Going organic: Challenges for government-supported organic rice promotion and certification nationalism in Thailand

There is increasing interest in organic lowland rice cultivation in Thailand. Farmers are becoming more wary about the human health and environmental impacts of using herbicides and pesticides. In addition, consumers are increasingly demanding rice cultivated without the use of chemicals. There is also more interest in accessing international and local organic rice markets. Thus, in 2017 the government of Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives rolled out a project designed to promote organic rice farming through subsidizing the conversion of one million-rai (160,000 ha) of lowland rice farms to being organic over a three-year period. Although the initiative was well intended, and constitutes local agency, the project has faced serious obstacles because the organic certification standards associated with the project do not align with international standards. This has negatively impacted the structures that support organic farming, by giving farmers unrealistic expectations regarding what is required to produce organic rice for the international market. The Thai certification system also has different ecological implications compared to other certification systems, because value systems always affect certification systems and their material implications. Applying a political ecology approach—with an emphasis on political relations, economic structure, ecological change, and scalar politics—this article examines the one million-rai project. It is contended that ‘certification nationalism’ is manifesting, and that there are important lessons to be learned about planning and implementing such certification initiatives.