Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to analyze the value chain situation and propose a guideline toenhance the value chain of pepper in Tha Mai District Chanthaburi Province. The interviews with thoseinvolved in the value chain consisted of 1) pepper farmers in the area of Tha Mai District, ChanthaburiProvince, there were 148 persons, 2) aggregators, buyers, and processors (15 persons), and 3) 10 retailers,sellers in souvenir shops, communities, markets, and others. The competition situation was analyzed by using Diamond Model, including Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis) presentsstrategies for raising the value chain of pepper Chanthaburi Province by analyzing TOWS Matrix. The results of the study revealed that the upstream process is the main variable that affects the increase or decrease in the amount of pepper. The main reason is that farmers turn to plant other crops that give higher prices and have a more stable market. In addition, the cost of planting is higher compared to the product price. Including the labor cost of harvesting is quite high. As a result, farmers cut down pepper trees to grow crops that the market wants to replace. The decline in pepper was caused by other factors in the midstream and downstream processes, such as complex and time-consuming processing. There are illegal imports of pepper from abroad, etc. Therefore, the researcher has proposed a guideline for enhancing the value chain of pepper in Tha Mai District, Chanthaburi Province. By proposing 4 strategies based on the TOWS Matrix Theory as follows: 1 SO: Proactive Strategy Marketing focuses on telling stories and showing the source of pepper to consumers to know the value, quality and good properties of pepper grown in Chanthaburi province and create innovative products. WO: Corrective Strategies Create Thailand's pepper standard for quality and control the production process, selling price, including packaging to create a standard to be able to compete with pepper from foreign countries. ST: Defensive Strategy Focus on creating value for the pepper of Thailand let consumers understand and know the quality and the difference between quality products. It belongs to Thai people and does not support smuggling of illegal goods. WT: Passive strategy. The government should support exports to foreign markets and create more stringent requirements for pepper imports.