Study of challenges and practices of chili farming in Kelantan

Chilies and chili pepper from cultivar of Capsicum annum and Capsicum frutescens are the most type chili planted in Malaysia. All chili pepper belong to the genus Capsicum of the Solanaceae family. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge level of chili farmer in managing their farm. This study also was conducted to study the practices and farm management skills used in managing the disease problem of chili farming in Kelantan. Knowledge level of farmer about disease occurrences in their farm affect the proper way of farm management practiced. Many farmers have not been successful in managing chili disease in their farm. A survey by structured interview questionnaire was used to collect data from a total of 30 respondents (random sampling) which consists of the farmers in Kelantan. Result shows that no relationship was found between formal education and the frequency of farm management skill which is crop rotation, X2 (6, N = 30) = 8.43, p = 0.20. Therefore, the alternative hypothesis is rejected and the null hypothesis is accepted which indicates not significant value between formal education and the frequency of farm management skill which is crop rotation on the farm. The result indicated that formal education factor of chili farmer did not influence the level of farm management practiced by them. Most of the chili farmers did not use integrated disease management to control disease occurrences in their farm and the result also state that the farmers intend to use pesticide rather than used cultural practices that reduce the environmental effect.