Asparagus farm practical against a high GAP [good agricultural practices] standard: practice and transformation cost

Agricultural product quality was considered to food safety in deep of sanitary and phyto-sanitary. The quality system of agricultural production was interpreted through the good agricultural practice (GAP) which was diverse. It was depended on level of concern or the requirements from customers/countries. GLOBALGAP is a GAP standard which was required by major EU retailers for agricultural product via suppliers around the world. The Q-GAP system approach was a basic practice for farmer production system which was guaranteed by Thai government. The motivation of farmer to develop their practice to higher GAP standard was concerned by various patterns. Farmer group of GLOBALGAP and Q-GAP certified were investigated, particularly in scope of farmer practice and transformation cost by using asparagus produce model in a major asparagus production area of Nakhon Pathom, Kanchara Buri and Ratcha Buri. The study was focused to the supply chain from farmer to supplier who can be accessible to oversea market. GLOBALGAP option 2 certified farm (n=8) and Q-GAP certified farm (n=6) were interviewed and were determined with farm audit report. Difference of asparagus sale price in both farmer groups was obtained, which was 13.2% of price incentive to GLOBALGAP practice. Price incentive was a significant factor to enhance the additional investment of quality management system (OMS) within the farmer group. Major activities of quality management system were as 1) adoption of traceability system, 2) manage all training cost, 3) sample analysis, 4) administration, and 5) organized of third party audit. The pesticides usage was significantly different, particularly for abamecthrin and chlorpyrifos, which were not allowed to be used for exporting products to Europe. All transformation cost to GLOBALGAP was analyzed for payback period. By calculation from additional investment cost per beneficial gain, the payback period was 1.07 year. However, the GLOBALGAP certified farmer was able to access broader market level and worldwide than Q-GAP certified farmer.