Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) – The Selective Way of Life for Unemployed Persons Affected by the Pandemic of COVID-19
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Abstract
This research studied: 1) the influences of environmental factors on agricultural careers in Nong Mamong district, central Thailand, 2) acceptance by community households and leaders on unemployed persons starting agricultural careers, 3) agricultural knowledge, experience, and attitude of unemployed persons starting agricultural careers, and 4) limiting factors on unemployed persons starting agricultural careers. The sample size of household, community leaders, and unemployed persons sample was 374, 36 (28 male, 8 female, average age 50.9 years old) and 60 (14 male, 46 female, average age 46.4 years old) cases, respectively. A simple random sampling technique was used for data collection in households and community leaders, while the census technique was used for data collection in unemployed persons. This study was conducted using questionnaires with both open-ended and close-ended questions for data collection from household, community, and unemployed persons samples. The close-ended questions with a 2-point scale (0 and 1 points) were used for agricultural knowledge measurement, and the five-point Likert scale (1-5 points) questions were used for attitude on agricultural careers measurement among unemployed person samples. Results of the study showed that the farmers grew traditional mono-crops, especially rice, because sufficient water supply was only available during the seasonal rainfall. They were willing to create integrated agriculture to generate daily incomes, but they faced many obstacles in both environmental factors and factors limiting agricultural success. Most household members and community leaders accepted the unemployed persons starting agricultural careers. Most of the unemployed persons had moderate levels of both agricultural knowledge and attitude and were willing to start farming in their homeland. In this study area, major problems of agricultural careers were agricultural water deficiency, increasing production costs, and lack of marketing opportunities. The government and community sectors should play an essential role in solving these problems. The readiness of these community components and environmental factors played an important role in the success of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). Even though they faced limiting environmental factors such as lack of agricultural water supply, climate change, etc., community strength and government support helped them overcome these obstacles for their agricultural activities.
Keywords: Agricultural Careers, Community Supported, Selective Way of Life, Unemployed Person, The Pandemic of COVID-19
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