RESEARCH REPORT FROM THAILAND 1. General information ...

At present, most of the agricultural equipment used in Thailand is locally producedsuch as tractor, power tiller, disc ploughs, disk harrow, water pump, sprayer, threshingmachine, reaper, combine harvester, cleaning equipment, dryer, rice milling machines,and processing equipment etc. However local machines, produced from smallmanufacturer, are not standardized in quality, efficiency and durability. Some agriculturalmachines are import from overseas by companies for Thai agricultural productions.The information in Table 1 was obtained from survey of the top 70 agriculturalmachinery factories in Thailand in 2002.www.unapcaem.orgTable 1. Major products of Local manufacturer in ThailandMachineProduction in units per yearTwo wheel walking tractors 80,000Large tillage implement 3,000Small tillage implement 90,000Threshing machines 2,000Combine harvester 600Sprayers with hand operated 60,000Irrigation pump 55,000Source: The Agricultural Engineering Research Institute2. Information related to the use of agricultural machinery- Total amount of injuries and % of fatalitiesThe amount of accidents and injuries caused by agricultural machinery was notreported.In Thailand, a study has been conducted to assess the prevalence rate of accidentand of hearing loss of workers handling agricultural machines in 5 districts of UbonRatchatani Province. Total of 528 agricultural workers were selected as the casestudies. The study included the measurement of noise level caused by agriculturalmachines process during April to September 2008. Questionnaire results andhearing test were analyzed to assess the prevalence rate of accident and of hearingloss on workers according to handling agricultural machines. 55.2% of the averagesound levels (L Aeq ) measured by the SPL were in the range of 70 -79.9 dBA. Noneof the sound level results were higher than the safety standard. Total of 253 workers(97.1% males and 2.9% females), most of their ages range from 41 to 50 years, wereexamined their hearing abilities. The average working time of these workers was 9.4± 5.8 years. Hearing test results revealed that the prevalence rate of hearingabnormality of these workers was roughly 88.1% at all hearing level. It shouldconclude from this study that noise pollution caused by farm machinery process hassignificant impact on worker’s health and life quality. Therefore knowledge aboutsafety in handling this kind of machinery must be recognized by the workersthemselves.Source of data: Department of Disease Control (organization or indicate ifestimation)2012 - ANTAM - (www.unapcaem.org) page 2 of 5

- Existence of any subsidy system for farmers, i.e., how it works ………………….The government of Thailand doesn’t subsidize all kinds of agriculturalmachinery.- Estimation of the social cost of injuries for the public and private sectorThe estimation of the social cost of injuries caused by agricultural machinery isnot available.(This data is very useful in order to motivate the use of safer machines in order toreduce the cost for Governments)www.unapcaem.org- Existence of testing procedures used in Thailand (if there is and indicate if it is anational system or an international system and the standards being used – ISO, Asabe,En or other) …Thai Industrial Standard Institute (TISI), Ministry of Industry is responsiblefor standardization of agricultural machinery. TISI was established in 1968. It is theofficial agency with the responsibility in the development of Thai Industrial Standards(TIS), including agricultural machinery standards.The preparation of agricultural machinery standards is undertaken by theTechnical Committee (TC). The TC, appointed by the TISI, includes representativesfrom Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AERI), manufacturers, the Bank ofAgriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), and universities. Approvedstandards are published in the government gazette.Agricultural machinery standards from various countries have been studiedand then adapted to suit with Thai agricultural machines and their correspondingworking conditions. Research is required to get a basic data for developing standards.Safety standard is one part of each agricultural machinery standard.However, most of agricultural machinery standards are voluntary standards.Only small size water cooled diesel engine standard is a mandatory one. Only a fewnumber of agricultural machinery manufacturers apply for the TISI standardcertification. Agricultural machinery standards are being used for the testing at thepresent time as follows.TIS 1350-2539 (1997) Test methods for power tillersTIS 1172-2536 (1993) Groundnut shellersTIS 818-2531 (1988) Power maize shellersTIS 1418-2540 (1997) Rice reapersTIS 2037-2543 (2000) Soy - bean reapersTIS 1428-2544 (2001) Rice combine harvestersTIS 1283-2538 (1995) Rotary slashersTIS 768-2544 (2001) Axial flow rice threshersTIS 1173-2536 (1993) Sorghum threshersTIS 1044-2534 (1991) Soybean threshersTIS 1480-2540 (1997) Sugar cane plantersTIS 1323-2539 (1996) Rotary cultivatorsTIS 1385-2539 (1996) Paddy dryersTIS 888-2532 (1989) Small rice millTIS 1125-2535 (1992) Vertical/Inclined pumps2012 - ANTAM - (www.unapcaem.org) page 3 of 5

