Value added biological SRI: an economic case study from Northern Thailand

Bicksler Abram J., . and Thansrithong Boonsong, . (2015) Value added biological SRI: an economic case study from Northern Thailand. In: SEA Regional Conference on SRI 2015: Innovating Shared Value, 25-28 May 2015, Alor Setar Kedah.

Rice is a staple food of many parts of the world with Thailand always in the top 3 global rice exporters. The government of Thailand is proud of its farmers and rice’s value as the “Nation’s-spine.� However due to the practice of costly input utilization over several decades the sustainability and biological backbone of rice production has deteriorated around the country pushing many Thai farmers to use more synthetic chemical inputs and go greater into debt. Although many of the input costs continue to increase the price of rice remains volatile. Besides the production of rice for quantity some farmers are increasingly concerned with quality and the sustainability of their systems. One such example is a Northern Thai farmer Miss Fah Mui from Chiang Rai Thailand. Because she cares about her consumers’ health and the biology of her rice paddy she is always keeping her eyes open for options to cultivate rice without using synthetic chemicals that will also increase the quality and quantity of the rice she produces. One day she found an SRI manual that was published by McKean Rehabilitation Center in Chiang Mai and she tried it out for a few years using organic fertilizer and fermented herbal spray to control insects and diseases in her paddy. She was satisfied with her yields and as a result of of the carefully-applied organic practices her rice price was higher than the government’s fixed price. Whereas the government’s price of rice was $0.50 per kilogram she could produce brown rice and sell it at $2.6 per kilogram on-farm (or $4 per kilogram in Bangkok). As an additional income stream she began to produce GABA (Gemma-aminobutyric acid) powder which is a rice powder (germinated brown rice that is turned into powder). She sells GABA under the nice-marketing that it is good for peoples’ health. She packs 200 grams of GABA rice powder/bag and sells it for $1.6 (or $8 per kilogram). SRI and biological rice production might require more labor but the overall profitability can be very high for a farmer willing to learn the techniques experiment and put in the hard work. For Miss Fah Mui she is convinced that it is totally worthwhile to practice SRI and biological rice production for the sake of the environment her profit the economy and for the “Nation’s-spine.�

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Abstract

Rice is a staple food of many parts of the world with Thailand always in the top 3 global rice exporters. The government of Thailand is proud of its farmers and rice’s value as the “Nation’s-spine.� However due to the practice of costly input utilization over several decades the sustainability and biological backbone of rice production has deteriorated around the country pushing many Thai farmers to use more synthetic chemical inputs and go greater into debt. Although many of the input costs continue to increase the price of rice remains volatile. Besides the production of rice for quantity some farmers are increasingly concerned with quality and the sustainability of their systems. One such example is a Northern Thai farmer Miss Fah Mui from Chiang Rai Thailand. Because she cares about her consumers’ health and the biology of her rice paddy she is always keeping her eyes open for options to cultivate rice without using synthetic chemicals that will also increase the quality and quantity of the rice she produces. One day she found an SRI manual that was published by McKean Rehabilitation Center in Chiang Mai and she tried it out for a few years using organic fertilizer and fermented herbal spray to control insects and diseases in her paddy. She was satisfied with her yields and as a result of of the carefully-applied organic practices her rice price was higher than the government’s fixed price. Whereas the government’s price of rice was $0.50 per kilogram she could produce brown rice and sell it at $2.6 per kilogram on-farm (or $4 per kilogram in Bangkok). As an additional income stream she began to produce GABA (Gemma-aminobutyric acid) powder which is a rice powder (germinated brown rice that is turned into powder). She sells GABA under the nice-marketing that it is good for peoples’ health. She packs 200 grams of GABA rice powder/bag and sells it for $1.6 (or $8 per kilogram). SRI and biological rice production might require more labor but the overall profitability can be very high for a farmer willing to learn the techniques experiment and put in the hard work. For Miss Fah Mui she is convinced that it is totally worthwhile to practice SRI and biological rice production for the sake of the environment her profit the economy and for the “Nation’s-spine.�

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
AGROVOC Term:	Rice
AGROVOC Term:	Paddy
AGROVOC Term:	Intensification
AGROVOC Term:	Farming systems
AGROVOC Term:	Value added
AGROVOC Term:	Agricultural economics
AGROVOC Term:	Crop production
AGROVOC Term:	Plant quality
AGROVOC Term:	Sustainable agriculture
Geographical Term:	MALAYSIA
Depositing User:	Mr. AFANDI ABDUL MALEK
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2025 00:52
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/7718

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