| Author | Siriluk Somnuek |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.NR-15-04 |
| Subject(s) | Oil palm--Thailand, Northeastern
|
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for thedegree of Doctor of Philosophy in Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. NR-15-04 |
| Abstract | As part of the Thai government’s objective to increase energy security through the production of biodiesel, oil palm was introduced in Northeast Thailand in 2005. Nong Khai province was selected as a pilotareabecause of its suitable weather conditions and soils. To assess the success of the introduction of oil palm in Northeast Thailand this study was carried out in 2013 in six districts. Data wasgathered by direct observation, interviews, and questionnaireswith people in the selected area, and secondary data obtained from related agencies. The resultsindicatedthat the government had issued several policies from various stakeholders to encourage farmers in the new area to engage with oil palmproduction. However, the oil palm policiesin the Northeastregion had been unclear since 2005, only the oil palm expansion is implementedin the area. As for this reason, there was a lack of facilities and specific information on oilpalmproductionin the area. Many institutions have also tried to reach the goal of the oil palm expansion project by providingcheap loans, training courses, and experimenting with new oil palm technologies.However, oil palm in the Northeast is still expanding as an alternative crop forfarmers who have sufficient landand capital. Farmers have triedto further diversify household income and/or see an opportunity to add value to land unsuitable for other cropping activities. Oil palm and non-oil palm producers had an almost equalrice area and thereby provided for their own food, but were unable to supply to themarket. On-farm income was significantly higher in oil palm producing households whereas a significantly larger proportion of non-oil palm producing households earned off-farm income. Rubber remained the most profitable cash crop and rice is still remains within the household for self-consumption.Therefore, oil palm was just an additional crop and certainly not substantially contributing to household income. The sustainablelivelihood framework and weighting method was used to assess the differences in people’s livelihood betweenoil palm and non-oil palm farmers. By comparing,five livelihood capitalsof two groups, the groupshad a “Moderate” level of index at 0.60 for oilpalm farmers and 0.53 for non-oil palm farmers. However, oil palm was found to be always only one component of farming system.Household incomesincluded several crop and livestock species and depended partly on off-farm income sources. Total farm land size was found to be significantly higher withoil palm producers than withnon-oil palm producers.As oil palm is a new cropin the study area,the DOA recommendsadaptation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). In general, the farmers managed well the establishment of oil palm plantations such as: land preparation, spacing of oil palm tree, and transplanting according to recommendation. Due to oil palm plantation during the drought periods in the Northeast region, water application is highly recommended but it was only 45% of farmers who could apply water. Multiple regression analysis was applied to identify which socio-economic variables influenced a farmer’s decision to engage in GAP oil palm namely other crops incomes ages of oil palm after planting, and knowledge of oil palm technology and rice incomes. ivPrincipal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed GAP-Oil palm adoption into four groups as a result of the relationship among the most influential variables which were, “Water style”, “Fertilizer style”, “Harvest style” and “General style”. Thesevariablesof socio-economic were significant among the styles namely location of the oil palm plantation, income generated from other crops, expenditure concerned with rice and oil palm, and oil palm yields. The government institutions still worked in a different track to reach their own targets. Thus, only the oil palm expansion project is in the area.Even if the number of oil palm areas is increased and the oil palm trees harvested, there is still no infrastructure in the area. Only private traders purchase and deliver the oil palm yields to a mill in the East region. As for this reason, the oil palm pricein the study areais lower than the market price, and losing oil palm quality and quantity due to transportation. The studyconcludedthatoil palm plantation in the Northeast region cannot reach the goals of the policy in term of improving the farmers livelihood, increase energy security, and expansioninto other areas. Oil palm production was only suitable for farmers who have sufficient capitals. Oil palm income was an additional crop and certainly not capable of substantially contributing to the main household income |
| Year | 2015 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. NR-15-04 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Grunbuhel, Clemens; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shivakoti, Ganesh P. ;Jourdain, Damien ;Slingerland, Maja (M.A.); |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministryof Agricultureand Cooperatives(MOAC), Thailand; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2015 |