Development of Capacity and Support for Farmers through the Use of Volcanic Rice Group’s Technology of Ban Khok Mueang, Chorakhemak Sub-district, Prakhon Chai District, Buriram Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to study of farmers’ potential in volcanic rice group of Ban Khok Mueang, Chorakhemak Sub-district, Prakhon Chai District, and 2) to develop the capacity and support for farmers through the use of volcanic rice group’s technology of Ban Khok Mueang, Chorakhemak Sub-district. The results revealed that of volcanic rice farmers’ potential of Ban Khok Mueang could be analyzed via problems discussion in four aspects: production cost, management, production process, and marketing and processing. As for the results of the capacity development, the technology was used to help develop the potential and support for the farmers in the group by designing the rice seed impurity sorting machine. It was found that the weight of the machine was reduced to make it easy to move and clean. Moreover, the machine was easy to use and be suitable for households and small communities. The production cost was 9,800 baht, which was 40.83% lower than the market. In terms of the screening of rice seed impurity, the number of seed extracted was 2,128.56 kilograms per day. After testing the machine for five times, with 10 kilograms of paddy seed, the average perfect rice was 9.77 kilograms or 97.7%, and the average impurities were found which included 0.02 kilograms or 0.2% of large impurity, 0.05 kilograms or 0.5% of grass seed, and 0.16 kilograms or 1.6% of dust/ withered rice.  The average time spent was 2.03 minutes per 10 kilograms. It can be seen that the development of capacity and support for farmers in the group by using technology helps farmers to get more quality produce for 5%. In addition, a course was created for capacity development and support for farmers, namely a manual for a course on the operation of a rice seed impurity sorting machine. After the transfer of this technology, it was found that the farmers in volcanic rice group of Ban Khok Mueang were able to use and learn how to use the machine in the community with 90% satisfaction.