Socio-economic factors affecting the income and productivity of pineapple farmers in Samarahan, Sarawak

Locally recognized as nanas, pineapple is one of the well-known tropical fruits besides banana, mango and papaya. This unique fruit is being cultivated extensively in many parts of the world including Malaysia and commonly consumed fresh or in processed form. Due to its high demand worldwide, pineapple cultivation must be efficient in order to have high quality as well as continuous and sufficient supply. In Malaysia, this matter has been of high concern by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board (MPIB) and other related agencies. These agencies had been implementing various development activities to uplift the pineapple industry in the country. These included in activities to help the small-scale pineapple farmers in improving their income level. This study was conducted to determine the socioeconomic factors affecting the income and productivity of pineapple farmers in Samarahan, Sarawak. The survey commenced from July to August 2012 with total of 55 respondents using structured questionnaire as the research instrument. SPSS Software version 20 was used to analyse data collected. Binomial logistic regression analysis indicated that only land size was statistically Significant to the monthly income of pineapple farmers (B=.492, p<.05). In the meantime, the factor analysis and MannWhitney U Test revealed that perceptions of pineapple farmers with monthly income of below RM 830 and above RM 830 had no significant differences regarding the factors affecting their productivity namely inputs and awareness factor (Z=-.589, p=.556) and farm background factors (Z=-.288, p=.773). Land size affected the income of pineapple farmers in Samarahan, Sarawak. On productivity, the pineapple farmers agreed that inputs and awareness factor and also farm background factors influenced their productivity. Overall, these findings suggested that the pineapple farmers played important roles and with the assistance of the relevant agencies, they would be able to contribute in enhancing the pineapple industry in Sarawak and in Malaysia on the whole