The effects of land tenure systems on smallholder farmers' livelihood management in the context of flood and government policy in Thailand | |
| Author | Thitiya Panichvejsunti |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.AB-18-01 |
| Subject(s) | Land tenure--Government policy--Thailand Land reform--Government policy--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 | Land is an important factor of production in agriculture. The efficient use of land influences the productivity and also farmers’ income. This study has two broad objectives as follows. (i) To examined the effects of land tenure policies and land tenure systems on the livelihood strategies of smallholder farmers including the government support to farmers under different land tenure systems. (ii) To examine the effects of land tenure arrangements, flood and government policy on farmers’ crop choices. In this respect, the study examined the farmers’ crop combinations before 2011 flood and in 2013 (after flood) under different land tenure systems in the context of the government policy on rice. The study area was Phutthamonthon district, Nakhon Pathom province in the Central region of Thailand. Approximately 70 percent of land in Nakhon Pathom is used for agriculture. Land tenure arrangement of agricultural land in study area can be described in fourfold as follows. First is private land which is used for agriculture. Second is rented land, which landowners rent to local farmers who do not have land or need more land for agriculture. Third is Agricultural land Reform Area (ALRO land) which is a type of public land allocated for landless farmers for agricultural purpose only. Fourth is community land which government provides to the whole community and allows the community members to manage. In 2011, a great flood occurred in the study area. The flood had adversely affected not only to people’s dwelling, but also agricultural lands and crops. Farmers who were affected need to change their crop choices. The study employed multistage sampling procedure. First, by using stratified sampling method, the population was divided into four groups based on types of land ownership, consisting of Land title deed (owners), rented land, ALRO land certificate and community land title. Second, systematic sampling method was used to select 160 farmers using questionnaire administration to obtain primary data for analysis. The field survey was conducted in mid-2013, nearly 2 years after the severe flood in 2011, at the time that the government’s rice pledging scheme had the pledging price higher than the market price. For data analysis, descriptive statistics were used for data analysis for some variables such as farm size, income and expenditure and other socio-economic information. Chi-squared test and t-test were also used to test relationships among land tenure systems and farmers’ livelihood strategies and to test significant differences of livelihood strategies and farmers’ income and expenditure under different land tenure systems; and to test differences in the area allocated to the cultivations of various crops by farmers in 2011 and under different land tenure systems. The empirical results of Chi-squared tests revealed that land tenure systems significantly influenced land holding size, government supports and farmers’ saving and credit sources. The results also revealed that differences in land holding size and governments supports influenced farmers’ crop choices and their incomes and expenditures. Additionally, regarding comparison between farmers’ crop combinations before and after the 2011 flood, the empirical results of the t-test revealed that the land area cultivated of rice increased significantly in 2013 which may be highly attributed to the government policy on rice. The government policy on guaranteed market and price of rice provides incentive for the smallholder farmers to increase land allocated to rice cultivation even in the circumstance of likelihood of occurrence of flood. However, the land area of fruits and vegetables decreased significantly in 2013. Furthermore, the results revealed that the land area of rice increased significantly in 2013 for farmers under the various land tenure arrangements. On the other hand, the land area of fruits decreased significantly for farmers under all land tenure arrangements except for farmers under the renter type of land tenure which was not significant. Also, the land area cultivated of vegetables decreased significantly for farmers with land title deed. These results have implications for the role of government policy regarding the farmers’ crop production in the midst of the natural disaster under different land tenure systems in following ways: First, the likelihood of occurrence of natural disasters such as flood and drought may discourage farmers to expand land under cultivation. Therefore, the government policy on rice should be replicated to other crops such as fruits and vegetables to encourage farmers to expand area of these crops in order to increase the production levels, all things being equal. Second, the government support to fruits and vegetable farmers has to be based on the land tenure arrangements under which these farmers are cultivating. Thus, special attention should be given to fruit farmers cultivating under all types of land tenure arrangements except for fruit farmers under the renter type of arrangement. In the same vein, special attention should be given to vegetable farmers with land title deed as suggested by the findings. |
| Year | 2018 |
| 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) | Kuwornu, John K. M.;Grünbühel, Clemens (Co-Chairperson) |
| Examination Committee(s) | Soni, Peeyush;Shivakoti, Ganesh P. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), Thailand |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2018 |