Development of Consolidated Farm Application for Produce and Market Data Management

Abstract

This research studied and analyzed data on agricultural production to find solutions to the problem of falling prices and oversupply of Thai agricultural products. The objectives of the research were to develop an application for production data management and to add value to agricultural products. The study found that the reason the agricultural products could not be released quickly was due to the lack of production data used for product management, in particular the data on produce amount and releasing time. This prevented the marketing support team from making management plans in advance. To solve the problem, the researcher designed and developed an application called Consolidated Farm or "ConFarm" app based on the system development cycle principle. The application was aimed for managing production and marketing data such as transportation, sales promotion, marketing planning, and to add value to agricultural products. From testing the app among a network of 200 farmers in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Uthai Thani, Suphan Buri, Chanthaburi, and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces, the problem of production data management and marketing could be solved. From using the ConFarm app in longan distribution planning, the Chiang Klang Agricultural Cooperatives Limited found that the product price was increased at about 200 percent when compared to not using the app. In addition, a sample of 31 people who used the app found that they were very satisfied, with an average score of 4.29 points.