Abstract:
Sugarcane (Saccharum Officinarum L.) is one of the important economic crops since it is used as the raw material in sugar production while sugar is not only the essential goods for domestic consumption, but also the important export product that earns a large amount of income to the nation. Many farmers are now engaged in sugarcane production, in the Central, East, North and Northeastern regions of Thailand. In 1982 there were 102,196 cane growers in 31 provinces, 127 districts with registered areas of sugarcane production of 4.03 million rai within the agro-economic zone. These growers produced 33.6 million tons of sugarcane or about 97% of total products, while 4,464 cane growers in 31 provinces, 98 districts, with registered production areas of 118,089 rai outside the agro-economic zone, produced 1.04 million tons of sugarcane. The main objective of this thesis is to study and compare the costs of production and distribution of sugarcane grown within and outside the agro-economic zone. This study was conducted by using the designed questionnaires to interview the cane growers within the following ares: Central region, the selected areas were within the agro-economic zone-Amphoe Pranburi, Prachubkirikhan province outside the agro-economic zone-Amphoe Bangsaparn, Prachubkirikhan province Northeastern region, the selected areas were within the agro-economic zone-Amphoe Namphon and Amphoe Muang, Khonkaen province outside the agro-economic zone-Amphoe Pockeao and Amphoe Kornsarn, Chaiyapoom province. The information available from the questionnaires were then averaged as costs of production and distribution of sugarcane using simple and weighted average methods.
The comparison among the cane growers who had different sizes of growing area in the same region and that between that cane growers within and outside the agro-economic zone were obtained from the analysis on cost of production and distribution of sugarcane. In addition, the calculation of each expense item as percentage of total cost was also made in this analysis. The research results showed that the cost of cane production in small and medium sizes not more than 100 rai cheaper than that of the large size and the production cost of sugarcane outside the agro-economic zones was less than that within the agro-economic zone, but opposite results were obtained from the analysis on distribution cost. When the total cost was considered, however, the study found that the cost of production and distribution of sugarcane outside the agro-economic zone was higher than those within the zone, i.e., the cane growers in Amphoe Bangsaparn paind 487.08 Bath/ton as the total cost or 41.02 Baht/ton higher than that 446.06 Baht/ton paid by cane growers in Amphoe Pranburi, the cane growers in Chaiyapoom province paid 454.77 Baht/ton as the total cost or 26.76 Baht/ton higher than that of 428.01 Baht/ton paid by cane growers in Khonkaen provice. From the above comparison it might be concluded that the factor which causes the total cost of the growers outside the agro-economic zone to be higher than that within the zone was due to the longer distance from the mill of the farms located outside the agro-economic zone than the farms located within the zone. For the calculation of each expense as percentage of total cost, it showed that transportation cost was the major factor that contributed towards the higher cost of sugarcane, it amounted of 24.71% of the total cost by average.
Thus the government policy regulating the agro-economic zone for sugarcane production to be within the distance of 100 kms. from the sugar mill was reasonable. The cane growers outside the agro-economic zone should no longer produce their sugarcane since the cost of transportation would be high. The problems on production and distribution of sugarcane concern many parties, namely, cane growers, sugar millers and the government. The study indicated that the main problems found concerning production, harvesting and transportation stem from the lack of knowhow and/or the passive attitude of the cane growers to improve the production, including the lack of planning for harvesting and transportation. These problems generated low quality of cane with lower c.c.s. (Commercial Cane Sugar) value than the normal rate. The other relevant problems are the high costs and marketing problems. Thus the pricing system should be determined by three parties concerned, comprising of cane growers, millers, and the government. The close cooperation among these three agencies in solving the concerned problems are recommended, i.e., the government should help solve some technical problems to increase production efficiency. At present, the 70:30 benefit sharing system has been implemented in sugar trading between growers and sugar millers. The result of the study totally supported the governments policy of buying cane on c.c.s. basis which will be widely implemented in the production year 1986-87. However, this method will be more effective only if the efficiency of sugar production, quality of sugar and the standard system of measuring the c.c.s. value are standardized for all mills. Finally this trading system basing on sugar quality will be recognized as the reasonable, and fair method for both cane grower and millers.