Context of organic vegetable production in Sam Sung district, Northeast Thailand

บทคัดย่อ

The importance of organic agriculture is being realized by the farmers as well as the policy makers, intellectuals and sensitive citizens after observing the adverse effects of using synthetic chemicals and pesticides indiscriminately. Like many countries of the world, the Government of Thailand is also trying to promote organic farming. Farmers in Sam Sung district, Khon Kaen province, Northeastern Thailand have been growing organic vegetables successfully since 2008, and the number of organic vegetable growers has increased sharply. The study was conducted from March to September 2012 with the aim to understand the general context of organic vegetable growing in the abovementioned area. The techniques of informal interviews with key informants, face-to-face interviews of farmers with a pretested questionnaire, and observations were done to collect both secondary and primary data. Land and very shallow underground water are the main natural resources in the area. The government has allocated public land, developed a good irrigation system, and provided training for organic vegetable growers. Most of the organic vegetable growers are women and aged people. The Central Marketing Group, Thailand has also helped them to establish a cooperative for organic vegetable processing and marketing, and it is now running by itself. Along with the natural resources, the establishment of farmers’ organizations, the strengthening their capacity building by providing knowledge and infrastructure development, and the establishment of backward and forward linkages have created a favorable environment for running the organic vegetable production system in Sam Sung district. It has created a scope to use the opportunity labor of the village farmers to earn extra income as well as satisfy households’ vegetable needs.