Reinforcing Thailand's rural social safety net with entrepreneurship
By Jon FernquestThe problem
Keeping
promising young farmers on the farm is
not easy. Each year, more and more young people in Thailand abandon the family farm and migrate to cities to find work at factories.
The agricultural sector employs around a third of Thailand's labour force and remains the main economic driver for rural communities.
Agricultural exports are also an important component of Thailand's exports (Read today's article on declining food exports this year).
Unfortunately, much of the food processing industry that transforms agricultural commodities into finished food products for sale in stores is located outside of Thailand's rural areas in urban areas.
Unemployment in Thailand, most of it in urban areas, is expected to more than double this year to 3% of the workforce, or 1.3 million, as factories and service businesses lay off staff and cut production due to falling global demand.
If worse comes to worse, "returning to one’s traditional village in the countryside" will be "a sort of 'social safety net'" for jobless rural migrants to the city, even though "links to the countryside" are "weaker than they once were." (Read Thomas Fuller's in the NY Times via Bangkok Pundit).
New high school and college graduates in rural areas will also face a bleak job market this year with high unemployment rates in cities. They might have to return to their rural roots in order to earn a livelihood.
(Photo on right: "Small food manufacturers show off their products at Kasetsart University...400 small and medium-sized food manufacturers ... obtained Pre-HACCP, a national food production standard intended as a springboard for achieving more exacting foreign certification.")
A solution
To reinvigorate Thailand's agricultural sector creativity will be necessary to staunch the flow of population from countryside to city.Envisioning what the next generation of rural farming entrepreneurs will be and then motivating young people to make this a reality, in short, is necessary.
A new wave of rural farming entrepreneurship could potentially:
1.
Create new income
opportunities in rural areas.
2. Reduce farm to city migration.
2. Reduce farm to city migration.
Kasetsart University and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) aiming to convince young people that "agriculture is still a viable - and potentially lucrative - career choice" launched a new programme towards this goal in 2007.
The programme is targeted at the "children of farmers and entrepreneurs in the hope they would carry on their family businesses."
Students on the 12-day programme take courses in modern business management and social responsibility as well as practical training in business planning and analysis.
Entrepreneurship has also been designated a new field of study at Kasetsart University.
Some of the students in the programme have already been motivated to become agricultural entrepreneurs:
Narumol
Manoonthamporn, a third-year Kasetsart student in the
programme, said she wanted to help her father develop his coconut farm
in Chachoengsao to export coconut milk pellets.
"Coconut drinks are quite popular. I'm confident that with enough knowledge of marketing, we can be successful," she said.
"Coconut drinks are quite popular. I'm confident that with enough knowledge of marketing, we can be successful," she said.
In the spirit of OTOP, this programme promises to adapt an idea that is very popular in the west, namely entrepreneurship, to help the Thais who live in rural areas.
Vocabulary:
social safety net -
something that prevents people from falling into poverty (usually
government aid)
promising - have a good chance of succeeding in the future
abandon - leave permanently or for a long time
migrate - move from one place to another place to live or work
rural migrants - workers who move from their homes in a rural farming area to the city to work
a livelihood - a source of money and income such as a job that allows you to buy the things that you need (See glossary)
earn a livelihood - work and receive an income used for living costs
labour force - all the workers in a country or region
component - the parts that something is made of
food processing - methods and techniques to change raw agricultural products such as fruit, rice, and meat into products that can be sold in a store to consumers (See Wikipedia) การถนอมอาหาร การแปรรูปอาหาร
agricultural commodities - the vegetables, fruits, and animals products such as milk and meat sold in large quantities
urban - in a city (not rural area)
lay off - when a worker loses their job because there is no more work
staff - employees of a company, people who work for a company
falling global demand - people around the world are not buying lots of goods and spending money like they did in the past
if worse comes to worse,.... - if a bad situation (worst = most bad) situation happens....
