Success Factor Analysis of New Agriculture Theory by Total Interpretative Structural Modelling

Agriculture has vast impact to Thailand since about 40% of the Thai population are still farmers. Modern agriculture such as monoculture often requires chemical fertilizers and pesticides for which without correct usage could affect the health of the consumers and the farmers themselves. The New Agricultural Theory (NAT) offers an alternative by which local organic resources are used in the agriculture instead of chemicals. This study analyzes factors affecting the success of the NAT using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM). Initial liturature review revealed that there were 14 possible associating factors. However, after a questionnaire survey and 323 responses were received, only nine factors remained. Then, the second data collection was made from 33 experts who succeeded in applying NAT, based on the TISM method and interview. The analysis results show that "motivation and commitment" was the most important factor, followed by "understanding of Sufficient Economy Philosophy" , "NAT", and "natural agriculture". The other seven factors were relatively less important or had no direct impact to the success of NAT.