Economic and technical assessment of organic vegetable farming in comparison with other production systems in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The government of Thailand is promoting alternative vegetable production such as organic, chemical pesticide free, and safe use production systems. Most vegetable producers do not have confidence in transforming from their conventional system to organic farming, presumably due to technical difficulties and low production efficiency. Based on a questionnaire survey of 142 farmers under different production systems in Chiang Mai Province in 2008, this paper aims to clarify the common vegetable practices, cost and returns of major crops, profitability of organic farming in comparison with other production systems. Over 15 kinds of vegetable were grown under different farming systems in Mae Rim District, Chiang Mai Province. Kinds of vegetable grown depended on market demand and growing time. In this district alone, vegetable production accounted for 0.57 million USD in 2007, of which 0.08 million USD was from organic vegetables. There were no differences in types of input seed for major organic crops such as Kale, pak choy, and yard long bean. Economic analysis revealed characteristics of four types of farming system: organic, chemical pesticide free, safe use and conventional farming systems. The organic farming system was economically the most feasible due to high prices of produce; however, it would need further improvement in order to increase yields and production efficiency. Both safe use and pesticide free farming systems were also economically feasible. The conventional farming system faced the highest risk because of increased prices of synthetic chemical inputs, even though it was economically feasible. Under the Royal project foundation, most farmers sold their products at the project site and price was determined by the project office. Organic vegetables reached consumers in Chiang Mai through supermarkets (63.3%), while other production systems had to sell their products through middlemen or local markets (over 80%). In this study, three kinds of analysis were done, namely cost and benefit analysis, production function analysis and marginal productivity analysis to compare four types of farming system. The benefit-cost ratio (B/C ratio) of organic farming system was greater than one, especially the B/C ratio of organic yard long bean was the highest. In organic Kale, labor and seed were the most important factors in improvement of organic Kale production, while the highest efficiency of resource use was seen for labor, indicating that the increased use of labor would lead to higher income for organic farm.