Abstract

Since the prices of agricultural products have decreased, especially rubber and rice which are the major exported products of Thailand, farmers who have limited agricultural areas have had to make important decisions regarding investing in farming for their self-living. This research is aimed at comparing the costs and returns of rubber and rice production in Rattaphum district, Songkhla province, Thailand. A three-stage random sampling technique was employed to obtain primary data from 50 farmers who work on rubber plantations and 50 farmers who grow rice, the total is 100 people with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire. The data were collected by conducting interviews with the participants during the crop year in 2015-2016. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, frequency count, percentages and compare mean. The study revealed that most of the farmers owned around 6 Rai of agricultural land. Farming was done by them. The studied costs in this research consisted of, firstly, the costs of rubber production. During 1-19 years of rubber trees, there were the average fixed costs of about 285.42 Baht per Rai per year and the average variable costs of about 6,797.91 Baht per rai per year. The total costs were 7,083.33 Baht per Rai per year. Then the revenue of the rubber production from selling the fresh latex, 51 Baht per kilogram on average, was about 12,510.61 Baht per Rai per year. Also the returns of the rubber productions were about 5,427.28 Baht per Rai per year. Secondly, the costs of rice production were the average fixed costs of about 303.37 Baht per Rai and the average variable cost of about 4,623.04 Baht per Rai. The total costs were 4,926.41 Baht per Rai. Then the revenue of the rice production from selling the paddy, 7 Baht per kilogram on average, was about 3,163.16 Baht per Rai. The revenue of the rice productions from selling the rice, 35 Baht per kilogram on average, was about 11,071.06 Baht per Rai. Also the returns of the rice productions were about -1763.25 Baht per Rai per year and 6,144.65 Baht per Rai, respectively. The comparison between the costs of rubber and rice productions revealed that the costs of rubber were higher than the costs of rice. Also, the returns of the rubber productions were higher than the rice, for selling the paddy. In contrast, the returns of the rice productions were higher than the rubber, for selling the rice. Keywords: Costs and returns, Rubber, Rice

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