Farming System Sustainability and Capital Accumulation : An Interpretation of Farmer Differentiation in Saiyok District of Kanjanaburi Province.

Abstract

From and economic and social point of view, it can be assumed that the possibility for farmer to accumulate productive capital (land, plantations, domestic animals, farm equipment and saving) on their Agricultural Production Systems (APS) was the indicator for their respective levels of sustainability. For the past forty years, a very important process of farm differentiation occurred across all provinces throughout the country. It is easier to observe and analyze it in “pioneer fronts” areas like the Maenam Kwae Noi Valley in Kanjanaburi where such research was carried out during 1991. Based on the APS respective functioning patterns and history, a typology of the local farming systems was built and used to assess the socioeconomic as well as agro-technical sustainability of each category of APS. Based on such a comparative analysis of farmers situations, a hierarchy of appropriate key questions and topics for research and extension was also proposed, in order to improve the sustainability of majority of small-scale production units.