bleak - a bad situation, unlikely to improve
return to their rural roots - go back to the farm and village they were born in and raised in
food safety - a scientific discipline that develops techniques for food handling, preparation, and storage to remove health hazards and maintain the cleanlieness of food (Note: Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning) (See Wikipedia) ความปลอดภัยของสารอาหาร
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) - an international system for food safety and hygiene that stresses prevention over finished product inspection, the system seeks to identify potential food safety hazards (physical, chemical, and biological) (See Wikipedia and FAO guidelines for developing countries)
production standard - a high level of measurable quality that goods made in a factory (production) must achieve
X is a springboard for Y - X makes it possible for Y to happen or start happening
exacting - requiring great accuracy and precision
foreign certification - proof that the standards of a foreign organization have been achieved
promising - have a good chance of succeeding in the future
abandon - leave permanently or for a long time
migrate - move from one place to another place to live or work
rural migrants - workers who move from their homes in a rural farming area to the city to work
a livelihood - a source of money and income such as a job that allows you to buy the things that you need (See glossary)
earn a livelihood - work and receive an income used for living costs
labour force - all the workers in a country or region
component - the parts that something is made of
food processing - methods and techniques to change raw agricultural products such as fruit, rice, and meat into products that can be sold in a store to consumers (See Wikipedia) การถนอมอาหาร การแปรรูปอาหาร
agricultural commodities - the vegetables, fruits, and animals products such as milk and meat sold in large quantities
urban - in a city (not rural area)
lay off - when a worker loses their job because there is no more work
staff - employees of a company, people who work for a company
falling global demand - people around the world are not buying lots of goods and spending money like they did in the past
if worse comes to worse,.... - if a bad situation (worst = most bad) situation happens....
bleak - a bad situation, unlikely to improve
return to their rural roots - go back to the farm and village they were born in and raised in
food safety - a scientific discipline that develops techniques for food handling, preparation, and storage to remove health hazards and maintain the cleanlieness of food (Note: Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning) (See Wikipedia) ความปลอดภัยของสารอาหาร
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) - an international system for food safety and hygiene that stresses prevention over finished product inspection, the system seeks to identify potential food safety hazards (physical, chemical, and biological) (See Wikipedia and FAO guidelines for developing countries)
production standard - a high level of measurable quality that goods made in a factory (production) must achieve
X is a springboard for Y - X makes it possible for Y to happen or start happening
exacting - requiring great accuracy and precision
foreign certification - proof that the standards of a foreign organization have been achieved
reinvigorate - add
new energy to something
staunch the flow - stop or reduce the flow
envision - imagine something that could happen
entrepreneurs - a person who runs businesses, especially financially risky businesses
entrepreneurship - the practice of starting and running businesses
motivating - creating a desire to do something
make this a reality - make it happen
potentially - may happen
opportunities - a situation where it is possible to do something that you want to do
income opportunities - a situation where it is possible to make money
migration - moving from one place to another place to live or work
Kasetsart University - Thailand's main agricultural university (See Wikipedia)
Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) - Thai government bank specialising in microfinance and banking for farming households (See website, a case study [pdf], at the FAO, and at microfinance gateway)
viable - able to survive and continue its life
lucrative - profitable, can make a lot of money doing it
career - a job that a person does for much of their life
career choice - a job that a person chooses to spend much of their life doing (improving their skills along the way)
targeted at X - X is the group that will use it according to their plans
social responsibility - the idea that businesses should be concerned about the society they operate in, in addition to making a profit
designated - choose for a special purpose
a field of study - a subject studied in school
OTOP (One Tambon One Product) - a program to encourage and promote local production of products in the villages of Thailand (See Wikipedia)
staunch the flow - stop or reduce the flow
envision - imagine something that could happen
entrepreneurs - a person who runs businesses, especially financially risky businesses
entrepreneurship - the practice of starting and running businesses
motivating - creating a desire to do something
make this a reality - make it happen
potentially - may happen
opportunities - a situation where it is possible to do something that you want to do
income opportunities - a situation where it is possible to make money
migration - moving from one place to another place to live or work
Kasetsart University - Thailand's main agricultural university (See Wikipedia)
Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) - Thai government bank specialising in microfinance and banking for farming households (See website, a case study [pdf], at the FAO, and at microfinance gateway)
viable - able to survive and continue its life
lucrative - profitable, can make a lot of money doing it
career - a job that a person does for much of their life
career choice - a job that a person chooses to spend much of their life doing (improving their skills along the way)
targeted at X - X is the group that will use it according to their plans
social responsibility - the idea that businesses should be concerned about the society they operate in, in addition to making a profit
designated - choose for a special purpose
a field of study - a subject studied in school
OTOP (One Tambon One Product) - a program to encourage and promote local production of products in the villages of Thailand (See Wikipedia)
(Source: Bangkok Post, business, 12/03/2009, RURAL DEVELOPMENT: BAAC backs Kasetsart course, WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI, link)
