A study of Thai innovative rice products: identifying the barriers of sustainability and business viability

Rice is one of the most important commodities for Thai economy and society and it has been facing strong competitions from other countries especially India, Vietnam and Cambodia. The competition and changing consumer trends to healthier life-styles force Thai rice industries to move into the production of non-traditional agricultural products especially agricultural innovative products (AIP) to survive and remain competitive and relevant in the market. There are two sectors of AIPs in Thailand (food and non-food); and, rice AIPs constituted 41% and 33% of each sector, respectively. Narrod and others (2007) identified three major issues preventing small farmers from being economically viable and remaining competitive in the global market: 1) producing recognized safe food, 2) identifying cost-effective technologies and 3) scaling up the production as the major issues. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was identified as key farm-to-fork linkages that helped small farmers to be viable and relevant their corresponding supply chain.