Building Capacities for Change: Farmers Moving Away from Conventional Rice Farming in Prachinburi Province, Thailand
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Published
Nov 7, 2019
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
Rice farming systems in the irrigated areas of central Thailand, unlike other parts of the country, have undergone limited changes over the past two decades. These systems are based on two rice crops per year. Generally, they are characterized by the intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Most of these rice farming systems provide full-time employment to farmers. However, the sustainability of these rice farming systems has been undermined by two factors: the decision to end policies to support rice prices on the domestic market and the aging farming population. The study analyzes the experience of farmers located in Prachinburi Province, who began changing their farming systems in order to move away from conventional rice production. Thirty-eight of these farmers were interviewed, about their objectives, the process of change, and the impacts of these changes. One group of farmers started growing non-rice crops and another group began to produce organic rice collectively. Profitability has increased, but many farmers see also these changes as an opportunity to increase home consumption. In addition, the changes have made the farming systems more flexible. These developments help rice farmers in central Thailand build their capacities for change to be able to adapt to ongoing evolutions of the agricultural sector. However, upscaling these changes in farming systems and in farmers’ capacities will require wide-ranging support.
Keywords: Conventional Rice, Diversification, Organic Rice, Thailand
References
Aguilhon, L. (2017). Agricultural Dynamics in the Bang Pakong River Basin: Interrelationship between Family Dynamics, Access to the Market and Water Management. (Master’s thesis). University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. Retrieved from http://deltasoutheastasia-doubt.com/wp-content/uploads/Uploaded
Documents/MScThesisLenaAguilhonDoubtProjectPrachinburi.pdf
Aiumlamai, S., Kreausukon, K., & Wongnen, N. (2012). Dairy Production and the Marketing System in Thailand. In Planning Dairy Development Programs in Asia: Proceedings of a Symposium held at 15th AAAP Congress, Bangkok, Thailand, 29 November 2012 (pp. 48-57). Retrieved from http://cdn.aphca.org/dmdocuments/
Proceedings_dairy.pdf
Becchetti, L., Conzo, P., & Gianfreda, G. (2012). Market Access, Organic Farming and Productivity: The Effects of Fair Trade Affiliation on Thai Farmer Producer Groups. The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 56(1), 117-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8489.2011.00574.x
Davidova, S., Fredriksson, L., Gorton, M., Mishev, P., & Petrovici, D. (2012). Subsistence Farming, Incomes, and Agricultural Livelihoods in the New Member States of the European Union. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 30(2), 209-227. https://doi.org/10.1068/c1195r
Dayley, R., & Sattayanurak, A. (2016). Thailand's Last Peasant. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 47(1), 42-65. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463415000478
Duangbootsee, U. (2018). Thailand’s Large-Scale Farming Model: Problems and Concern. Taipei, Taiwan: Technical Note, Agricultural Policy Platform, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region.
Faysse, N., & Onsamrarn, W. (2018). The Differing Strategies of Agricultural Cooperatives in Thailand: from Managing Market Links to Self-Reliance. Journal of Community Development Research (Humanities and Social Sciences), 11(3), 13-26. https://doi.org/10.14456/jcdr-hs.2018.14
Formoso, B. (2016). Are Thai Peasants still Farmers? The Socioeconomic Transformation of Two Villages of Northeastern Thailand. Moussons Recherche en Sciences Humaines Sur l’Asie du Sud-Est, 28, 39-60.
Gedgaew, C., Simaraks, S., & Rambo, A. T. (2017). Trends in Hybrid Tomato Seed Production under Contract Farming in Northeast Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 339-355. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.6.2_339
Hirokawa, S. (2014). Integrated Agriculture from the Perspective of the Creation of Employment in the Aging Society of Rural Northeast Thailand. Journal of Human Security Studies, 3(1), 78-96.
