Investigating farmers' motivations and constraints of good aquaculture practices (GAP) adoption in Thailand | |
| Author | Chitrlada Booncharoen |
| Call Number | AIT Diss no.AB-21- |
| Subject(s) | Aquaculture--Standards--Thiland Farm produce--Standards--Thiland Farmers--Thailand--Attitudes |
| 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 | Aquaculture has been a great contributor to Thai culture and economy both historically and currently. Recent global consumer trends pay attention to consumers’ health leading to food safety, and environmental sustainability is addressed along the food-producing process. Standard on farming practices, namely Good Aquaculture Practice (GAP), has been applied to aquaculture production, providing farm management requirements, good farming practices, animal health, welfare, and environmental management. The application of GAP can guide farmers to produce healthy and quality aquatic animals to enhance food safety and mitigate the environmental impact of aquaculture on ecosystems and biodiversity. In Thailand, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) has progressively supported Thai aquaculture farmers to adopt the GAP standard to produce good quality fishery commodities recognized in the global markets. However, in 2018 the number of GAP-certified shrimp farms in Thailand was only 9,111 out of a total of 12,814 registrant farms (DOF, 2019), accounting for 71%. Thus, it is necessary to identify obstacles to the GAP adoption. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the perceptions, attitudes, motivation and focuses on the evaluation of factors influencing farmers for decision-making to convert from traditional farming to GAP implementation farming by comparing the farmers’ motivation, especially farmers in Eastern Thailand who participating in GAP standard and certified by the Department of Fisheries (DOF). The farmers were categorized into three groups based on the year of GAP adoption. Those who had adopted GAP farming for less than three years (new adopters) accounted for 20.5%, whereas mid-adopters (3-6 years) accounted for 36.2% of the sample. About 43.3% of the farmers (old adopters) adopted GAP for more than six years. Structural interviews and data were collected from 508 farmers based on a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Primary data were gathered from respondents through face-to-face interviews using the questionnaire. A questionnaire survey on the personal profile, the understating of GAP requirements, and socio-economic information was conducted to evaluate the main factors influencing farmers to participate in GAP certification. The primary data was collected by interviewing (face-to-face) the farmers with structured questionnaires between January - September 2019. DOF, Thailand provided secondary data on lists of GAP-certified farmers.Results showed that all farmers were willing to adopt GAP to create a safer certified farm, including reducing chemical use and reporting disease outbreaks. At the same time, the local government officers are important personnel to advice, which is a key feature to be addressed and to driving the decision to implement and participate in GAP certification, especially the new farmers' group. Information exchange with Local government officers and neighbors can earn farmers’ trust in GAP certification potentially increasing GAP certified farms in Thailand. These findings provide essential information to enhance capacity building for policy design and strengthen Thai farmers' competency to be ready for GAP certification. Besides, the product price between GAP and non-GAP products should be different to motivate and inspire the farmers. The low-interest loans or a suitable taxation policy offered to small scale farmers or new-adopters are identified to be the attractive incentives to persuade farmers to convert from traditional or non-GAP farms to be GAP-certified farms. |
| Year | 2021 |
| 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) | Salin, Krishna;Loc, Thai Nguyen |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), Thailand;AIT Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |