Clurpler 3


In many developed countries, the number of people dependent on the food chain for their
livelihood has decreased very dramatically over the past decades. In poorer countries, the
size of the population who earn their living directly from the food chain can be very large.
Even in a country which is growing at a fast rate, such as Thailand, the growing, processing
and selling of food is one of the major areas of productive activity.

In 1990 Thailand had a population of 56 million, living in 13.7 million households. A very
high proportion of these households, if not all, would consume rice on a regular basis.
However, 173,000 of these households also produced rice commercially. Many of the other
1.9 million farms would produce some rice for own consumption. The owners and
employees of the 46,000 rice mills in the country, the traders and the retailers all add up to a
significant proportion of the population. This is only for one food crop, albeit the main one
in Thailand. If other grains, oil crops, fruits and vegetables are also included, then the
importance of the food chain as a whole can be seen for the food security and wellbeing of
the Thai population.

In this section, the links between the different elements of the food chain and household food
entitlements will be explored, how the nature of these links may change as economies
become more monetised and markets become a more important source of food and finally
how the importance of different elements in the commodity chain can vary from season to
season.

In a formal sense, the different agents who make up the food chain, producers, transporters.
processors, wholesalers, retailers, consumers, etc., are linked by a series of physical and
financial flows. Farmers produce raw materials which then flow downstream to assemblers
etc., and eventually to consumers, either in the domestic market or in export markets.
Physical flows can be shown in a supply utilisation account. Table 3.1 shows how this
would look for the first few rows of the commodity chain shown in Figure 3.1.

Table 3.1 Supply Utilisation Account
 Supply (t) Utilisation (t)
Small farmers Seed 168.0
 Harvest 5598.4 Waste 168.0
 Village traders 2015 0
 Local traders 2127.4
 Co-operative traders 1119.7
 5598.4 5598.4
Large farmers Seed 424.9
 Harvest 14163.9 Waste 424.9
 Village traders 2832.8
 Local traders 9489.8
 Co-operative traders 991.5
 14163.9 14163.9
Village traders Local traders 969 6
 Small farmers 2015.0 Private millers 3830.1
 Large farmers 2832.8 Waste 48.1
 4847.8 4847.8
 Local traders Private millers 12461.0
 Small farmers 2127.4 Waste 125.9
 Large farmers 9489.8
 Local traders 969.6
 12586.9 12586.9
 Co-operative traders Co-operative millers 2090 0
 Small farmers 1119.7 Waste 21.2
 Large farmers 991.5
 2111.2 2111.2