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Thailand Case Studies for Organic Agricultural Development |
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The early development of organic farming
In response to the decline of agriculture because of excessive use of agro-chemicals and economic pressures, a group of farmers and local non-government organizations (NGOs) came together to establish the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) in the early 1980s to foster sustainable agriculture activism in Thailand. The AAN provides a discussion forum for sharing experience and policy advocacy for sustainable agriculture, including organic farming. This initiative had aroused interest among the concerned people in many parts of the country to engage in the promotion of sustainable agriculture for rural development objectives. Organic farming is seen as a form of sustainable farming practices, together with agro-forestry, mixed farming, and natural farming. Meanwhile, the growth of organic agriculture in the EU and the USA, especially the emergence of market opportunities, has created some interest for agribusiness to initiate organic projects in order to capture the early market niche abroad.
The development of Thai organic agriculture has occurred in two streams: the rural development-oriented and the business-oriented organic programs. In the first stream, the key stakeholders are farmers and NGOs, with limited support from local researchers. Their main goal is to support small-scale farmers in adopting sustainable farming practices in order to improve their livelihoods and agro-ecological conditions in rural areas. Their conversion strategies focus on raising farmers’ awareness of the negative impacts of agro-chemicals and the undue dependency on external markets, and promoting indigenous knowledge of sustainable farming practices through seminars, research, study tours, and individual on-farm experiments. This approach had limited success, and since the early 1990s some NGOs started revolutionizing the strategies by incorporating economic (market) incentives and revising extension methods. A local organic certification body was founded to provide inspection and certification services to ensure better market access. This new approach has proven to be more effective, as a large number of farmers have joined in the organic programs.
The second stream is led by local entrepreneurs who have linkages to overseas markets. With such linkages, they (or their trading partners overseas) have noticed the emerging organic markets and see it as a business opportunity. As they normally lack knowledge on production, especially organic farming, they engage local researchers and government agencies in helping them with farmers’ conversion. They also tend to use the services of foreign organic certification bodies suggested by their overseas trading partners. These pioneers are large-scale businesses with export facilities, however, and when the domestic market emerges, more and more small local businesses and entrepreneurs are coming into the scene.
The development of Thai organic agriculture has gone through ups and downs with the local and international political and economic environments. The collapse of the Thai economy in 1999 had both positive and negative implications, e.g. it encouraged more organic conversion as agro-chemical farm inputs became more expensive and Thai organic exports became more competitive, but it slowed down the growth of domestic markets because of tight financial conditions. The active engagement of the government in organic agriculture since the early 2000s helped to promote more farm conversion for both the domestic market and exports.(Author: Vitoon Panyakul)
(Adapted From IFOAM, Building Sustainable Organic Sectors)
Further Reading about the Early Organic Sector in Thailand:
Case Study Overview
Agricultural Conditions
Early Development
Market Development
Regulatory Framework and Policy
IFOAM is constantly updating the information on this website. Comments or suggestions contact the Platform Coordinator
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