Hisano, S., Akitsu, M., & McGreevy, S. R. (2018). Revitalising Rurality under the Neoliberal Transformation of Agriculture: Experiences of Re-Agrarianisation in Japan. Journal of Rural Studies, 61, 290-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.01.013
Home, R., Bouagnimbeck, H., Ugas, R., Arbenz, M., & Stolze, M. (2017). Participatory Guarantee System: Organic Certification to Empower Farmers and Strengthen Communities. Agroecology and Sustainable Food System, 41(5), 526-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2017.1279702
Kasem, S., & Thapa, G. B. (2011). Crop Diversification in Thailand: Status, Determinants, and Effects on Income and Use of Inputs. Land Use Policy, 28(3), 618-628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2010.12.001
Kasem, S., & Thapa, G. B. (2012). Sustainable Development Policies and Achievements in the Context of the Agriculture Sector in Thailand. Sustainable Development, 20(2), 98-114. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.467
Kostov, P., & Lingard, J. (2002). Subsistence Farming in Transitional Economies: Lessons from Bulgaria. Journal of Rural Studies, 18(1), 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-0167(01)00026-2
Lebel, L., Mungkung, R., Gheewala, S. H., & Lebel, P. (2010). Innovation Cycles, Niches and Sustainability in the Shrimp Aquaculture Industry in Thailand. Environmental Science & Policy, 13(4), 291-302.
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. (2018). AgriMap. Retrieved from agri-map-online.moac.go.th/
Molle, F., & Floch, P. (2007). Water, Poverty and the Governance of Megaprojects: The Thai “Water Grid”. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Chiang Mai University. Retrieved from http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers11-03/010044927.pdf
Molle, F., & Srijantr, T. (2003). Thailand’s Rice Bowl: Perspectives on Agricultural and Social Change in the Chao Phraya Delta. Bangkok: White Lotus Editions. Retrieved from http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/
pleins_textes/divers15-08/010033854.pdf
National Statistical Office of Thailand. (1993). Report of the 1993 Agricultural Census. Bangkok: Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
National Statistical Office of Thailand. (2013). Advanced Report 2013 Agricultural Census. Bangkok: Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
Panichvejsunti, T., Kuwornu, J. K. M., Shivakoti, G. P., Grünbühel, C., & Soni, P. (2018). Smallholder Farmers’ Crop Combinations under Different Land Tenure Systems in Thailand: The Role of Flood and Government Policy. Land Use Policy, 72, 129-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.12.046
Pannon, S. (2018). Land Use Change and its Impacts on Water Pumping in Bang Pakong River Basin, Thailand. (Master's thesis). Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. Retrieved from deltasoutheastasia-doubt.com/wp-content/uploads/UploadedDocuments/SummarizedVersionMAsterThesisSupapornPannon.pdf
Panyakul, V. (2016). The Overview of Organic Agriculture in Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.
greennet.or.th/sites/default/files/Thai%20OA%2016.pdf
Plews-Ogan, E., Mariola, M. J., & Ananta, A. (2017). Polyculture, Autonomy, and Community: The Pursuit of Sustainability in a Northern Thai Farming Village. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 15(8), 418-431. DOI: 10.1080/14735903.2017.1335044
Poungchompu, S., Tsuneo, K., & Poungchompu, P. (2012). Aspects of the Aging Farming Population and Food Security in Agriculture for Thailand and Japan. International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development, 3-1, 102-107. Retrieved from http://iserd.net/ijerd31/31102.pdf
Prayukvong, W. (2018). Factor Affecting Rice Yield of Suburb Farmer: Case Study of Klong Hok Wah Region. Srinakharinwirot Research and Development (Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences), 10(19), 156-170. Retrieved from http://ejournals.swu.ac.th/index.php/swurd/article/view/10524
Promkhambut, A., & Rambo, A. T. (2017). Multiple Cropping after the Rice Harvest in Rainfed Rice Cropping Systems in Khon Kaen Province, Northeast Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 325-338. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.6.2_325
Rambo, T. (2017). The Agrarian Transformation in Northeastern Thailand: A Review of Recent Research. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 211-245. DOI: 10.20495/seas.6.2_211
Rattanasuteerakul, K., & Thapa, G. B. (2012). Status and Financial Performance of Organic Vegetable Farming in Northeast Thailand. Land Use Policy, 29(2), 456-463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.09.004
Ricks, J. (2018). Politics and the Price of Rice in Thailand: Public Choice, Institutional Change, and Rural Subsidies. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 48(3), 395-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2017.1419275
Rigg, J., Salamanca, A., & Parnwell, M. (2012). Joining the Dots of Agrarian Change in Asia: A 25 year View from Thailand. World Development, 40(7), 1469-1481.
