Development of Rajabhat Universities Training Curriculum on Organic Agriculture for Thai Farmers

Abstract

This research aimed at alleviating both Thai farmers’ lifestyles and the organic rice consumers in safety. The objective was to develop a curriculum for rice farmers in shifting paradigms from chemical to organic farming which is the national agenda declared by the Thai cabinet on June 23, 2005, regarding policies on reconstructing agricultural produce to eradicate poverty and to make implicit local wisdom in Thai rice culture into explicit knowledge. Data collected were documents from both agricultural field studies and curricula in Rajabhat Universities, human resource development programs for agricultural staff sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Corporative. Instruments used were interview schedules, survey instruments and questionnaires. Data were analyzed by content analysis and factor analysis. Results of the study were: (1) Organic farming related to community service by Rajabhat Universities was directed at students and community leaders in traditional delivery by lecture, training programs and academic conferences. (2) Best practices in organic rice farming emphasized Thai rice cultural knowledge, improvement of agricultural knowledge in villages and stressing priorities in management, marketing and productivity. (3) Best practices in accordance with Thai rice culture were Thai local wisdom, attachment between the monarch as an institution and Thai rice farmers, self-contained lifestyles, reliance on the supernatural and resistance to urban domination, land and water sources development and modern technology. (4) The curriculum for training Thai farmers in organic rice farming was developed from factor analysis resulting in 4 modules, namely, production, funding, marketing to increase productivity from the total cycle management and Thai rice culture. As for instruction, five approaches were laid bare, namely, agricultural reconstruction policies, authentic assessments, integration of organic rice farming with the Thai rice culture, differential learning in formative evaluation and self-directed summative evaluation. (5) A quasi-experimental study was conducted to test viability of the curriculum with thirty chemical rice farmers as subjects. The training was conducted at the Northeastern Development Foundation, Amphur Muang, Surin Province. The pretest and posttest scores of subjects were statistically significant at 0.01. After one month, a follow-up study was conducted and discovered continuous concrete application of the training in terms of preparation.Among recommendations suggested were development of a curriculum with the total cycle in Rajabhat Universities for regular students and application to train grass-root occupations. Furthermore, a consortium between Rajabhat Universities and relevant ministries in research and development according to the national agenda was encouraged. There is a growing worldwide interest in diverting back from chemical fertilizers to the traditional organic agricultural practices. Farmers in Thailand are among the least formally educated group of the population. However, farmers are vulnerable in times of crisis concerning toxic agricultural treatment, polluting the environment and detrimental to human and livestock health. Providing education and training is an essential component in rebuilding and rein stilling safe, organic practices. Additionally, a clever picture emerges of the national policy issues that need to be addressed to provide for Thai farmers in organic agricultural contexts. According to the decree promulgated by the cabinet on June 25, 2005, a holistic curriculum development for training agriculturalists should cover the areas of (1) production, (2) value-added productivity, (3) funding, (4) processing, (5) managing and marketing and (6) Thai rice culture. Bearing in mind these aforementioned situations, the researcher decided to focus on Thai farmers, especially natural leaders, who would guide their fellow farmers in the formulation, implementation, sharing, monitoring and self-evaluation of knowledge in organic cultivation of rice – the main staple of Thai people.