Key success factors in the organic agriculture policy implementation

Abstract

The objectives of the study of key success factors in the organic agriculture policy implementation was to identify problems of, obstacles to and restrictions on the putting the national organic agriculture policy into practice, to evaluate the success factors of implementing the organic agriculture policy, and to propose an organic agricultural policy model for sustainable policy implementation.

The unit of analysis that the researcher used was organic agriculture projects implemented in all parts of Thailand. This qualitative research included both documentary and field research. The documentary research concerned organic production, domestic consumption and export worldwide, specifically, ASEAN, Thailand’s agricultural evolution, stakeholders, certifying bodies, standards, and the market of organic agriculture. The documentary research revealed the factors contributing to obstacles and restrictions of the for sustainable development policy on organic agriculture in Thailand.

The field research included observation and in-dept interviews of the key informants throughout the organic agriculture supply chain. Interviewed participants were divided into 5 groups: 1) The production group, i.e., organic rice, organic vegetable, organic fruit and organic aquaculture; 2) the buyer group: organic rice processors and distributors; 3) public and private certifying bodies; and 4) government agencies concerned, i.e., Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Ministry of Commerce; and the civil society, including consumers and universities.

The information for the key informants, included their opinions and expectations of the organic agriculture policy and strategic plans, progress in policy implementation, obstacles to and restrictions on the implementation of the national organic agriculture policy. Triangular method was used to verify the data, and content analysis was made to find out the results.

It was found that the national organic agriculture policy implementation progressed satisfactory. However, there still remained many obstacles and restrictions in practice. In fact, the entrepreneur’s leadership, business structure, capital, commitment and lifestyle affected the success of the organic agriculture policy implementation.