The Study of Quality and Standard Upgradation of Aromatic Coconut of Thailand for Exportation to China

Abstract

The purposes of this research were; 1) to examine the quality of aromatic coconut for exportation to China; 2) to define guidelines of the upgrading quality and standard of aromatic coconut for exportation to China. A qualitative method was adopted in this study and the sampling group consists of agricultural experts, experts in agriculture export services and experts in agricultural production promotion and development, totally  9 participants were selected by purposive sampling and the research instrument for data collection was an in-depth interview form.

The research findings revealed that there were 11 aspects of Ratchaburi aromatic coconut’ s standard for exportation to China; 1) selecting of aromatic coconut produces before trimming having 3 indicators, 2) selecting of aromatic coconut produce after trimming having 3 indicators,    3) minimum quality of all sizes of trimmed aromatic coconuts having 7 indicators, 4) defects on external surface of the produce that cannot be exported to China having 7 indicators, 5) harvesting fruit age after the full bloom of the spadix having  2 indicators, 6) sizing and weighting per each of the produce having 4 indicators, 7) a quantity of the produce per packaging box having 2 indicators, 8) preservative temperature having 4 indicators, 9) criteria for size tolerances of trimmed produces within the same package having 1 indicator, 10) packing and placing sequence having 7 indicators and 11) container having 4 principal indicators and 7 sub-indicators.  After consideration of all aspects, it can be concluded that there are 2 main schemes for implementation of upgrading the aromatic coconut’s quality and standard to be exported to China; plantation & harvest measure and selecting & packing the produces measure.