| บทคัดย่อ (EN): |
“Food Systems” is a systematic view and takes into account the interconnections of all
activities involved along the food supply chains from production, harvesting, processing,
distribution, consumption and waste management. Food systems are also directly related to
economic, social, cultural, environmental, political, health systems and population structures,
as well as the rapid changes in technology innovation. The food system therefore has a large
number of processes, procedures and people involved. The United Nations believes that the
food system is an important mechanism for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG
2030) "Sustainable Food System"
From an analysis of the overall situation of the food system in Thailand according to
the United Nation 5-action tracks for Sustainable Food Systems, it has preliminarily
concluded that
Action Track 1: Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all
Sufficient food production and food accessibility of Thai people has improved. This can
be seen from the increase in productivity, and the decreased proportion of the food poor. But
promoting access to food that provides appropriate and complete nutrition; especially among the
poor and the vulnerable is also a challenge.
Action Track 2: Shift to sustainable consumption patterns
Thai population still has a problem of inadequate nutritional consumption;
especially the vulnerable due to lack of access to food, consumption behavior taking
into account preferences rather than nutritional values, and a lack of true
understanding of nutrition and food safety. They still do not realize the importance of
sustainable production and consumption. This reflects the need to accelerate food
education and sustainable food.
Action Track 3: Boost nature-positive production
Resource and environmental degradation are a long-standing challenge. New
Theory Agriculture or Integrated Agriculture is an approach to farming on small plots
of land with the principles of management and resource utilization for maximum
benefit. But most small-scale farmers are not ready to change their production patterns
due to the lack of clear revenue and market incentives. As for food processors, they
realize the importance and begin to improve their production processes in order to
reduce the resource losses and costs.
Action Track 4: Advance equitable livelihoods
The situation of social rights and the quality of life of people involved in the
food system is improved; especially disadvantaged groups, women, children, ethnic
groups and labor throughout the production chain. At the same time, Thailand has a clear goal to increase productivity and raise incomes for small-scale farmers and small
food entrepreneurs. But there are still problems with equitable access to resources,
capital sources, knowledge and modern production technology among small farmers
and small food entrepreneurs.
Action Track 5: Build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress
Smallholder farmers still do not have access to the resources, capital, and knowledge
needed to adapt to climate change. While crises such as the outbreak of COVID-19, and food
crisis did not increase the food price index in the country because most of the food is
produced within the country, those most affected are the urban poor and the informal labor
who have been laid off. This reduces the ability to access food.
The direction of agricultural production and food processing must be able to
produce sufficient food and safe for consumers in present and the future. It can generate income
for people involved in the food system that contribute to social and economic equality. There
is natural resource management such as soil, water and good ecosystem maintenance, elevating
the efficiency of resource utilization in production (Produce more with less), increasing the ability
to adapt to volatile weather conditions, volatile markets and various crises, including the need
for trade systems and fair-trade policies.
Preparation of recommendations for the development of food system
suitable for the context of Thailand
The development of food system in Thailand intends to achieve two goals: 1) national
food security and 2) competitiveness of agricultural and food products.
1. National food security aims to create food security at the local level along with the
development of the local supply chain, promoting the development and utilization of
technological innovation to enhance production capabilities and further utilizing the database,
and building food security. This requires linking network between national agencies in the
central and local agencies in order to enhance and build equitable access to food for
consumers.
1) Linking national policies to creating food security at the local level
• The National Food Committee drives the linkage of national plans/policies to area
level work through the Provincial (safe) Food Committee mechanism.
• The National Food Committee pushes for the existing Provincial (safe) Food
Committees playing the roles covering the management of food system in other
aspects that connect all dimensions, including agriculture, health, environment,
economy and society. The composition of the committee covers related agencies
throughout the supply chain.
• The National Food Committee has determined that the provincial food system
management action plan is an important project to achieve. The provincial food
system management action plan must be consistent with the context of that
province.
2) Developing a local supply chain to create a market for the local production
system
• The National Food Committee is linked to responsible agencies such as Ministry of
Agriculture and Cooperatives, Chamber of Commerce of Thailand and the
Provincial (safe) Food Committee, encouraging farmers/traders/Social Enterprise
(SE) groups to adopt a standard and traceability system to build trust in local
produce.
• Linking local produce to consumers, building a valuable food chain and
people in the area having food security. The key mechanisms are: 1) The
National Food Committee linked to responsible agencies such as Ministry of
Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Education
and the Provincial Food Committees in order to strengthen the roles for
farmers/traders/SE groups having the ability to directly connect products to
consumers for creating a fair-trading system. 2) Promote the development
for digital platform technology and create new marketing channels to
connect demand-supply. 3) The National Food Committee assigns Ministry
of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Interior/
SE, the Provincial Food (safety) Committee that jointly manage the market
demand information in order to manage the production system at the local
level, for example, expanding the principles of Thai School lunch / From
farm to school for demand-supply management of local food.
