Contract Farming and Poverty Reduction: A Case Of Organic Rice Contract Farming in Thailand, Workshop Paper

Contract farming offers a way of integrating poor small farmers into a market system. Organic crops are proving particularly attractive for contract farming because of their higher value and rising demand in developed economies.

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the profitability and efficiency of rice farming in parts of Thailand. It compares the performance of organic contract farmers with non-organic, non-contract farmers. The former group shows higher profitability and in some parts of the country higher efficiency also. The paper suggests organic contract farming offers an important new agricultural strategy for the neighboring countries of Lao PDR and Cambodia.

This paper has been edited and republished as an online discussion paper in May 2006.

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