice harvesting in Malaysian paddy fields: A case study of hiring custom operators

Abstract

Shortage of labor during the harvest season is one of the problematic situations for farmers in the Malaysian paddy fields.  Thus, combine harvester has been utilized massively in Malaysian paddy field for the purpose of assisting the farmers to overcome the problems.  Majority use of combine harvesters in the country was provided by the state farmers’ organization that offers custom operators to be hired by the farmers during harvesting seasons.  A case study was conducted to identify and rank the factors that affect farmers’ current satisfactions with mechanized harvesting using combine harvesters that offered by custom operators.  A group of farmers comprising of 336 respondents at rice granaries in Tanjung Karang district, Selangor, Malaysiawas chosen as the samples for this case study.  The respondents were asked 20-items of questionnaire through face-to-face interviews in a survey method.  Five-point Likert scale analysis was used to scales the responses.  All the responses were then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21.0 software.  Meanwhile, the significance level of each factor affecting the farmers’ satisfactions was determined by factor analysis approach.  General comments from respondents with regard to services given by the custom operators were also evaluated qualitatively in this study.  The findings of study have completely admitted 4 out of 8 factors as the most significant factors in affecting farmers’ satisfactions with mechanized rice harvesting by hiring custom operators in Malaysian paddy fields. Such factors could be refereed by custom operators to improve their services.  Generally, these findings could enrich the knowledge of farm machinery management, and particularly in managing the harvesting operation with custom operators to achieve satisfactory field operations both from economics and quality of work aspects.