TIS 1236-2537 (1994) SeedersTIS 1000-2533 (1990) Agricultural discsTIS 922-2533 (1990) Tapioca pellet dieTIS 1196-2536 (1993) Dozers for agricultural wheeled tractorsTIS 1258-2537 (1994) Three-point hitch-mounted poly disc tillersTIS 1127-2535 (1992) Tractor-operated disc ploughsTIS 1397-2540 (1997) Disc ploughs for walk-behind tractorsTIS 1126-2535 (1992) Moldboard ploughs for power tillerTIS 893-2532 (1989) Rubber brake blocks for rice whitener machineTIS 1565-2541 (1998) Crop protection equipment : air compression sprayersTIS 1327-2539 (1996) Crop protection equipment: slide-action (trombone) sprayersTIS 1351-2539 (1996) Crop protection equipment : lever-operated knapsack sprayersTIS 782-2539 (1996) Hitch pins for walk-behind tractorsTIS 783-2539 (1996) Wheel flanges for walk-behind tractorsTIS 983-2533 (1990) Dimension of three-point linkage of agricultural wheeledtractorsTIS 1273-2538 (1995) Hydraulic spray nozzle for crop protectionTIS 1315-2538 (1995) Agricultural vehicles: farm trucksTIS 1322-2539 (1996) Trailers for walk-behind tractorsTIS 1350-2539 (1996) Walk-behind tractorsTIS 1429-2540 (1997) Small four-wheeled tractorswww.unapcaem.org- Collection of proposals (describe any proposal you have for a better use ofmechanical harvesters and for the development of an international testing system)In Thailand standards of some agricultural machinery are already defined but fewnumber of Agricultural machinery manufactures requested for the certificate for theirproducts. However, only few numbers of requested cases were awarded thecertificates. Therefore, revising standards is required. This wills able Agriculturalmachinery manufactures to increase their potential to compete in the market againstimported machines. Recommendations set up are:1. Revise the existing standards and mechanism to achieve those standards.2. Improve regulation to ensure using of the standards.3. Stimulate and promote agricultural machinery production in line with standards.The following incentives may be used:- Reduce tax charged from the registered manufactures.- Support low interest rate of loan money for their improvement and for theirproducts that received standard certificate.Promote standardization of local agricultural machinery is needed: Good and highstandard agricultural machinery will benefit to both farmers and Agriculturalmachinery manufactures.Extend knowledge and training for operators of big size, high price and highperformance agricultural machinery: Trend of using these machines for cropsproduction in Thailand is increasing viz. rice combine harvester, sugarcane harvesteretc. High skilled operators are required to maximize utilization efficiency of these2012 - ANTAM - (www.unapcaem.org) page 4 of 5

machines. This will result in good quality of work done; decreasing repair andmaintenance cost and thereby reduce cost for custom service may be possible.Supporting custom service system of agricultural machinery: Agriculturalmachinery in custom service is popularly used in Thai crop production. Theadvantages are: increased utilization of machine; reduced fixed cost for holdingmachine; option to use high performance machine for increasing productionefficiency; and relax the problem of labor shortage. This is practiced intensively in theCentral, as compared to the North and the Northeast, which have low competitioncausing high hiring rate and increased cost of production. There fore, the promotionof custom service for agricultural machinery should be practiced.www.unapcaem.org2012 - ANTAM - (www.unapcaem.org) page 5 of 5