Effects of biofuel crop production on farmers' income and food security in Northeast Thailand | |
| Author | Narinpat Lakapunrat |
| Call Number | AIT Diss no.RD-17-02 |
| Subject(s) | Food security--Thailand, Northeastern Food security--Thailand, Northeastern |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Thailand has pursued a strategy for biofuel-crop promotion to meet the ever increasing demand for energy and to mitigate climate change. As a result, the area under biofuel-crops had gradually increased. This research was carried out in Northeast Thailand to analyze the effect of different policy instruments adopted by the government, and socioeconomic, institutional and biophysical factors on expansion of particular sugarcane at both regional and farm household levels. Amid growing concern about the effect of shift from traditional food crop to biofuel-crop cultivation, it also examined the effect of the shift from rice to sugarcane cultivation on farmers ' current food security and future risks. Information were collected in Sri Boon Reuang district of Nong Bua Lamphu province during January to March 2015 from mainly through a structured questionnaire survey of 230 farm households, key informants interview, and focus-group discussions. Information on food consumption and expenditures were collected follow ing the immediate past 7-day consumption memory recall method. Secondary information on government biofuel promotion policy instruments and change in land use in Northeast Thailand were collected from various sources including policy papers. Collected information was analyzed through qualitative and quantitative techniques including the analysis of variance, stepwise linear regression and logistic regression. Farmers' food security was analyzed using the energy intake method. The results of the analysis revealed an increase of 52% in sugarcane area in Northeast Tha iland during the study period, with significant variation between provinces. Such expansion was attributed to primarily effective implementation of a comprehensive policy package encouraging ethanol, sugar and sugarcane production. The inter-provi ncial variation was attrib uted to several factors including soil suitability, access to sugar factory and alternative cash crop. Regarding the farm household level change, farmers in the study area had converted 25-75% of their rice fie lds into sugarcane farms as a result of conducive conditions and attractive financial benefit created by a comprehensive biofuel promotion strategy including minimum price and additional price support. Producing sugarcane was financ ially far more attractive than rice due to the price support, though there was variation in the amount of income that farmers could get per ton of sugarcane depending on the marketing system. Results of the regression analysis indicated significant influence of access to extension services, training, information, ground water and convenience to sell sugarcane, as well as farmers' age, experience and education. The analysis of food consumption of farm households revealed that most farmers had enough income to fulfill the minimum dietary energy requirement of 1882 kcal/day/ AE by virtue of increased income from sugarcane. However, the food security analysis based on the average dietary energy requirement, which is 2404 kcal/day/AE, revealed about 31 % farm households were food insecure. Remarkably, more than half of small farmers could not fulfill the average food security requirement. The findings of the logistic regression analysis indicated that farmers' average food security status was significantly influenced by income from sugarcane and landholding size. A significant proportion of particularly small and medium farmers would not have been able to meet even the minimum dietary requirement if they had not cultivated sugarcane. Farmers perceived the risk of food insecurity in the future due to uncertainty of sugarcane production arising from variation in rainfall and fluctuation in sugarcane price. These findings have important implications for current and future policies on food and biofuel crop promotion in Thailand. |
| Year | 2017 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Thapa, Gopal Bahadur |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soparth Pongquan;Datta, Avishek |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), Thailand - AIT Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph. D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2017 |