Abstract:
The major objective of this thesis is to study the general planting conditions, cost and return from shallot plantations, as well as the problems and obstacles facing shallot planter in Si Sa Ket Province. All data contained in this thesis were obtained from interviews with 100 planters in the said province. There are 2 plantation sizes: not more than 2 rai and more than 2 rai. The data used herein belonged to the 1986/1987 planting year. This study has found that producing shallot in more than 2 rai are the perfect size for planters as all the labour force of a family can be effectively used to the full, the average per-rai production cost is 9,075.46 baht, the average per-rai yield is 2,297.80 kilogrammes, the average production cost per kilogramme is 3.494 baht, rate of return on production cost is 8.77% and return on the labour force of a family is 51.73 baht per man-day. While producing shallot in plantation under 2 rai has the average per-rai production cost of 9,250.16 baht, the average per-rai yield is 2,573.17 kilogrammes, the average production cost per kilogramme is 3.595 baht, rate of return on production cost is 5.71% and return on the labour force of a family is 40.51 baht per man-day. So the result of the study has shown that return from shallot plantation of shallot planters in Si Sa Ket Province varies on the plantation size, and the most important cost with the highest ratio when compared with the production cost for the two plantation sizes are the cost of shallot bulbs and the cost of fertilizer. The most important problems and obstacles for shallot plantations are the production problem because of the infertility of the soil, the high production cost as the planters must buy shallot bulbs from the other places, and the unstable prices for sales of shallots. To solve these problems, planters themselves must learn how to plant as well as learn the proper use of weed and pest killers and take care of the farm in the right way. The government should also help propagate the agriculture knowledge as well as provide financial help through accessible and cheap source of fund.