System development of organic cassava starch supply chain of Ubon Ratchathani farmers

Abstract

The development of organic tapioca starch throughout the supply chain in Ubon Ratchathani province was carried out in 2016 with the following objectives: 1) to assess the cost of organic tapioca starch production system throughout the supply chain, 2) to compare methods and cost structure of activities in the supply chain as well as the logistics system of organic cassava starch and 3) to develop farmers’ group so that they were able to adopt the organic cassava standards of USDA, NOP or EU Organic system. It was found
that the farmer’s cost in organic cassava production was 11,935 baht/rai, while in nonorganic cassava the cost was 8,410 baht/rai. Although the production cost of organic cassava was higher than that of non-organic cassava, due to the higher purchase price of organic cassava, the sale of organic cassava roots were satisfactory to the organic farmers. It was found that the production cost per kilogramme of organic cassava starch that enters to the factory was 8.60 baht higher than that of non-organic cassava starch. The production cost and selling price of non-organic cassava were 13.76 baht /kg. and 14.91 baht/kg with the the profit of 1.15 baht/kg while the production cost and selling price of organic tapioca starch were 22.36 baht/kg. and 22.31 baht/kg., which resulted in a loss of 0.05 baht/kg. This was due to the additional cost of 3.20 baht/kg for standard certification fee in the production system according to the USDA NOP or EU Organic standards. Farmers who were certified under USDA NOP or EU Organic system and produced by using the technology of the Department of Agriculture and the Organic Crop Production Manual were able to produce organic cassava to achieve the target yield of 4.5 tons/rai, which was higher than the national average.