22 pages, Raising agricultural productivity in developing countries is often said to reduce poverty more than comparable growth arising from other sectors. This claim has frequently been based on casual theorising, rather than empirical evidence. Productivity growth generates additional income and must benefit someone, though not necessarily the poor. It is conceivable that most, or even all of the benefits might go to others. Using region-level data from Thailand, we study the relationship between agricultural productivity growth and rural poverty incidence. The dependent variable for our regression analysis is the annual rate of change in rural poverty incidence at the regional level between the years for which poverty data are available. Agricultural productivity is measured as the annual rate of change in regional total agricultural productivity, covering the same time intervals as the poverty observations, but lagged one calendar year. Other control variables include regional non-agricultural incomes and the real price of food. The estimated coefficient on the change in agricultural productivity is negative and highly significant, implying that agricultural productivity growth does reduce rural poverty, holding other variables constant, though not more so than non-agricultural sources of income growth. The poverty-reducing contribution of recent agricultural productivity growth has been small. The poverty-reducing effects of long-term drivers of agricultural productivity growth are also analysed, using simulations based on the estimated model.
14pgs, The World Health Organization (WHO) has used communication methods to promote the international ban of the agricultural pesticides paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos. This ban has led to misunderstanding among farmers who still use these chemicals, which may be available under different brand names. Communication with the non-scientific community is uncertain leading to miscommunication, especially where scientific language is used. Governments have banned the use of these agricultural chemicals. The scientific arguments are not necessarily understood by famers so they may ignore the prohibition and continue using them or other similar chemicals. This study uses story-telling and qualitative research methods where a questionnaire is combined with the content analytical technique. The quantitative research method was used to collect data in the field where 351 participants took part. Participatory action research is a method where community farmers engaged in self-reflection on the impact of chemicals on their fields, their health and the health of others. Their understanding of the non-chemical usage model and good agricultural practice farmers in the vicinity, especially as they were personally involved in the creation of the media from script preparation, to acting, filming, and evaluating the final docu-dramas. The findings of the docu–drama programmes of 5 GAP farmers are presented to identify the perception of how to avoid using chemicals and their solutions for tangerine farmers through a manual that is the media output from the project and the resulting findings suggesting that the factors related to the effectiveness of scientific communication are divided into pull factors and push factors.
21 pages, Women empowerment and gender equality have been found to be statistically significant and positive predictors of global agricultural development. Therefore, reducing gender disparities can encourage economic progress and growth in developing nations. As such, determining effective ways to stimulate social progress and women’s empowerment has emerged as a critical need. One strategy used to raise the public’s consciousness about gendered issues in Thailand has been through mass media. In response, this study aimed to (1) determine to what extent Thailand’s newspaper coverage focused on topics related to women and the agricultural industry; and (2) describe how women in agriculture have been portrayed in newspaper coverage since the introduction of Thailand 4.0’s policy in 2016. Using a qualitative content analysis of Thailand’s newspaper coverage of women in the agricultural sector, four themes emerged: (1) economic policy implications for Thailand’s agricultural system; (2) human rights; (3) women entrepreneurship and leadership; and (4) agricultural development. Therefore, this study concluded that newspaper coverage of women in agriculture was diverse and conflicting – a finding not previously reported. The findings also revealed that women in agriculture have been underrepresented in newspaper publications historically. Moving forward, we provided critical implications for how future research, theory, and practice can depict women in agriculture more positively in the newspaper media.
10 Pages, As Thai farmers get older they need to plan what to do with their farm business and land given younger people tend to out-migrate to urban areas and shift their interests away from farming. Such demographic trends may reduce agricultural productivity and increase food insecurity, both among farmers and in the region. Using data collected through interviews with 368 farmers in the Prachin Buri province of Thailand, this research aims to examine how ageing is affecting farm activities of older farmers (60 years and older) and how they are adapting. We found that, while a small percentage of older farmers intended to continue farming without making any changes over the next five years (~9%), most were concerned about their health and farm work capacity, and were looking to leave farming and implement strategies to reduce both work intensity and time. Most farmers intended to stop farming and transfer farmland to their children (~40%), or continue farming while making some changes (~30%), such as employing additional workers or switching to less labour intense crops. Some intended to stop farming altogether and dispose of farmland outside their family (~21%; e.g. leasing out or selling or returning farmland to owner if leased). As expected, the chosen strategy depended on personal (old-age income security and gender) and farm characteristics (e.g. successor, farm activities, and subsidy). Having a dedicated successor had a substantial impact on transferring land to the children, reflecting the importance of commitment for farming by the next generation, which will be challenging. A pension higher than the widely available old-age allowance could support farmers in maintaining a better living standard after retiring. However, only a fraction of farmers currently had access to a pension. Both short- and long-term policies are, therefore, needed to support elderly farmers, improve their living standards after retirement, and attract young people back to farming.
