Arunee Promkhambut

Does Agrotourism Benefit Mountain Farmers? A Case Study in Phu Ruea District, Northeast Thailand

Agrotourism is widely advocated as a useful strategy to develop mountain agriculture and improve farmers’ income and quality of life. However, the relationship between agriculture and tourism is complex, and the extent to which tourism benefits farmers remains uncertain. This paper examines the relationship between agriculture and tourism and assesses to what extent agrotourism benefits farmers in Phu Ruea district, a popular tourist destination in the mountains of northeast Thailand. The Phu Ruea agrotourism system generated gross income for the district of almost US

A flood-free period combined with early planting is required to sustain yield of pre-rice sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

16 million in 2014. About 80% of this income came from sales from specialty-crop farms and of tourism services operated by the households of local farms. The agrotourism system also created many employment opportunities for local people. There were 1500 people directly involved in the system, 90% of whom were farmers or members of farm households. Thus, there is no doubt that many local farmers derive significant benefits from their involvement in the agrotourism system. Although the Phu Ruea agrotourism system can be seen as a successful strategy for developing mountain agriculture, agrotourism is not a magic strategy to solve all the problems of rural development in the mountains. Only some localities are attractive to tourists, and only some farmers have the knowledge, skills, and resources to take advantage of the opportunities offered by tourism.

The household economics of rubber intercropping during the immature period in Northeast Thailand

Abstract Understanding the responses of sweet sorghum to flooding and the characters associated with flooding tolerance may be a useful strategy for pre-rice production and help meet demand for biofuel feedstock. Three sweet sorghum genotypes (Bailey, Keller and Wray) and five flooding treatments including non-flooding control, continuous flooding extended from 30, 45, 60 and 75 days after emergence to harvest were conducted under greenhouse conditions. Flooding decreased leaf dry weight (22–60%), leaf area (10–70%), number of node per stalk (1–5%), shoot dry weight (5–20%) and stalk yield (2–22%) with highest reduction in 30 days after emergence flooding treatment. Flooding later than 30 days after emergence did not significantly affect shoot growth, yield and yield components. Brix value, sucrose content and total sugar content were not significantly affected. All studied cultivars had similar shoot growth response. Flooding induced development of roots in water; root length, root dry weight, nodal root and lateral root number and interconnection of aerenchyma spaces from roots in flooded soil to stalk base above water level but suppressed root growth in flooded soil. The acclimation traits were highest in Keller, flooding from 30 days after emergence but there was a lack of root development in 75 days after emergence flooding treatments. These findings indicate the effect of waterlogging on sweet sorghum growth and yield strongly depends on the growth stage at which it occurs. There were genetic variations in root morphological and anatomical responses to flooding of sweet sorghum. The development of nodal and lateral roots and aerenchyma formation from flooded plant parts to stalk bases above water level may distribute to flooding tolerance in sweet sorghum. Based on the results, a flood-free period of at least 30 days after emergence is required to sustain yield of pre-rice sweet sorghum and early planting is highly recommended.

Growth, yield and aerenchyma formation of sweet and multipurpose sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) as affected by flooding at different growth stages.

ABSTRACT In order to alleviate poverty in Northeast Thailand, the Thai government has promoted rubber farming, which has expanded at the expense of annual crops. Because of a long immature period, planting rubber represents a loss of income for poor farmers in the very first years. This paper analyzed how rubber intercropping during the immature period helps farmers to compensate for this loss of income. Economic performances of the most widespread rubber farming systems were analyzed using information collected from a questionnaire addressed to 35 farmers in Buriram province. A sub-sample of 22 farmers was further interviewed to estimate the contribution of rubber intercropping in the formation of the total annual income during the immature period. The results showed that interest in rubber intercropping has grown, with cassava and rice as the main associated crops. With additional costs of about 14,169 ฿/ha/year over monospecific rubber plantations, rubber-cassava intercropping systems generated a gross margin estimated at 11,340 ฿/ha/year for a 3-year period. Compared to a monospecific rubber plantation, rubber-cassava intercropping systems reduced management costs by 59% over the 6-year period of rubber immaturity. The cash-income drawn from intercropping ranged from 0 to 26.8% of the household’s total annual income, which can be of considerable importance for low-income farmers.