Optimal Production Systems in Highland Communities in Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

Abstract Countries around the world are facing increasing problems related to rapid resource depletion, especially due to a reduction in highland agricultural area which affects the country's economy, society and the environment. The farmers feel pressurized to move away from traditional methods of food production in order to improve their economic well-being by switching to mono-crops with high retail values. This has also led to social changes in the highland communities as some farmers are more successful than others for a variety of reasons. The primary purpose of this study is to research agricultural production systems which are both environmentally friendly and capable of providing the farmers and their families with food security and an improved standard of living. The study area in Pang Daeng Nai Royal Project Extensions collected a sample from 185 households. The input and output prices were an average taken from the three years and the data was analyzed by a multiple goal and multi-period programming model. This aimed to optimize resource management by considering four objective goals. These were to maximize income, ensure rice sufficiency for the household consumption, to minimize chemical costs and to minimize fertilizer costs. The analysis was subject to the constraints estimated from household consumption and income levels which were used for the household consumption model. The coefficients for the main crop were estimated from the production frontier function and this resulted in a 5 year planning framework. The primary results of this analysis indicate that it is possible to reach the optimization goals. For an average farm of 17.85 rai, the study suggests that the land should be allocated as follows: 27% for rice cultivation, 46% for field crop conservation farming (maize-legume relay-cropping), 11% for perennial trees (mango), and 17% for semi-perennial crops (passion fruit). This production system can generate of 92,600 -101,400 THB per year cash income per household. This will produce on average 1,261 kilograms of rice per year per household. By following this optimal land use, it could reduce the cost of chemicals and fertilizers by 6,600 -10,200 THB per household per year. If decisions on optimal land use are done in highland community, land would be allocated to mix perennial and semi-perennial fruit trees including without waste burning from production that the optimized production plan is environmentally sustainable.