Combining Socialism with Capitalism
In TH.
Written January 2018, Thailand was recognized as a country with a mixed economy, combining elements of socialism and capitalism. Frequently in various forums, terms like capitalists, conglomerates, and big players are mentioned. These terms do not solve any problems. Many agricultural cooperatives operate businesses that, on the surface, do not seem related to agriculture but appear to favor large capital, such as some cooperatives running gas stations, coffee shops, and convenience stores. However, they lack integration at the policy, planning, and strategic levels. Apart from offering cooperative members discounted fuel prices and small dividends from purchases at the gas stations, what else do these cooperatives gain, and can this model be applied to other businesses?

Notably, whenever agricultural product prices fall, farmers often gather to protest, sometimes dumping milk, mangosteen, latex, or longan on the roads, burning agricultural products, or blocking roads to demand assistance. The government usually sympathizes and implements price support policies, providing aid, stabilizing prices, and injecting funds through various projects. Occasionally, the government or the Ministry of Industry invites factory representatives to negotiate and seek help in purchasing produce, but this is only a temporary solution. There remains a significant gap and inequality between capitalists and local farmers.

Thailand does not promote investment education or encourage the understanding of capital markets among the general populace, often fearing that educated and wealthy locals would be harder to govern. Public policies fail to garner electoral votes. Agricultural investments should ensure that farmers receive profits from final product sales, possibly in the form of dividends or profit shares. This concept is similar to various cooperatives, such as those selling coconuts to fresh coconut milk producers while holding shares in those companies, or cooperatives selling rambutan and longan to dried fruit or canned fruit companies for export while also holding shares.

There are only a few cooperatives currently operating this way due to language barriers, lack of research and development, marketing, and technology expertise. However, joint ventures are legally permissible and can help overcome the middle-income trap. Often, the government supports state agencies in the form of state enterprises or independent organizations, or establishes production plants themselves, but caution is needed to avoid accusations of competing with the private sector under Section 75, Paragraph 2 of the 2017 Constitution. It was previously noted that a customer marketing cooperative invested its funds in the stock market as a life insurance company, which an audit committee deemed unrelated to the cooperative's objectives, leading to the cancellation of the investment.

**Capitalists are not afraid of protests, roadblocks, or any demands, but they fear a plummeting stock price, and investors getting stuck with high-priced stocks. It is time for the public, state, private sectors, and various institutions to conduct business together, so that farmers benefit from dividends and feel a sense of ownership in long-term investments with voting rights and management rights. This includes directly selling agricultural raw materials to factories or proposing that factories purchase raw materials directly from a network of farmers, all within the rules and regulations, as Thailand adheres to the rule of law. The SEC has regulations that if a farmer institution holds more than 5% of shares in a business, they are considered a shareholder with voting rights (according to the Civil and Commercial Code on the management of limited companies). This allows for mergers or self-management takeovers without initial investment, in line with international rules and SEC laws.

Existing laws include the Cooperatives Act of 1999, section 62, which allows cooperatives to deposit or invest their money:
1. **Buy shares of institutions that facilitate or promote the development of the cooperative's business with the approval of the cooperative registrar.
2. **Deposit or invest in other ways as determined by the National Cooperative Development Board.

**Model 1:** This model operates as a private entity (through takeover, establishment, or joint venture) under the Social Enterprise Company Limited Act of 2019 (SE Act 2019), where SE will distribute dividends to cooperative members, holding no more than 30% of shares (SEs are not primarily for profit and will not be listed on the SET). Funding can be raised from cooperatives or assemblies.
1. **Upstream** --> Quality natural rubber (NR)/sale
2. **Midstream** --> Collection/sale
3. **Downstream** --> Processing/sale/export

The management of rubber plantations could follow local case studies such as the management of rubber and palm oil plantations by the Trang Provincial Administrative Organization with professional managers.

**Model 2:** includes examples like SE Chumphon Cabana or Yak Ka Jon.
"When the author proposed this idea in 2016-2017, SE did not yet have legal support."

**Model 3:** is the board management of rubber plantations by the Rubber Authority of Thailand, but with an external manager not from the government sector and the inclusion of Knowledge Management (KM).

Both models share common features: a systematic approach, internal audits (such as RSPO for palm oil and FSC for rubberwood), and accounting systems with balance sheets audited by external auditors to address organizational corruption, control production costs, enhance production efficiency, reduce waste, and promote environmental sustainability (BCG). A crucial step is appointing a private-sector-supported SE rubber plantation manager to oversee FSC ,EUDR compliance, informing cooperatives and locals that FSC ,EUDR certification increases income, even during the transition period before certification is obtained, which is better than incurring costs for machinery maintenance and overtime repairs. Finally, collaborating with the Rubber Authority of Thailand and universities for FSC ,EUDR certification to increase prices for motivation.  
and finally Agricultural stocks will be tokenized. Transformed into one with the cryptomarket
#inequality-revolution