April 26, 2023 – Office of Academic Services and Faculty of Agriculture of Khon Kaen University joined with Mit Phu Wiang Sugar Mill to hold an activity that developed Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) in administering a vegetable sorting mill with the operating process for vegetable sorting. The purpose was to empower the community with knowledge in growing organic vegetables and in adding values to farm products, which will be sold in malls as they now meet the international standards. The event took place at Nongrua District, Khon Kaen.
The Office of Academic Services and the Faculty of Agriculture of Khon Kaen University joined with Mit Phu Wiang Sugar Mill to train community farmers to administer GMP vegetable sorting and the operation process in order for them to be prepared for growing organic vegetables in the district that can be sold in malls according to the required standards.
Asst. Prof. Supatchaya Nampila, Ph.D., a lecturer of the Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, related to the news correspondent as an expert in post-harvesting operations that this training was organized to transfer knowledge to farmers in harvesting their farm produces, sorting, and packaging for sell. The training also provided demonstration and experiments in detecting chemical residues in farm produces. This is because when the products meet the GMP standards, the farmers would be more powerful to negotiate with middlemen and add to the values of their products until they can be sold in malls. As such, Thai farm produces will meet the international qualities, and consumers will have safe food to eat. Farmers will then be empowered to negotiate in the market system.
“In the past, middlemen often offered low prices for farmers’ produces. One reason was that the produces did not meet the GMP standards. The farmers were facing deficit in their occupation and some had to quit. The worst cases were in debt and the burden was added to their families. Therefore, the knowledge in sorting, cutting produces and packaging them for selling as well as the knowledge in testing chemical residues in the farmers’ vegetables, in other words, teaching them with GMP standards, will help standardize farmers’ produces that can be sold at higher prices. At the same time, farmers will have more power to negotiate with middlemen and the malls, which means more incomes for their family and hence better quality of life of the farmers in all dimensions,” ended Asst. Prof. Supatchaya.
This event is one of the missions of the Office of Academic Services. The budget for the implementation was allocated by Khon Kaen University under the Community Outreach mission and in the form of Creating Shared Values (CSV). Khon Kaen University, Faculty of Agriculture and Mit Phu Wiang Sugar Mill joined for knowledge dissemination, social development, and upgrading of the quality of life of the people in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will decrease gaps and strengthen farmers in the community.
News / Photos: Administration Division, Office of Academic Services
