Investigation of rubber-based intercropping system in Southern Thailand

The objectives were: to investigate the differences in the socio-economic characteristics of rubber farmers who operate either a rubber mono-cropping system (RMCS) or a rubber-based intercropping system (RBIS), to identify RMCS farmer's attitudes toward RBIS, to determine the decision-making factors influencing the adoption of RBIS, and to examine the different types of intercrop available. The study areas were in Kaopra sub-district, Songkhla province and Tamod sub-district, Phattalung province, Thailand, since in these areas there is already some practice of RBIS. The findings revealed that the size of the rubber tapping area is a significant factor in the adoption of either RMCS or RBIS. The significant factors positively influencing RMCS farmers toward adopting RBIS were: members in the household, level of RBIS knowledge, attendance at an RBIS workshop, and rubber growing experience. The study's findings suggest that rubber intercropping tutorials are a driving force behind the adoption of RBIS. Whilst, it would seem to be a good idea to promote the expansion of the RBIS area in the future, this will be quite difficult to achieve in practice if left to happen naturally and there should be positive measures adopted to promote this expansion. Keywords: decision-making factors, logistic regression analysis, rubber monocropping system (RMCS), rubber-based intercropping system (RBIS), Southern Thailan

Trade efficiency under FTA for Thailand’s agricultural exports: copula-based gravity stochastic frontier model

Abstract This study investigated the trade efficiency and trade effects under Free Trade Agreements for Thailand’s agricultural exports. There are five main trading partners comprising China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and India. The important agricultural commodities of rubber, cassava, fruits, vegetables, and herbs were assessed from 1998 to 2019. In a traditional stochastic frontier model the two error components of symmetric noise ( $${\nu }_{j}$$ ν j ) and a non-negative inefficiency ( $${u}_{j}$$ u j ) are assumed to be independent. This may result in invalid inferences due to misspecification. To address this obstacle, copula-based Gravity Stochastic Frontier Models (GSFM) using panel criteria were constructed to estimate trade efficiency. Empirically, the Student-t copula-based SFM minimizes both AIC and BIC. According to their mean TE, China (0.48) and Japan (0.48) had the highest export efficiencies followed by India (0.41), New Zealand (0.39), and Australia (0.33) in rank order. Hence, Thailand should pursue more FTA negotiations with the trading partners. Moreover, they should promote miscellaneous behind-the-border barriers to stimulate flows of goods to enhance the country’s trade efficiency substantially

Assessing Regional Economic Performance in the Southern Thailand Special Economic Zone Using a Vine-COPAR Model

Special economic zones (SEZ) can play an integral role in enhancing both regional and national economic growth. To explore the relationship between regional growth and the presence of an SEZ in Songkhla province, Thailand, the CD Vine–Copula AutoRegressive (CD-Vine COPAR) models were constructed using annual datasets of Songkhla’s economic performance from 1995 to 2016. The findings indicate that the D Vine-COPAR model produced better fitting predictions for the manufacturing sector, while the C Vine-COPAR models better fit for the agriculture and service sectors. A five-year forecast (2017–2021) was also created. For Vine-COPAR-based Granger causality, the Gross Provincial Production, Foreign Direct Investment and Border Trade are evidently important contributors to regional economic development. Consequently, the government should adopt comprehensive strategies to ensure comparative advantages for operating in the region based on favorable local factors