Service Quality and Farmer-Beneficiaries’ Satisfaction on the Plant-Now-Pay-Later Program of Baybay City Agriculture Office

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the level of service quality and satisfaction of farmer-beneficiaries of the Plant-Now-Pay-Later (PNPL) program administered by the City Agriculture Office of Baybay, Leyte, Philippines. The study was guided by the SERVQUAL model which consists of five dimensions, namely: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibility. Through a non-probabilistic (convenience) sampling, the study employed 157 farmer-beneficiaries of the PNPL program for jackfruit production. Primary data was gathered through a developed and structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using means, frequencies, and percentages and adopts a descriptive-correlational research design. Findings revealed that 56.7% of the respondents were male and mostly 46-55 years old. Moreover, there is a significant gap (p-value<0.001) between the respondents’ expectations and actual perception, which indicates that their expectations were not met by the service quality provided. The respondents’ age, gender, number of years in farming and involvement in the program, and other sources of income showed a positive relationship with their perception of the service quality provided. However, educational attainment, income, land tenure status, the main source of income, and membership to the 4Ps do not influence their actual perception of the service quality of the program.

Keywords

• plant-now-pay-later program
• servqual model
• expectation and actual perception
• baybay city
• farmers