Evaluation of safety and quality standards of layer farms for the production of high-quality eggs | |
| Author | Kwanhatai Thongpalad |
| Call Number | AIT Diss no.AB-19-03 |
| Subject(s) | Eggs--Production Food security Agricultural systems--Standards |
| 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 | The key focus of this study was to evaluate the adoption of on-farm food safety standard by Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified and non-GAP certified layer farmers. The cross sectional study was conducted through the face-to-face interview with a questionnaire in 143 GAP farms and 59 non-GAP farms. The common approach used for the evaluation of food safety knowledge, attitudes, risk perception and practices by food handlers were adapted. The knowledge concerning on-farm food safety measures of layer hen farmers appeared to be adequate although some misconceptions still existed. The regularities of food safety practices adopted in GAP and non-GAP farms were significantly different. The higher level of knowledge and positive attitudes on measures’ implementation was observed in the group of GAP farmers. However, the weak positive relationships were found, which implied the influences of other factors to the translation of knowledge and favorable attitudes into practices. Regarding the perception on food safety risk in egg production, half of the farmers from both groups expressed a concern on both microbial and chemical contaminants. The perception levels on potential sources of food safety risk were higher in GAP group comparing to non-GAP group, partly due to higher education background and training experiences. However, the inconsistency between risk perception and measures implementation was still observed. The recommendation for standard promotors as well as critical areas for the educational interventions were identified with the aim to enhance the food safety behavior of farmers. Moreover, farmers’ perspectives on the public GAP standard and factors influencing their adoption decision were also explored. Results indicate that the benefits of GAP standard are more recognized in the group of GAP farmers. The public announcement of GAP campaign might not be efficient enough to attract non-GAP adopters. The financial constraint was identified as the major challenge in the standard implementation while the lack of understanding on GAP principle and requirements was not perceived as an important hindrance. The binary logistic regression revealed positive influences of farm size, farmers’ access to credit, GAP training, safety and quality awareness and the perceived compatibility of GAP standard on the adoption decision. Whereas the choice of marketing channel through egg collecting centers negatively influenced the adoption. Noticeably, the current market condition did not encourage farmers to participate in the voluntary GAP scheme due to persisting problems on the oversupply of eggs and price falling, including the price of GAP certified products. Besides, the positive consequences of standard certification on farmers accessibility to global market was uncertain. If the mandatory GAP standard is enforced under the current circumstances where the production and marketing issues remain the major threats to farmers, the desirable outcome of this policy on farmers’ economic enhancement may not be obtained. Given that the farm standard is now becoming the minimum requirement for trade, the lessons learned from Thai national GAP standard implementation will be useful for policy makers in this region and even among other developing countries. |
| Year | 2019 |
| 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) | Anal, Anil Kumar; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Datta, Avushek;Kuwornu, John K. M.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), Thailand;AIT Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2019 |