Economic impacts of the ban on paraquat on oil palm farmers : a case study of Nong Suea district, Pathum Thani, Thailand | |
| Author | Narawich Hawong |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AB-21-01 |
| Subject(s) | Paraquat--Economic aspects--Thailand Paraquat--Toxicology Paraquat--Health aspects Oil palm |
| Note | A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agribusiness Management in Agribusiness Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Due to the ban on paraquat in Thailand, which has been effective since June 1, 2020, a lot of farmers in the country are affected including oil palm farmers, who commonly use paraquat. Oil palm farmers in Nong Suea district Pathum Thani, Thailand are a group of farmers that is affected by this policy. Thus, this research aims to study effects of the ban on paraquat on weed controlling cost and practices of oil palm farmers in Nong Suea district. Objectives of this study are to assess changing of weed controlling cost, evaluate adaptation of oil palm farmers, and compare differences in weed control cost changing between small oil palm plantation owners, and medium and large oil palm plantation owners after paraquat has been banned. Data of this study were gathered from 100 oil palm farmers in Nong suea district by face-to-face interview. The data were analyzed by using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Before the ban was effective, 80% of the farmers commonly used paraquat. Most farmers consider that cost of mowing and using glufosinate is high, and using glyphosate is too risk for their oil palms. The study found that in the last haft year of 2020, around haft of the oil palm farmers still uses paraquat although it has been banned. Only 14% of farmers changed to use glufosinate-ammonium after the ban and just a few of them changed to use glyphosate. For these reasons, overall, cost of weed management of farmers in this district did not increase much though paraquat has been banned. Moreover, weed control cost changing of small oil palm plantation owners does not significantly differ from weed control cost changing of medium and large oil palm plantation owners. Most farmers have never had injury from using paraquat. However, 4% of the farmers have had temporally and trivial injury from using paraquat, for instance nosebleeds, irritated skins, and headache. Overall, farmers clearly disagree with the ban on paraquat and disagree that the ban on paraquat will bring them the better health and environment. Furthermore, since paraquat has been banned, all farmers have never obtained any mitigated measures from the government, and they want the government to either bring paraquat back to the market or decrease prices of glufosinate-ammonium. |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Thesis |
| 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 |
| Examination Committee(s) | Anal, Anil Kumar;Bhujel, Ram C.;Tsusaka, Takuji W. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Am.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |