An Exploration of Hybrid Maize Diffusion in Thailand

Since the release of hybrid maize varieties in Thailand in 1980, hybrid maize has become popular among maize growers and currently covers most of the total maize production areas. The first hybrid varieties were largely dominated by the public sector, but the early 1990s, there was a substantial change in maize seed industry, marked by an increasing role of private seed companies on production practice. Even though several studies showed that private hybrid maize varieties are more productive than openpollinated varieties and public hybrid maize varieties in Thailand, the impacts of productivity as well as other factors on the adoption decision and overall adoption rate are not yet clearly understood. This paper explains the diffusion of hybrid maize varieties and identifies the factors influencing their adoption by applying the diffusion of innovations concept. The research reveals the consistency between the distributions of the hybrid maize in Thailand with the diffusion concept in the previous studies. The results show that younger farmers, less educated farmers and farmers who have more farm land tend to adopt faster than the others. The research also gives evidence that social activities, extension service, private promotion program and information of hybrid varieties play important roles on adoption decision by farmers.