Cost Efficiency of Thai National GAP (QGAP) and Mangosteen Farmers’ Understanding in Chanthaburi Province

Pongthong Pongvinyoo^1, , Masahiro Yamao¹ and Kenji Hosono¹

¹Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Japan

Cite this paper:
Pongthong Pongvinyoo, Masahiro Yamao and Kenji Hosono. Cost Efficiency of Thai National GAP (QGAP) and Mangosteen Farmers’ Understanding in Chanthaburi Province. American Journal of Rural Development. 2015; 3(2):15-23. doi: 10.12691/ajrd-3-2-1

Abstract

GAP has been implemented in mangosteen commodity, which is the important export commodity in Thailand since 2003. The direct market for GAP –based mangosteen has not yet developed. Therefore, the farmers could not get a direct benefit from GAP adoption, and they believed that GAP could not give them any visible benefits. The present study seeks to expose the GAP realistic economic incentives from farmers’ GAP experiences in mangosteen commodity. One-hundred and twelve (112) respondents were randomly selected from 1,968 GAP mangosteen-certified farmers in Chanthaburi province which is the biggest mangosteen cultivation area in Thailand. This study reviewed that GAP certified farmers were satisfied with income from their investment more than the ordinary farmers (cost efficiency = 1.74 and 1.27, respectively). However, the production cost per rai was 11,554.7 THB/rai, higher than the ordinary farmers’ cost (7,007.9 THB/rai). The GAP standard itself provides direct incentive through its knowledge and appropriate farming techniques which are classified as non-economic incentives. The proportion of high-quality mangosteen can be increased if the farmers effectively practice GAP on their farms.

Keywords:
GAP mangosteen farmers’ incentive cost efficiency

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