The Study of Social Return on Investment (SROI) of the Land Consolidation for Agriculture Project in Kamalasai District, Kalasin Province

Abstract

       The objective of this research was to study the social return on investment (SROI) of the Land Consolidation for Agriculture Project in Kamalasai district, Kalasin Province. The population included the key informants or stakeholders related to the SROI study, namely administrators and officials in the Land Consolidation and On-farm Development Kalasin Provincial Office, Royal Irrigation Department, officials relating to the Land Consolidation for Agriculture in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, farmers in the locations of the land consolidation, and relevant people in implementing the Land Consolidation for Agriculture Project in Kamalasai district, Kalasin Province. In the study, purposive sampling was used to select 10 informants in total. The research instruments were discussion issues for the focus group among stakeholders, outcome chain analysis, and determination of indicators and conversion into financial values. The qualitative data analysis involved the stakeholder analysis and outcome chain analysis whereas the quantitative data analysis dealt with the adjustment of the outcome values of activities not caused by 4 indicators: deadweight, attribution, displacement, and drop off. The outcomes were calculated to find the present values at the 7% discount of the interest rate for analyzing the SROI rate.
      The study results showed that the stakeholders consisted of farmers, the Land Consolidation and On-farm Development Kalasin Provincial Office, organizations in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, i.e., Department of Agricultural Extension and Rice Department, Subdistrict Administration Organization and contractors. According to the results of the outcome chain analysis, the inputs were found in areas, production cost, budgets, materials and equipment, personnel, labour, time, body of knowledge. The activities were agricultural production, implementation of the project construction, and implementation of organizations. Next, the outputs were found in cost reduction, increase of production effectiveness, readjusted land plots, completed projects, work success of personnel, and labour cost. The outcomes were found in the increase of net profit, increase of land value, opportunity to receive increased budget, cost reduction in work integration, and better quality of life. Finally, regarding the results of the SROI analysis, the SROI rate was found at 16.06 times, meaning that each 1-baht investment could contribute to social benefit with a value of 16.06 baht.