Food Security in Thailand: Status, Rural Poor Vulnerability, and Some Policy Options

Agricultural development policy in Thailand over the past few decades has been geared not only to the nation’s food security, but also to export earnings. Thailand is a food surplus country at the macro level but food accessibility at the household level remains a problem, particularly in remote rural areas. The recent increase in food price and production cost has impacted on the rural poor. With a declining purchasing power, the poor households face the risk of food insecurity as they may reduce their intake of more nutritious food. The impact of rising food prices on agricultural households depends on whether they are net buyers of food commodities whose prices have increased. In rice farming households, the share of net buyer households was higher among households with smaller land holding. Also, the poor rice farmers in Thailand were severely affected by the higher production cost and input prices since the reduction in their net profits was larger. While nearly two-thirds of their operating cost was cash expense, they received only one-tenth from the rice sold. In order for the rural poor to cope with future impacts of high food price and rising production cost, a provision of off-farm employment and micro-credit with technical assistance and proper farm management plans should be targeted to small farmers and rural poor. In the longer-run, it is suggested that small-scale farmer capacity building and empowerment based on the sufficiency economy concept is necessary. This should be complemented by enhancing farm productivity through agricultural research and improvement in village-pool water resources including on-farm water resource management and investment.Thailand, food security, agricultural policy, rural poor vulnerability, policy options

Development and evaluation of a CAI course in Information Technology for Life at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, Thailand

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Science.The purpose of this study was to determine whether computer assisted instruction (CAI) in the Information Technology for Life course taken by first year students at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University (NPRU), Thailand, could be used to teach at least as effectively as traditional methods. Since CAI has been used successfully in developed countries to supplement or replace traditional methods of instruction, it was thought that CAI may present a solution to the lack of instructors in general education courses across the 41 Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. CAI could also facilitate student centred learning, a key goal of the National Education Act (1999). One hundred and twenty four incoming freshman students enrolled at NPRU for the 2004 academic year participated in a study comparing the two methods of instruction using three topics of the Information Technology for Life course. The research questions examined were (1) are there differences between the groups on the achievement factors related to CAI usage? and (2) are there differences between the groups on attitude factors related to CAI and traditional teaching? CAI lessons were developed for the experimental group as interactive multimedia modules loaded from a CD-ROM; the control group received traditional lecture instruction. Pre-test and post-test scores indicated greater learning gains in the CAI group. Comparison of weak, average and strong students between the two groups showed no difference in learning outcomes for the weak students, but average and strong students in the CAI group did better than those of the control group. The results also indicated that CAI students' retention of content was better than that of students following traditional learning. There was no significant difference in students' attitudes toward their method of teaching. Students of both groups felt that overall their method of teaching was very good. No relationship was found between student performance and their attitude toward CAI

Beyond Pad Thai

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Computer aided mechanogenesis of skeletal muscle organs from single cells in vitro

Complex mechanical forces generated in the growing embryo play an important role in organogenesis. Computerized application of similar forces to differentiating skeletal muscle myoblasts in vitro generate three dimensional artificial muscle organs. These organs contain parallel networks of long unbranched myofibers organized into fascicle-like structures. Tendon development is initiated and the muscles are capable of performing directed, functional work. Kinetically engineered organs provide a new method for studying the growth and development of normal and diseased skeletal muscle