Rigg, J., Salamanca, A., Phongsiri, M., & Sripun, M. (2018). More Farmers, Less Farming? Understanding the Truncated Agrarian Transition in Thailand. World Development, 107, 327-337. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.03.008
Rigg, J., Veeravongs, S., Veeravongs, L., & Rohitarachoon, P. (2008). Reconfiguring Rural Spaces and Remaking Rural Lives in Central Thailand. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 39(3), 355-381. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463408000350
Schaffar, W. (2018). Alternative Development Concepts and Their Political Embedding: The Case of Sufficiency Economy in Thailand. Forum for Development Studies, 45(3), 387-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/
08039410.2018.1464059
Setboonsarng, S., & Acharya, B. N. (2015). What Motivates Farmers to Adopt Organic Agriculture? A Case of Rainfed Organic Rice in Thailand. In A. Markandya, & S. Setboonsarng (Eds.), Organic Agriculture and Post¬2015 Development Goals, Building on the Comparative Advantage of Poor Farmers (pp. 133-154). Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank.
Siamwalla, M., Poapongsakorn, N., Pantakoa, K., Nantajit, C., Aroonkong, D., & Jenpeungporn, J. (2014). Corruption in the Paddy Pledging Policy. Bangkok: Thailand Development Research Institute.
Srisopaporn, S., Jourdain, D., Perret, S. R., & Shivakoti, G. (2015). Adoption and Continued Participation in a Public Good Agricultural Practices Program: The Case of Rice Farmers in the Central Plains of Thailand. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 96, 242-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2015.03.016
Thirapong, K. (2017). The Large Agricultural Land Plot Program and the Context of Thailand’s Agriculture. Journal of Economics Ramkhamhaeng University, 4(1), 49-64. Retrieved from http://www.ecojournal.ru.ac.th
/journals/23_1516971978.pdf
Trakuldit, T., & Faysse, N. (2019). Difficult Encounters around “Monkey Cheeks”: Farmers' interests and the Design of Flood Retention Areas in Thailand. Journal of Flood Risk Management, e12543. https://doi.org/
10.1111/jfr3.12543
Yuko, S., & Rambo, A. T. (2017). Household Structure and Sources of Income in a Rice-Growing Village in Northeast Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 275-292. DOI: 10.20495/seas.6.2_275 Retrieved from https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seas/6/2/6_275/_pdf
Documents/MScThesisLenaAguilhonDoubtProjectPrachinburi.pdf
Aiumlamai, S., Kreausukon, K., & Wongnen, N. (2012). Dairy Production and the Marketing System in Thailand. In Planning Dairy Development Programs in Asia: Proceedings of a Symposium held at 15th AAAP Congress, Bangkok, Thailand, 29 November 2012 (pp. 48-57). Retrieved from http://cdn.aphca.org/dmdocuments/
Proceedings_dairy.pdf
Becchetti, L., Conzo, P., & Gianfreda, G. (2012). Market Access, Organic Farming and Productivity: The Effects of Fair Trade Affiliation on Thai Farmer Producer Groups. The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 56(1), 117-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8489.2011.00574.x
Davidova, S., Fredriksson, L., Gorton, M., Mishev, P., & Petrovici, D. (2012). Subsistence Farming, Incomes, and Agricultural Livelihoods in the New Member States of the European Union. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 30(2), 209-227. https://doi.org/10.1068/c1195r
Dayley, R., & Sattayanurak, A. (2016). Thailand's Last Peasant. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 47(1), 42-65. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463415000478
Duangbootsee, U. (2018). Thailand’s Large-Scale Farming Model: Problems and Concern. Taipei, Taiwan: Technical Note, Agricultural Policy Platform, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region.
Faysse, N., & Onsamrarn, W. (2018). The Differing Strategies of Agricultural Cooperatives in Thailand: from Managing Market Links to Self-Reliance. Journal of Community Development Research (Humanities and Social Sciences), 11(3), 13-26. https://doi.org/10.14456/jcdr-hs.2018.14
Formoso, B. (2016). Are Thai Peasants still Farmers? The Socioeconomic Transformation of Two Villages of Northeastern Thailand. Moussons Recherche en Sciences Humaines Sur l’Asie du Sud-Est, 28, 39-60.
