SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF JASMINE RICE INDUSTRY: THUNG KULA RONG HAI, THAILAND

Abstract

Sustainable Development of Jasmine Rice Industry: Thung Kula Rong Hai, Thailand aimed to assess economic and environmental impacts from activities linked to jasmine rice supply chain for suggesting the guidelines for sustainable development of jasmine rice industry. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) were selected to apply in this study. Forty-nine farmers, five rice processors, and distributors were selected as samples in these studies. The CML-IA baseline v3.01 (e.g., Global Warming, Acidification, and Eutrophication.) were used to explain data by openLCA software.

The alternative approach leads to a high-income economy and has a low environmental impact on jasmine rice production in Thung Kula Rong Hai, Thailand. This study found that organic production is suitable for this area. Not only the organic production cost was lower than the costs of chemical production and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), but also the average organic rice yields, 515.90 kg/ha, were higher than the chemical rice yields, 406.25 kg/ha. Although the total GHG emissions of organic production were slightly higher than the emissions of chemical production, the Global Warming Potential (GWP100), Eutrophication, and Acidification impacts of the organic production were lower than impacts of the chemical production in all aspects. Hence, the producer should apply this approach for better production. The sustainable agricultural approach is an alternative way to advocate zero hunger- that is part of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nation. In terms of practical, this way concentrates the elimination of raw materials that are not needed. This helps to save the rice production costs; in addition, this is an effect on the natural resources used. Moreover, this is also producing food security and safety. Importantly, this way responds to the resilience of rice production to cope with food security in order to help the accessing the food need of the world population; also, supporting the environmentally friendly production. These lead to achieving the SDGs and twelfth national economic and social development plan (2017 to 2021), that is better economy, environment, and society growths. In terms of policy, this way helps to set the sustainable agricultural development plan and to make a policy decision for competitiveness as well.

-