การพัฒนาและยกระดับห่วงโซ่อุปทานโกโก้ในพื้นที่จังหวัดน่านบนฐานทรัพยากรพื้นถิ่นสู่เศรษฐกิจหมุนเวียน

Title

Upgrading the Cocoa Value Chain in Nan Province Based on Local Resources and Circular Economy Principles

Keywords

Cocoa,Supply Chain,Value Chain,Development

Abstract

The research – Upgrading the Cocoa Supply Chain in Nan Province Based on Local Resources Towards a Circular Economy – aims to: study the current problems of the Nan cocoa supply chain; analyze the current situation of the supply chain from primary data of farmers and cocoa plantations in Nan; and design a prototype of the Nan cocoa business ecosystem based on a participatory marketing mechanism. The mechanism creates opportunities for the cocoa farmers in Nan to increase their revenues and also to distribute the revenues fairly among local entrepreneurs in the Nan’s cocoa business ecosystem. Through this end, the ecosystem prototype develops “human resources” in related business units according to a standard framework, enabling the supply chain to produce “products” or high-quality cocoa that meet the market’s needs i.e., Supply-Demand Balancing. This task was successfully carried out under sub-project 1-3. The analysis of the existing cocoa supply chain i.e. Old Value Chain indicates that the cocoa farmers i.e., raw material suppliers, sold their cocoa pods to local agricultural cooperatives at the price of 13 Baht/Kg. The local agricultural cooperatives i.e., raw material collectors then sold the collected cocoa to the market at the price of 15 Baht/Kg. As a result, the cooperatives obtained 2 Baht/Kg. as a management fee. There was an average of 2,044 kilograms per month that the cooperatives collected cacao pods from the farmers. The low volume of collected cocoa was due mainly to the below-standard cacao pods produced by the local farmers. The percentage of the cacao pods that met the buyers’ standard was as low as 28%. The situation was worsened when the buyers who bought cacao pods lacked financial liquidity, i.e., unable to pay cash to the cooperatives. Consequently, the cooperatives paused collecting cacao pods from farmers, resulting in more than non-collected 5,000 kilograms of cacao pods each month in Nan. The proposed prototype of the Nan cocoa business ecosystem provides a framework for the development and enhancement of the Nan cocoa’s business units. The framework includes a standards system for farm management that can increase the productivity of cacao pods from 15.56 to 44.65 Kg/Rai per planting cycle. As a result, the revenues of the cocoa farmers increased by 72.17%. In addition, the cooperatives, i.e., the collector business implemented a quality standard system for sorting cacao pods based on product quality, that meet buyers’ requirements. During research running, two grades i.e., A-Grade and Mix-sized Grade had been used in collection units for buying the cacao pods from farmer members and selling to cacao pod buyers. The implementation of the quality standard system resulted in an average of 4,948 kilograms in cocoa volume and thereby an increase of about 62,209 Baht (102.9%) in revenue per month within the network of the Nan cocoa raw material suppliers. In addition, the framework enhanced the capability of the existing collector business units. Specifically, the cooperatives can perform a new value-added activity through a primary processing of cacao pods into bean, which can resolve the problem of unsold cacao pods. The local groups of enterprises as well as farmers were also keen in learning and developing new skills in the primary processing of cacao pods into bean. As a result, high-quality cocoa bean from the Nan’s local business units can enter both Nan’s local and non-local markets of cocoa. The average demand for cocoa beans is about 1,100 kg/month at a price of 170 baht/kg. The production cost of cocoa beans is 156 Baht/kg. Hence, the average income for the cocoa bean processing business is 187,800 Baht/month. Importantly, the development of cocoa collector businesses into primary processing businesses by increasing the capacity and upgrading the capability of the farmers and agricultural cooperatives to be able to process cacao pods into beans increased the income and created new employment in the community. As a result, this enhances the development and growth of the grassroot economy as well as improves the share of income distribution in the New Value Chain of cocoa supply chain. The results of a new distribution ratio of incomes among the raw material business, collector business, and primary processing business were 9.9, 2, and 17.1 respectively. In short, the development of the proposed Nan cocoa business ecosystem model based on a participatory marketing mechanism can enhance the growth of the Nan cocoa business in a sustainable manner. The three main groups of business consisting raw material business, collector business, and primary processing businesses can help increasing the revenues by more than 15% and create a fair distribution of income to local entrepreneurs in the Nan Cocoa Business Ecosystem.