Food security can be obtained when the food producers are secured. Here the interaction of work & life cycles of small scale farmers is highlighted. Work cycle comprises farm management activities and components from input to output management processes including physical and market risk management. Life cycle entails farmers’ livelihood activities, i.e. household consumption, income, expenses, saving, health, education, social, cultural and leisure activities. For example, we often see that the farmer spends almost all of the farm revenue to pay the debt and borrows again for the next crop; if crop fails, it will increase her indebtness which inevitably affects the household’s livelihood and welfare in all aspects. These two circles thus interact and affect each other. Based on this premise, how do we develop programs that will promote food security in a more integrated and holistic way regarding their diversified context and conditions? Many points in the proposed scope should be taken into consideration at the same time in one work package.
Small farms can survive and improve by means of sharing of knowledge and resources among the group members and by networking. Farmer groups should generate an alternative supply chain, in contrast to the conventional one, to create a fair trade aiming at a fairer farm price and a reasonable retail price subject to satisfactory product quality. An efficient value chain should allow farmers to predetermine the output price and even get pre-orders of their product. This enables them to better plan for quantity to be produced. This is not contract farming, but it is based on a relationship of trust and confidence among well selected strategic partners and alliances in the network who are willing the share the cost of risk and share responsibility and benefit along the chain. A case likes this exists in Thailand in the Moral Rice Farmer Group who basically produce certified organic rice; the group members observe precepts (e.g. do not gamble, drink and smoke) which in fact help farmers cut unnecessary expenses. The cost of farm inputs is minimized by sharing of inputs, a good logistic work within the network, and a more diversified farm activity. Consumers and retailers (e.g. “Consumer alliance introduced to the group by media”, pharmacies, “Farmer Shop” a pilot project conducted by the Cooperative Academic Institute, Kasetsart University, as part of the network alliances in the chain are willing to pay a premium price for encouraging farmers to produce a high quality product and to build up a network of ethical – safe, clean and green products and moral group. In this case, they do not incur over supply and do not need subsidies (for example they do not participate in the government’s rice pledging program). The group does not aim at profit making, but rather at maximizing the overall net benefit of keeping a cohesive network, which they have come to realize is a strategy to keep small scale farmers survive in a strong current of capitalism.
Tipparat Pongthanapanich
Bangkok
Tipparat Pongthanapanich