Struggling for access in the global era: the cases of edamame and rice agriculture in rural Thailand

Figures & data

Figure 1. Percentage of edamame in Thai frozen vegetable exports.

Table 1. Edamame exports from Taiwan, China, and Thailand, mt (metric tons) value (10⁴￥) % (market share).

Year	Taiwan	China	Thailand	Taiwan	China	Thailand
1990	38,824 mt (97%)	340 mt (0.85%)	865 mt (2.15%)	1,263,352 (10^4) (97%)	6,708 (10^4) (0.05%)	24,493 (10^4) (0.18%)
2001	22,697 mt (29.4%)	44,958 mt (58.2%)	7767 mt (10.06%)	486,470(10^4) (32%)	804,841 (10^4) (54%)	151,469 (10^4) (10%)
2011	30,300 mt (41.6%)	19,027 mt (29.5%)	18,166 mt (25.9%)	820,342(10^4) (41.8%)	414,957 (10^4) (26.5%)	291,919 (10^4) (26.3%)
2017	31,346 mt (41.4%)	19,763 mt (26.1%)	20,414 mt (26.9%)	786,513 (10^4) (44.3%)	382,994 (10^4) (21.8%)	485,242 (10^4) (27.7%)

Source: Author’s interview with edamame firms and import numbers from official data of Japanese government

Table 2. Access regime of agri-SCs.

Components of a bundle of powers	Organization (Contractual/Adherent)	Institution	Stakeholder	Rent
Accessing Agri-food SCs	The organizational arrangements in the SCs	The political forces operated in the SCs	The roles played by the stakeholders in the SCs	Types of rent-seeking behaviors

Figure 2. Research site map.

Table 3. Livelihoods of smallholders in Phrao, Thailand.

	Rice (including sticky rice and jasmine rice)	Edamame
Size of land holding (including leasing)	More than 20 rais	Less than 20 rais
Type of land ownership	Title deed	S.K.1 and N.S.2
Manner of land acquisition	Farmers bought and/or leased the land by themselves or inherited land from parents	Farmers bought and/or leased the land by themselves or inherited land from parents
Source of funding	Personal funds, the village fund, loan from Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives	Personal funds, edamame brokers, and Bank for Agriculture
Debt	10,000–100,000 Baht	Almost none
Estimated income percentage from growing the crop	30–50% (and about 30–45% from raising animals, 25–40% from growing cash crops)	50–80% (and 10–15% from growing rice)
Sales price	7–14 Baht per kilogram	17–28 Baht per kilogram
Income from growing the crop per year	0–50,000 Baht	100,000–300,000 Baht

Note.

N.S.2 = Pre-emptive certification.

S.K.1 = Land possession notice form.

Table 4. Smallholders interviewed in 2022 and 2023.

No	Date of interview	Age
1.	2022/04/02	Around 60
2.	2022/04/03	Around 60
3.	2022/04/03	Around 60
4.	2022/04/03	63
5.	2023/01/26	Around 65
6.	2023/01/27	63
7.	2023/01/27	58
8.	2023/01/28	63
9.	2023/01/29	Around 60
10.	2023/01/29	67
11.	2023/01/29	Around 60
12.	2023/01/31	64
13.	2023/02/01	56

Figure 3. Edamame SCs in the Phrao District, Chiang Mai province, Thailand.

Figure 4. Jasmine rice SCs in the Phrao District, Chiang Mai province, Thailand.

Table 5. Access regime of agri-SCs in Phrao.

Components of a bundle of powers	Organization	Institution	Stakeholder	Rent
Accessing edamame SCs	Contractual	Lead firm-driven contractual agreements and local political networks	Middleman	Rent reduction
Accessing jasmine rice SCs	Adherent	State and local political networks	Cooperative	Rent generation in the form of debt