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โครงการหนังสืออิเล็กทรอนิกส์ด้านการเกษตร เฉลิมพระเกียรติพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว

Abstract

The northern part of Thailand has always been known for its richness of nature and

high ecological value. Not only that 80% of the country’s highland locates in the region, it is

home to more than half of the country’s total forest areas. Over the past decade, this
region’s reserved forests have rapidly shrank in size and farmers’ well-being and highland

environment have suffered vastly, owing to a widespread culture of maize farming which

relies on heavily use of herbicide and chemical fertilizer. The working of business model
linking maize from the region to final market has unlocked considerable physical and

institutional limitations of highland, hence, acts as important engine behind such crisis. This

is why, to induce farmers to adopt a more environmental friendly alternative, focusing on
mere potential returns generated by the product will not suffice, the understanding of

potential business models that could lend good support to highland agricultural system and
bring forth sustainability to the region is thus essential.

This research paper aims to study constraints and advantages of existing highland

business models in Nan, especially in areas where farmers have started to leave/ or have
left maize farming and adopted other more environmental friendly agricultural systems. We

consider impacts of engaging in various business models on farmers’ livelihood and
environments. Finally, the understanding of relationship between business models and

indicators of sustainability and how farmers partake in the business models help us identify

essential principles governing highland agricultural business conducts including necessary
farmers’ role to ensure that the adopted business model would help establish sustainability

in all key aspects: economic, social and environment.

We conduct study in 7 areas of Nan which present interesting variation in agricultural
systems and supporting business models. Data were gathered from 146 household-surveys

and in-depth interviews with local stakeholders, government and development agencies.
Econometrics techniques were employed to demonstrate impacts of agricultural system and

the supporting business model on some economic, social and environmental sustainability

indicators.
We find that different agricultural systems and business models fare differently in

their impacts on economic, social and environment of highland community. For example,
although contract farming helps reduce high variation in product price received by farmers, it

could make significant negative impact on social and environment. Farmers’ aggregation may

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