Farmers’ participation in collective action in organic rice farming in Thailand | |
| Author | Yupadee Methamontri |
| Call Number | AIT Diss no.AB-23-02 |
| Subject(s) | Agriculture--Thailand--Finance Rice--Thailand--Citizen participation Organic farming--Thailand |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agribusiness Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Despite the significant roles of farmer groups in collective action for production and marketing of organic paddy, limited literature has studied the farmer-level determinants of participation in collective action in northeast Thailand. This study assessed the levels of farmers’ participation in collective marketing and examined factors associated with their participation, using the case of three farmer groups (Nam Om Community Enterprise Network, Na So Farmer Group, and Moral Rice Farmer Group) in Yasothon Province of Thailand, producing organic jasmine rice for export and domestic markets through contract farming. Primary data were randomly collected from 335 farmers and analyzed by descriptive statistics and the two-limit tobit regression method. The descriptive results showed relatively high levels of social, economic, institutional, and environmental benefits arising from the participation in collective action through those farmer groups. In particular, perceived environmental benefits were higher than the other types of benefits. The regression analysis found that age and agricultural loan negatively influenced the extent of participation in collective marketing through farmer groups, whereas education, paddy cultivation area size, non-agricultural income, experience in rice farming, experience in organic rice farming, group membership duration, perceived economic benefits, and membership with Na So farmer group were positively associated with the extent of participation. The effect of experience with organic rice farming was relatively small in Na So Farmer Group. The findings suggest that economic benefits of participation in organic farmer groups should be enhanced in order to increase collective marketing of organic paddy produce. Moreover, the government should facilitate alternative employment opportunities, knowledge-based training, and low-interest credit to support production and collective marketing of organic paddy produce. |
| Year | 2023 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agribusiness Management (AB) |
| Chairperson(s) | Datta, Avishek;Tsusaka, Takuji W. (Co-Chairperson) |
| Examination Committee(s) | Vimolwan Yukongdi;Bhujel, Ram C. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, (MOAC), Thailand;AIT Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2023 |