Socio-economic and environmental impacts of Eucalyptus-rice agroforestry projects in Thailand | |
| Author | Kanlayani Khongniam |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-15-09 |
| Subject(s) | Agroforestry--Thailand--Environmental aspects Rice--Thailand Eucalyptus--Thailand |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-15-09 |
| Abstract | The Eucalyptus trees are grown in Thailand in eco-engineered agroforestry systems since 2000s. In the last years Eucalyptus-rice agroforestry projects expanded rapidly in many areas in Thailand and are used as an alternative crop for low productivity land, on which eucalyptus trees are the most profitable crop. This study is part of a student team research project where an Eucalyptus-Rice Agroforestry system was evaluated in terms of its sustainability with a number of criteria including Carbon Footprint, Water Footprint (carried out by the team co-researchers) and by investigating water and soil parameters influencing the entire agroforestry system and by undertaking a questionnaire survey to rationalize the influence of identified environmental factors on farmers' value system to evaluate sustainability of eucalyptus-rice agroforestry project in Thailand. This research was conducted as based on primary data taken from soil and water analyses, questionnaire survey, key informants' interviews and direct observations, as well as from secondary data collected from various appropriate sources. Results of the laboratory analyses show that eucalyptus trees have no noticeable effects on such parameters as pH, OM, TK, TP, TCa, and TMg of soil chemical property. While there were changes observed in available K, available P, and Ca, such parameters as TK, TN, and TP were not found to be different. All of these parameters were very low, especially TK (0-0.01 %) because the pH values of soils were acidic. The water sample analysis found the values of pH, DO, BOD5, COD and conductivity exceeding the limit, only TKN, TP and TS were in the suitable range. However, this water still can be used for agriculture, as it had no effect on eucalyptus and rice plantation. From site survey, most of farmers perceived eucalyptus trees as having no negative effect on the general environment, while some of them thought that it had effects due to shading and root system, and affected water content. Most famers concluded that eucalyptus trees integrated in the edge of the rice field have not changed the yield of the rice production. The survey also concluded that the eucalyptus plantation made farmers more aware of benefits of the integrated agroforestry and opportunities offered to improve their livelihoods and diversity their income. In addition, this alternative land use was found to have the advantage of lower labor inputs between planting and the harvest. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to evaluate the sustainability of the agroforestry project by the weight factor calculated via AHP technique (software Expert Choice for Windows version 11.0), and the score of each factor are calculated from rating process. The total score for all the parameters was calculated as 2.266 which signifies that the sustainability of eucalyptus-based agroforestry projects in Thailand was at a medium level although closer to the high level. |
| Year | 2015 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shipin, Oleg V.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Nguyen, Thi Kim Oanh;Thammarat Koottatep; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Thailand (HM Queen); |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2015 |