• Relevant agencies such as Thai Health Promotion Foundation, civil society
organizations, SE, Ministry of Education jointly communicate to consumers to see
the value of food, to change behavior and to focus on consuming a variety of foods
and seasonal consumption.
• The National Food Committee considers local supply chain as a key project of
(draft) Thailand's Food Management Action Plan Phase 1 (2023-2027) and promotes
it as an annual key project to achieve the national strategic goals and food security.
3) Developing and utilizing innovative technologies to enhance production
capabilities
• Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation encourages research
agencies/ institutions to accelerate development and transfer of technology along
with knowledge packages, for example, Training Hub mechanism of local universities through the Agritech and Innovation Center: AIC mechanism at the Regional Science
Park.
• Funding agency should support research and development funding for local food
system projects.
• Relevant agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry, Ministry
of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation promote the role of
startups, SE, upgrade cooperatives into modern agricultural technology providers
and disseminate knowledge to a wide range.
• Enhance knowledge through School-Based Agricultural Education System, and
create change agents to bring knowledge and technology to the community
resulting to wide utilization.
• The National Food Committee encourages Ministry of Agriculture to invest/ upgrade
the necessary infrastructure in order to change the production pattern of
agricultural and food products.
• Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and
Innovation accelerate the development/ creation of the ecosystem necessary for
extending technology to utilization.
• Financial measures encourage the deployment of technology, for example, the
Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) accelerates the expansion
of low-interest loans for access to technology.
4) Storing/extending the database utilization and creating food security at the local
level
• The National Food Committee urges relevant agencies to prepare food system
profiling at the local level which is the food system status (province/district/subdistrict) to provide an overview of the food system covering food production
systems to consumption and waste management.
• The National Food Committee considers additional indicators and key projects
"Data Development of Food System Profiling at the local", sets up a working group
and monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
• The National Food Committee pushes for the present Provincial (safe) Food
Committees together with universities/research agencies, local agency seeing the
benefits and accelerating food system profiling.
5) Building capacity to manage food system crises
• Extend crop calendar database/ TP Map/ Risk Map, floods/droughts Maps, including
encouraging farmers in the local to participate in submitting data into the system.
Such information is planned to improve the food production capability of the
province and linked to health information. • The National Food Committee coordinates and assigns relevant responsible
agencies, Ministry of Agriculture to prepare a response plan and rehabilitates
agriculture and food proactively covering 1) before the crisis, 2) during the crisis,
and 3) after the crisis.
2. “National agriculture and food competitiveness” has the main goal to drive the
supply chain of agricultural products and food on a sustainable basis.
1) Drive the supply chain system for agri-food products based on sustainability
• Strengthen the role of large entrepreneurs as a driver for technological innovation
utilization. Elevate the production efficiency of SMEs and small farmers in the
supply chain on a sustainable basis by an incentive mechanism setting higher/lower
purchase prices.
• Entrepreneurs get tax benefits or utilize research infrastructure in research
institutes/science parks at special prices.
• Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation promotes the role
of startup/ tech provider to enhance productivity along with the use of digital
platform technology to manage/procure raw materials produced on a sustainable
basis for processing industry entrepreneurs/traders/exporters.
• Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Commerce jointly push for
the creation of a production system that are Fair & Equitable Benefit Sharing.
- Mechanisms promote the integration of farmers to control product quality and
link to customers/consumers with a fair-trade group committee.
- The industry uses the Go Green project mechanism as a process for obtaining
green industry certification, Ministry of Industry.
2) Develop and utilize technological innovation to enhance competitiveness (novel
food)
• Relevant agencies such as Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, the private
sector, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and
Innovation, and the private sector jointly formulate a novel food development
plan/ R&D roadmap that focuses on the use of domestic raw materials. the
TRF/PMU provides funding. Continuously aimed research Including establishing a
mechanism to promote the use of research results to be further developed for
commercial purposes by linking with financial institutions. Thailand Science
Research and Innovation (TSRI) / PMU continuously supports targeted research
funding, including a mechanism to promote the research results to further
development for commercial purposes by linking with financial institutions. • Develop a novel food consortium by government and private sectors both
national and international. Develop technology and innovation. Build a regional
supply chain system - Regional Functional Food Hub.
• Build new food entrepreneurs, such as the project of new generation food
entrepreneur incubation. Build an industrial warrior: New Food Warriors of the
Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) and determine incentives to promote SMEs
for novel food that uses domestic raw materials, such as providing access to
government market mechanisms, etc.
• Encourage the private sector to accept clinical tests for food products for
comprehensive health claims.
3) Utilize the database raise the level of production and adapt to the crisis
• Leverage the crop calendar to manage production systems in line with local
resource availability and market demand. It may use the existing mechanisms of
the National Food Committee or assign the Office of Agricultural Economics which
is the agency that manages the crop calendar to be the developer of the existing
database.
• Office of Agricultural Economics is the main agency together with relevant
agencies such as the Food Institute, Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of
Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards, and associations/private
organizations such as the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai
Industries that acts as data collection system for forecasting and preventing
various crises (multi-risk early warning system) for agricultural production and
food processing systems. |
