Organic Rice; Farmers networking; communities’ network; Mahidol's Organic Rice Standard

Organic rice farmers, customers, and related communities’ network to increase guideline standards.
Introduction: The research and Academic Outreach Center of Bueng Borapeth, Nakhonsawan sees the problem of the lack of confidence of customers of organic rice and farmers that lack standards for product certifications. The center came up with a project to solve these problems, and in 2016, The Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP) supported our ideas by networking with organic rice farmers in the lower Northern part of Thailand 2 (Phichit, Kamphaeng Pet, Nakhonsawan, and Uthai Thani). We are networking with farmers, customers, and related communities to come up with a solution to having the best standards. We use current standards as a guideline, and as a result, we got our " Mahidol's Organic Rice Standard". Farmers use the network's standards to produce products. Not only can the standards ease the concern of production but also ensures the quality to their customers. Moreover, products are sold out in a short time and are insufficient for demand in the long run. We, as the leader are learning along with the network on how to manage the group. Delimitation of the study: Phichit, Kamphaeng Pet, Nakhonsawan, and Uthai Thani.

Purpose:

1. Create a strong organic rice farmers network with the best standards.

2. Create innovations and new knowledge of organic rice farming to create more effective ways of farming.

3. Create productive and reliable products for our customers.

4. Create knowledge of microbial pesticides and herbs for efficient organic farming.

5. For accessible standards for all farmers and to create new opportunities for product marketing. We encourage farmers to develop into entrepreneurs.

Years
Since 2016 - present. (5 years)

Methodology
We encourage the farmers to plan their farming and all farmers must do a member registration before cultivation. More than that, we let farmers themselves inspect each cultivation in their group and also across groups. Framers learn about prevention, and elimination of diseases and pests by using biological methods. The whole cultivation process must follow the standards we made. If not, the cultivation process will not be certified. If the cultivation process is certified, farmers are able to test insecticides in our laboratory at Mahidol University, Nakhonsawan Campus. Tests of Organochlorines (OC), Pyrethroids (PT), Organophosphate (OP), and Carbamate (CM) are tested by Thin-layer Chromatography techniques. GPO-TM/1 and GPO-TM/2 test kits.

Target Groups
Organic farmer's network in Phichit, Kamphaeng Pet, Nakhonsawan, and Uthai Thani.

Numbers of participants

The total amount of participants interested in joining the network is 344 members (individual), with 15 members from 34 groups. From

• Phichit: 12 groups - 157 members.

• Kamphaeng Pet: 22 groups - 81 members.

• Nakhon Sawan: 14 groups - 59 members.

• Uthai Thani: 10 groups - 47 members.

Result

1. Created a strong Organic Farmer's network model in the lower Northern part of Thailand 2 with 344 members with 3,500 organic rice fields.

2. Caused integration and development of the academic service for explicit knowledge that leads to Petty Patent Certifications. (Certification No. 378760 certified 11 December 2019.

3. Increased income for organic rice farmers averaged 35,000 baht per year.

4. Farmers joining the network can decrease the cost up to 1,500 - 2,000 baht per field for each cultivation or 3,000 - 4,000 baht per year. (cultivation twice a year)