Development of the Farmer Group for Integrated Rice Growing in the Area of Phrong A-Kat Sub-District, Bang Nam Priao District, Chachoengsao Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research paper were to study the current situation and explore guidelines for the development of integrated rice production of Khlong Ban Mai Rice Varieties Production Community Enterprise, Phrong A-kat Sub-District, Bang Nam Priao District, Chachoengsao.   It is participatory action research by studying documents, in-depth interview, and organizing the workshop training program to exchange knowledge. For data collection, the sample group was voluntarily selected from the group members, comprising 32 people. The results of the research showed that Khlong Ban Mai Rice Varieties Production Community Enterprise was conducted under group management as follows: 1) in terms of rice production planning, the group produces rice seeds for its own use; 2) in terms of productivity management, the group takes rice and processes it into milled rice and brown rice for sale, by making packaging sizes of 1 kilogram, 5 kilogram, 10 kilogram and 50 kilogram; 3) in terms of marketing, most of the products of the group are sold to members and the people in the community; and 4) in terms of technology and tools used in rice production, the group has a tractor to prepare the fields for planting, rice straw baling tools, rice field for drying rice, a rice mill, a rice loader, a weighing machine which can support approximately 30 tons of rice at  a time, and their own rice warehouse. As for the guidelines for group development, the research results found that 1) in terms of cost reduction (Upstream) e.g. 1.1) the group members work together to produce quality rice seeds for their own use; 1.2) the group members gather to buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides for use within the group; and 1.3) the group members attend a workshop on producing fertilizer (made to order) from customized fertilizer for their own use, and do not buy fertilizer available in the market, 2) in terms of processing to create added value (Midstream) e.g.    2.1) the group members take rice and process it into milled rice, especially the hard rice which is the main product of the group was processed into various products, such as making rice noodles, etc., and 3) in terms of the group’s product distribution (Downstream), e.g. the group members participated in marketing training to increase a variety of marketing channels, at the level of community, district, and province, both public and private agencies as well as the entrepreneurs that use rice as raw materials for production.