Income diversification strategies of rubber farmers in Southern Thailand: an empirical study

Abstract

In Thailand, rubber is a very important cash crop of which nearly 95% is produced by smallholders. This study aims to investigate the income diversification strategies adopted by rubber farmers in Southern Thailand. Primary data was collected through a cross-sectional survey conducted in 12 sub-districts under six districts of three provinces (namely, Songkhla, Surat Thani and Trang) in Southern Thailand. A standardized questionnaire was used to receive responses from a total of 398 rubber smallholders selected randomly in the chosen areas (i.e. 12 sub-districts) for this study. The findings revealed that three income strategies, namely, rubber farm income only (R), rubber farm and non-farm income (RN), and combination of rubber farm, other farm, and non-farm income (RAN) were the dominant income strategies adopted by rubber farmers in Thailand. The study identified seven factors namely, age and education of household head, family size, land size holding, access to credit, land right and access to cooperative that had significant influence on income diversification strategies of the households. It was also revealed that rubber farmers with large household size are more likely to pursue all choices of income diversification strategies to increase their income. This might be due to the relation between larger family size and household labor or corresponding higher expenditure in the household. The study findings might be useful for policymakers to design and implement more effective policies to provide more income-generating ventures for rubber farmers in Thailand