Factors Affecting the Success of Community Enterprise Management according to The Standard of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Sikao District, Trang Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study various factors and features (personal factors, economic factors, community information and supporting factors) that were relevant to the success of the sustainable palm oil community enterprise in Sikao district, Trang province, with reference to the standards of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and 2) to examine the relationship between those factors. Data were collected by interview with 103 farmers. Statistical analyses performed were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, maximum, minimum and chi-square. The results revealed that most of the farmers were male and had an average age of 58.04 years. Most had completed school at the elementary level and had 4 people in their family. The average length of experience in palm oil production was 20.53 years. The average area of palm oil cultivation was 32.14 rai. In general, between five and eight people worked on a plot. The average income from palm oil production was 384,689.32 baht/year. The average expense associated with palm oil production was 111,310.68 baht/year, and farmers had been members of a palm oil planting group for about 5 years. The farmers received palm oil information from factory staff, books, and training programs. The farmers rated their support from community enterprises at
a mean of 2.75, from the government sector at a mean level of 2.58, and from the private sector at a mean level of 2.74. The overall opinion of the farmers toward the success of the community enterprise was at a high level
(mean 2.74), and the farmers rated the community use of appropriate and best practices at the highest mean level of 2.81.The hypothesis testing found that gender, educational level, experience of cultivating palm oil trees, number of laborers, expenses to do with palm oil production, participation in community enterprises, information exposure to palm oil business through the medium of personal media (factory staff), mass media (books) and activity media (training programs) were the relevant supporting factors that related to the success of the community enterprise and its management according to the standards laid down in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) at
the 0.05 level of significance.