VALUE ADDED OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS BY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY THROUGH ELECTRONIC MARKETING

Abstract

Agriculture is the primary sector that generates major income for Thailand every year. Many agricultural products are popular with both domestic and foreign consumers in the form of raw and processed products. However, Thai farmers often suffer from low agricultural product prices and can't sell their products despite the fact that demand of these products in the consumer market have still remained. One of the main reasons is, most Thai farmers are lack of knowledge and information for planning to produce and develop their products that meet the needs of customers. In addition, they don't know who are their target customers and how to promote their products effectively. This research aims to develop information systems that can analyze target customers, the characteristics and quality of the goods which match to the customer demands. This information will be used for the planning of production, product development, and e-marketing to provide distribution channels which can be promoted to the relevant target consumers effectively. The research process is divided into 4 steps: 1) The survey and collection of information related to the production and trade of agricultural products from all related stakeholder groups, including government organizations, farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. 2) The creation and development of the database and information system. 3) The training to educate farmers and entrepreneurs. 4) The experiment and evaluation of information usage. The results showed that the farmers and entrepreneurs who participate in this research have a good level of knowledge and skill in the application of information for production planning and development to meet the customers' demands as well as using of electronics marketing to promote their products, which can increase the value of each product between 25-350%.