Factors influencing participation in collective marketing through organic rice farmer groups in northeast Thailand

Despite the significant roles of farmer groups in collective action for production and marketing of organic paddy, limited literature has studied the farmer-level determinants of participation in collective action in northeast Thailand. This study examined factors associated with participation in collective marketing for three organic rice farmer groups (Nam Om Community Enterprise Network, Na So Farmer Group, and Moral Rice Farmer Group) in Yasothon Province of Thailand, producing organic jasmine rice for export and domestic markets through contract farming. Primary data were collected from 335 farmers and analyzed by descriptive statistics and the two-limit tobit regression method. The descriptive results showed relatively high levels of social, economic, institutional, and environmental benefits arising from the participation in those groups. In particular, environmental benefits were higher than the other types of benefits. The regression analysis found that age and agricultural loan negatively influenced the extent of participation in collective marketing through farmer groups, whereas education, paddy cultivation area size, non-agricultural income, experience in rice farming, experience in organic rice farming, group membership duration, perceived economic benefits, and membership with Na So farmer group were positively associated with the extent of participation. The effect of experience with organic rice farming was relatively small in Na So Farmer Group. The findings suggest that economic benefits from participation in organic farmer groups should be enhanced in order to increase the collective marketing of organic rice produce. Moreover, the government should provide alternative employment opportunities, knowledge-based training, and low-interest credit to support production and collective marketing of organic rice.