The Participatory Development of Rubber Strategic Plan in Ubon Ratchathani

Abstract

This article aimed to explain the development of rubber strategic plan with the participation of several partners in Ubon Ratchathani. Data were gathered from government agencies, state enterprises, entrepreneurs, and rubber farmers via interviews, focus group discussions, and community forums.  The study findings show that there was no strategic plan for rubber development in Ubon Ratchathani, although there had been several unsuccessful attempts to push forward the plan at the provincial level. There were three man contributing factors for this failure. First, there was no consistency of rubber information from different government offices in the province, which made it difficult to form a policy decision. Second, there was a lack of body to coordinate between agencies. Third, the groups representing rubber industry were not strong enough push forward the rubber policy. Fourth, the change of provincial administrators had caused a lack of continuity in the rubber planning. This research process has thus developed a rubber strategic plan based on the participation of government agencies, entrepreneurs and rubber farmers in order to formulate a policy plan from various perspectives and to set guidelines for further cooperation. The collaboration and development will be area-based with aim to maintain sustainability and local participation.