Thailand AGRICULTURE
Farmers in Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand
Courtesy World Bank
Rice harvesting in northern Thailand
Courtesy World Bank
Coffee cultivation in northern Thailand
Courtesy World Bank
Smallholder farmer taps rubber tree for latex
Courtesy World Bank
Rubber being processed into sheets for transporting
Courtesy World Bank
Much of the impressive economic growth recorded by Thailand
in the 1970s and the early 1980s was owed to the steady expansion
of the agricultural sector. This sector provided adequate food
for the rapidly growing population and produced substantial
surpluses of some commodities for export.
The Thai farmer's ability to adapt to changing market
conditions contributed to the country's agricultural success, but
even more important was the availability of large areas of virgin
land for cultivation. Between 1950 and 1980, agricultural
holdings nearly doubled to an estimated 22 million hectares, of
which about three-quarters were farmed annually, and much of the
rapidly growing population was absorbed in the expansion. By the
early 1980s, however, most of the arable land had been occupied,
except in the South, and continued growth of the agricultural
sector became increasingly dependent on the acceptance of new
technologies and the adoption of more intensive cultivation.
Observers feared that without these changes growing domestic
demand--both from increasing population and from rising
expectations--would seriously affect the nation's balance of
payments position through the reduction of exportable surpluses
of vital major foreign exchange earners, such as rice and sugar.
Agriculture--crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries--
employed about three-quarters of the labor force, and it was
estimated that some four-fifths of the total population was
dependent on the sector for its livelihood. During the mid-1980s,
agriculture accounted for an average of about 25 percent of GDP,
and agricultural commodities accounted annually for over 60
percent of the value of all exports.
The type of agriculture engaged in--whether cash crop,
subsistence, or a combination thereof--varied from region to
region and within regions. In the central plain, there were
farmers whose sole activity was the raising of such cash crops as
maize, sugarcane, vegetables, and fruit. In the rice bowl region
of the central plain, farmers grew rice for sale as a main crop.
Elsewhere, rice was raised basically for subsistence purposes,
but many farmers also cultivated secondary crops for the market.
In areas without developed access roads and services, such as
parts of the upper Northeast, participation in the market economy
was limited. Farmers in these areas practiced subsistence
cultivation, selling only an occasional surplus locally.
Agriculture was dominated by smallholders, most of whom had
either outright title to the land or effective possession of it;
tenancy was significant only in parts of the central plain. In
the early 1980s, the average holding for the whole country was
about 5.6 hectares, but considerable size differences existed
within different regions and locales that related in part to
terrain, soils, rainfall, and other natural factors. In the
North, where nearly a quarter of the nation's more than 4.5
million agricultural households were located (1983 estimate),
over half the land is mountainous. In the upper part of the
region, which is characterized by narrow valleys, average
holdings were only about 2.2 hectares. In the parts of this upper
area that had controlled irrigation, the typical farm only had
slightly more than one hectare. A farm on nonirrigated land
consisted of about two hectares, part of which was rain-fed paddy
and part upland. The lower part of the region had areas similar
to those in the central plain. Farms were considerably larger,
the typical one having close to five hectares. Both paddy and
upland crops were grown, and maize had become an important
secondary cash crop for many farmers (see
table 12, Appendix).
In the Northeast, the generally infertile soil required
larger holdings to meet subsistence needs. Over half the farms
had between 2.4 and 7.2 hectares, and the typical farm had an
area of about 4 hectares. In the early 1980s, about 40 percent of
the country's agricultural households lived in this region.
Holdings in the Center, which contained about 20 percent of the
nation's agricultural households, varied considerably. Near
Bangkok small farms producing market vegetables might have little
more than half a hectare, whereas commercial rice farms outside
the city averaged over ten hectares. The typical commercial rice
holding on the central plain, however, averaged somewhat over
three hectares, and all available land was under cultivation. In
the upland to the east of the plain, where maize was grown
commercially, the typical farm size was close to 6.5 hectares.
Cassava was also grown in this area on somewhat smaller farms,
typically of about five hectares. West of the plain, the uplands
were devoted in part to sugarcane grown on holdings usually of
about three hectares. In the South, the rugged terrain made about
two-fifths of the region unsuitable for agriculture. The climate,
however, favored the cultivation of rubber trees, and the
majority of farms grew rubber as a cash crop along with
subsistence rice. A typical household had about three hectares:
1.5 hectares of rubber trees, small areas of coconut or fruit
trees, and the rest planted in rice. In the three southernmost
provinces holdings were smaller, averaging about two hectares.
Data as of September 1987
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