Fair Trade Rice Movement and Food Sovereignty of Thai Smallholder Rice Farmers: A Case study of Increasing Power to Determine the Rice Price

Abstract

This research aimed to study whether fair trade rice movement in Thailand can strengthen food sovereignty for Thai smallholder rice farmers, and especially whether it can increase power to determine rice prices. This research was conducted qualitatively. The research methods were documentary analysis and interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted with 6 of 8 group’s leaders of fair trade rice producer organizations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 67 smallholder rice farmers recruited by purposive sampling. The concepts guiding the analysis were food sovereignty and Article8:Freedom to determine price and market foragricultural production of Declaration of the Rights of Peasants-Women and Men. The research findings show that the fair trade rice movement in Thailand is not able to strengthen food sovereignty for Thai smallholder rice farmers, nor can it increase these farmers’ power to determine rice prices because the power to determine the rice prices is still with the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) and traders rather than smallholder rice farmers. Fair trade rice minimum prices are still set by the FLO and could not be guaranteed as a price that covers the real costs of production for the smallholder rice farmers. This is because each farmer has different criteria for calculating the production costs. In addition, the FLO also has not adjusted the fair trade minimum prices in response to changing variable costs in each production year. Moreover when the market prices of rice are lower than the minimum prices, the power to determine the rice price is still with traders and fair trade rice prices may be adjusted according to the market prices. Despite the fact that the FLO has created a channel for smallholder rice farmers to negotiate the price via the annual general assembly meeting of producer organizations, smallholder rice farmers still lacked the power to negotiate due to the fact that most Thai smallholder rice farmers are less educated. Therefore, smallholder rice farmers have less trade and market information for negotiation. Furthermore, smallholder rice farmers also do not realize their right to self-determination and negotiation.