The Development of Organic Rice Entrepreneur Network in Sing Buri Province

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop an organic rice entrepreneur network of Sing Buri province. The research is sectioned into 2 phases: 1) studying the organic rice consumption behavior of the people of Sing Buri province by deploying a survey with 400 organic rice consumers in Sing Buri, selected by random sampling. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis for development of the network. 2) The development of organic rice entrepreneur network of Sing Buri province by means of applying participatory action research drawing on the participation of 21 key stakeholders from 3 sectors i.e. entrepreneur (cooperation power), academic (knowledge power), and policy/sponsors (policy power and support). The Deming Cycle (PDCA) was administered by focus group discussion, data triangulation verification and data analysis by content analysis. The significant development revealed that the organic rice entrepreneur network of Sing Buri Province has set the following vision: 1) Most organic rice consumers in Sing Buri province purchased 2 kg of rice for consumption from the OTOP stores. Nutrition is the first priority for making a purchase due to knowledge from the internet. They were satisfied with organic rice in Sing Buri Province at the moderate level. 2) The development of organic rice entrepreneur network in Sing Buri Province consisted of (1) Guidelines for driving the network, (2) Production standards of the network, (3) Process directing the members to produce organic rice according to the network production standards, and (4) Evaluation. The key marketing strategies are 1) product strategy 2) price strategy 3) distribution channel strategy and 4) marketing promotion strategy.