Gedgaew, C., Simaraks, S., & Rambo, A. T. (2017). Trends in Hybrid Tomato Seed Production under Contract Farming in Northeast Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 339-355. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.6.2_339
Hirokawa, S. (2014). Integrated Agriculture from the Perspective of the Creation of Employment in the Aging Society of Rural Northeast Thailand. Journal of Human Security Studies, 3(1), 78-96.
Hisano, S., Akitsu, M., & McGreevy, S. R. (2018). Revitalising Rurality under the Neoliberal Transformation of Agriculture: Experiences of Re-Agrarianisation in Japan. Journal of Rural Studies, 61, 290-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.01.013
Home, R., Bouagnimbeck, H., Ugas, R., Arbenz, M., & Stolze, M. (2017). Participatory Guarantee System: Organic Certification to Empower Farmers and Strengthen Communities. Agroecology and Sustainable Food System, 41(5), 526-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2017.1279702
Kasem, S., & Thapa, G. B. (2011). Crop Diversification in Thailand: Status, Determinants, and Effects on Income and Use of Inputs. Land Use Policy, 28(3), 618-628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2010.12.001
Kasem, S., & Thapa, G. B. (2012). Sustainable Development Policies and Achievements in the Context of the Agriculture Sector in Thailand. Sustainable Development, 20(2), 98-114. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.467
Kostov, P., & Lingard, J. (2002). Subsistence Farming in Transitional Economies: Lessons from Bulgaria. Journal of Rural Studies, 18(1), 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-0167(01)00026-2
Lebel, L., Mungkung, R., Gheewala, S. H., & Lebel, P. (2010). Innovation Cycles, Niches and Sustainability in the Shrimp Aquaculture Industry in Thailand. Environmental Science & Policy, 13(4), 291-302.
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. (2018). AgriMap. Retrieved from agri-map-online.moac.go.th/
Molle, F., & Floch, P. (2007). Water, Poverty and the Governance of Megaprojects: The Thai “Water Grid”. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Chiang Mai University. Retrieved from http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers11-03/010044927.pdf
Molle, F., & Srijantr, T. (2003). Thailand’s Rice Bowl: Perspectives on Agricultural and Social Change in the Chao Phraya Delta. Bangkok: White Lotus Editions. Retrieved from http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/
pleins_textes/divers15-08/010033854.pdf
National Statistical Office of Thailand. (1993). Report of the 1993 Agricultural Census. Bangkok: Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
National Statistical Office of Thailand. (2013). Advanced Report 2013 Agricultural Census. Bangkok: Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
Panichvejsunti, T., Kuwornu, J. K. M., Shivakoti, G. P., Grünbühel, C., & Soni, P. (2018). Smallholder Farmers’ Crop Combinations under Different Land Tenure Systems in Thailand: The Role of Flood and Government Policy. Land Use Policy, 72, 129-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.12.046
Pannon, S. (2018). Land Use Change and its Impacts on Water Pumping in Bang Pakong River Basin, Thailand. (Master's thesis). Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. Retrieved from deltasoutheastasia-doubt.com/wp-content/uploads/UploadedDocuments/SummarizedVersionMAsterThesisSupapornPannon.pdf
Panyakul, V. (2016). The Overview of Organic Agriculture in Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.
