Abstract:
The Sericulture Production - Settlement, North-Eastern Region, is a rural development project under the responsibility of the Public Welfare Department, Ministry of Interior of Thailand. The objectives of the project is to raise the income of the people in the Settlements, to create more employment opportunities for the rural population, to reduce the importation of foreign silk warp, and to develop and promote domestic silk-spinning and silk- weaving industry. These objectives were to be accomplished by introducing to the 1,500 households in the 13 Self-help Settlements in the Northeast the new methods of mulberry cultivation and silk-culture financed by a budget of 122,843,600 Bahts secured through long-term loan from the United state and Governmental budgets. The duration of the project was six years, from 1977 to 1982, and it was expected to bring an average annual income of 12,000-15,000 Bahts to each household. This thesis is a study on the mulburry cultivation and silk-culture cost of the household producers in the Self-help Settlements under the Sericulture Production Settlement, The study was concentrated on two aspects of cost, the costs asso¬ciated with new method of mulberry cultivation and those asso¬ciated with producing cocoons. The rate of returns on investment and breakeven point of the new method of silk-culture were determined basing on the cost data. To ascertain accurately the costs related to new method of mulberry cultivation, preparation of mulburry beds, care and main¬tenance of the mulberry plantation, and pest and disease control were intensively observed in the fields. Per kilogram cost of mulburry leaves production was first determined for use in computing cost per 20,000 cocoons production. The rate of returns on investment in cocoon production of the household was then determined. Two Settlements in the provinces adjacent to each other were selected in collecting the production cost data. The observed cocoon yield varied greatly between Khamsroi Settlement which used the hybrid foreign species of silkworm and the Lamdomyai Settlement which used the hybrid domestic species of silkworm. The former's cocoon yield was higher than the latter. This study revealed that Lamdomyai Settlement's costs in both mulburry leaves and cocoon production were significantly higher than Khamsroi Settlement's costs. This was due to the fewer number of households engaged in silk production during each silk-culture cycle in the former than in the latter, resulting in a higher fixed cost per unit of production as well as in total production cost for the former. The computed rates of return for these two settlements indicate that the investment in Khamsroi Settlement, with 14.79% rate of return, was highly successful while the investment in Lamdomyai Settlement was not successful. The Study also revealed that the type of land used, wage rate, weather condition, and amount of care given were the factors affecting the cost of mulberry leaves production, while under-utilization 'of production capacity, number of production cycle, and the species of silkworm affect the cost of silk-culture.other findings from this study were as follows. The per rai yield of mulberry leaves was found to be considerably low due to several factors- improper soil preparation and treatment, inadequate care and maintenance of the mulberry plantation, improper pruning of mulberry trees, and ineffective control and prevention of the disease of the roots of mulberry trees, all of which directly affecting the yield of mulberry leaves. The cocoon output per cycle was also observed to be very low due to two serious obstacles. The household cocoon production fell short of six full cycles of silk-culture per year due to mulberry leaves shortages, labor shortages, and the use of low productivity species of silkworm. The other obstacle was that the household producers failed to adopt fully the new method of silk-culture introduced to them. The above mentioned problems imply the urgency of increased governmental roles in exploring the practical solutions to the problems if high productivity is to be achieved in silk-culture