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Thailand Crops
Climatic and soil conditions permit the cultivation of a wide
range of crops, not only tropical varieties but also many
originating in semitropical and temperate zones. Until the late
1950s, however, the major emphasis in agriculture was on rice
and, secondarily, on rubber, which together accounted for over
half the value of all commodity exports. Other crops regularly
grown included maize, cassava, potatoes, yams, beans, sugarcane,
fruit, cotton, and various oilseeds, but all were supplementary
and intended basically for domestic use. Historically, Thailand's
independent status had kept it from being saddled with a colonial
plantation economy, in which two or three principal crops were
produced for world markets or for the imperial power.
Agricultural production, however, had been strongly influenced by
the West after the Bowring Treaty of 1855 with Britain, which
resulted in crop diversification
(see The Bangkok Period, 1767-1932
, ch. 1). Accordingly, when new market conditions--
increased world demand, higher prices, and developing domestic
industry--arose during the 1960s and 1970s, Thailand's
independent small farmers responded by expanding substantially
the output of many secondary crops. The flexibility of the Thai
farmer was evidenced by an unprecedented shift from rice
production to other crops by a considerable number of households.
In other cases, many farmers continued to produce rice for
subsistence purposes while expanding their activities to grow
market-oriented upland crops. In the mid-1980s, major export
crops included not only rice and rubber but also maize, cassava,
sugarcane, mung beans, tobacco, and sorghum. Other important
crops in which major production increases also had been made were
pineapples, peanuts, cashew nuts, soybeans, bananas, sesame,
coconuts, cotton, kapok, and castor beans.
Data as of September 1987
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