greennet.or.th/sites/default/files/Thai%20OA%2016.pdf
Plews-Ogan, E., Mariola, M. J., & Ananta, A. (2017). Polyculture, Autonomy, and Community: The Pursuit of Sustainability in a Northern Thai Farming Village. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 15(8), 418-431. DOI: 10.1080/14735903.2017.1335044
Poungchompu, S., Tsuneo, K., & Poungchompu, P. (2012). Aspects of the Aging Farming Population and Food Security in Agriculture for Thailand and Japan. International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development, 3-1, 102-107. Retrieved from http://iserd.net/ijerd31/31102.pdf
Prayukvong, W. (2018). Factor Affecting Rice Yield of Suburb Farmer: Case Study of Klong Hok Wah Region. Srinakharinwirot Research and Development (Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences), 10(19), 156-170. Retrieved from http://ejournals.swu.ac.th/index.php/swurd/article/view/10524
Promkhambut, A., & Rambo, A. T. (2017). Multiple Cropping after the Rice Harvest in Rainfed Rice Cropping Systems in Khon Kaen Province, Northeast Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 325-338. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.6.2_325
Rambo, T. (2017). The Agrarian Transformation in Northeastern Thailand: A Review of Recent Research. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 211-245. DOI: 10.20495/seas.6.2_211
Rattanasuteerakul, K., & Thapa, G. B. (2012). Status and Financial Performance of Organic Vegetable Farming in Northeast Thailand. Land Use Policy, 29(2), 456-463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.09.004
Ricks, J. (2018). Politics and the Price of Rice in Thailand: Public Choice, Institutional Change, and Rural Subsidies. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 48(3), 395-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2017.1419275
Rigg, J., Salamanca, A., & Parnwell, M. (2012). Joining the Dots of Agrarian Change in Asia: A 25 year View from Thailand. World Development, 40(7), 1469-1481.
Rigg, J., Salamanca, A., Phongsiri, M., & Sripun, M. (2018). More Farmers, Less Farming? Understanding the Truncated Agrarian Transition in Thailand. World Development, 107, 327-337. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.03.008
Rigg, J., Veeravongs, S., Veeravongs, L., & Rohitarachoon, P. (2008). Reconfiguring Rural Spaces and Remaking Rural Lives in Central Thailand. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 39(3), 355-381. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463408000350
Schaffar, W. (2018). Alternative Development Concepts and Their Political Embedding: The Case of Sufficiency Economy in Thailand. Forum for Development Studies, 45(3), 387-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/
08039410.2018.1464059
Setboonsarng, S., & Acharya, B. N. (2015). What Motivates Farmers to Adopt Organic Agriculture? A Case of Rainfed Organic Rice in Thailand. In A. Markandya, & S. Setboonsarng (Eds.), Organic Agriculture and Post¬2015 Development Goals, Building on the Comparative Advantage of Poor Farmers (pp. 133-154). Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank.
Siamwalla, M., Poapongsakorn, N., Pantakoa, K., Nantajit, C., Aroonkong, D., & Jenpeungporn, J. (2014). Corruption in the Paddy Pledging Policy. Bangkok: Thailand Development Research Institute.
Srisopaporn, S., Jourdain, D., Perret, S. R., & Shivakoti, G. (2015). Adoption and Continued Participation in a Public Good Agricultural Practices Program: The Case of Rice Farmers in the Central Plains of Thailand. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 96, 242-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2015.03.016
Thirapong, K. (2017). The Large Agricultural Land Plot Program and the Context of Thailand’s Agriculture. Journal of Economics Ramkhamhaeng University, 4(1), 49-64. Retrieved from http://www.ecojournal.ru.ac.th
/journals/23_1516971978.pdf
Trakuldit, T., & Faysse, N. (2019). Difficult Encounters around “Monkey Cheeks”: Farmers' interests and the Design of Flood Retention Areas in Thailand. Journal of Flood Risk Management, e12543. https://doi.org/
10.1111/jfr3.12543
Yuko, S., & Rambo, A. T. (2017). Household Structure and Sources of Income in a Rice-Growing Village in Northeast Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 6(2), 275-292. DOI: 10.20495/seas.6.2_275 Retrieved from https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seas/6/2/6_275/_pdf
Section
Research Articles
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
How to Cite
FAYSSE, Nicolas; PHIBOON, Kassirin.
Building Capacities for Change: Farmers Moving Away from Conventional Rice Farming in Prachinburi Province, Thailand.
Journal of Community Development Research (Humanities and Social Sciences), [S.l.], v. 12, n. 4, p. 57-67, nov. 2019.
ISSN 2985-0231.
Available at: <https://www.journal.nu.ac.th/JCDR/article/view/Vol-12-No-4-2019-57-67>. Date accessed: 20 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14456/jcdr-hs.2019.34.