Kan wikhro setthakit kan phalit cocoa nai prathet Thai.

The cross-section data was obtained through farmer interviews. The sample included 35 farmers who had been growing cocoa of ages 3-9 years in the Samutsongkoram, Chumporn, Surat Thani, Phuket, Pang-Nga, Krabi and Nakorn Srithummara provinces. Analysis of the Cobb-Douglas Production Function which specified cocoa production as a function of three inputs, namely, the number of trees per rai, average application of fertilizer and the average labor used per rai indicated that cocoa production was characterized by increasing returns to scale with output elasticity equal 1.2105. The output elasticity with respect to the number of trees, fertilizer and labor was estimated at 0.5833, 0.2673, 0.3599, respectively. Analysis of economic efficiency which was based on the profit maximization assumption indicated that the ratio of the value of marginal product of fertilizer and labor over their respective market prices was less than 1, suggesting an over use of these inputs. Meanwhile, the ratio of the value of marginal product and the market price of cocoa seedling was greater than 1, suggesting a less than optimum density of seedling per rai. Farmers engaged in cocoa production for 3-4 years had an average of production of 2,631.03 baht per rai and a loss of 752.35 baht per rai. Those who were involved in cocoa production for over 5 years had an average cost of production equal to 2,540.36 baht per rai and a loss of 6.60 baht per rai. It was recommended that the fertilizer and labor per rai should be used less than their geometric mean value and cocoa seedling per rai should be used more than its geometric mean to maximize profit. The government should also provide some incentives to cocoa farmers to increase profitability.