Monitoring the use of farmland in Thailand
for food security
By Jon Fernquest |
"Fears of foreign invasion into the farm sector" have prompted Thai authorities to protect Thailand's store of existing farmland, according to an article in todays's Bangkok Post business section.
Under complete free-market capitalism with "free-trade" between countries, some countries might not even farm any rice (or enough rice) because they can purchase it at lower cost from another country.
Exchange rates and economic conditions might change suddenly one day in the future and then the country might not be able to import rice anymore at all.
The country would be out of luck, because developing traditions of rice farming took the country hundreds of years to develop.
Some economist, under the spell of neoliberalism perhaps, advised that "free-trade" was an absolute good and then Thai rice farmers sold their land for some other use, and hundreds of years of rice farming traditions disappeared in a few decades.
The moral of the fable [Thai: Nithan] is straightforward. Free trade might have benefits, but food security, making sure the country has enough food to eat in the future, is absolutely essential.
Read a recent op-ed piece by Nobel laureate economist Stiglitz on the end of neo-liberalism (See article).
Here is the article in full:
AGRICULTURE
Changes spur review of farmland size
Latest figures needed in designing measuresWALAILAK KEERATIPIPATPONG
Thursday July 10, 2008
Skyrocketing food prices, drastic change in the use of farmland, and fears of foreign invasion into the farm sector have prompted Thai authorities to determine the exact size of farmland and devise safeguards to maintain it.
Thailand's farming area has not changed much in the past 20 years, at around 130-131 million rai, based on the statistics of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE).
"It's necessary for the government to conduct a review to ensure whether the database is correct since there have been significant changes in recent years. We need to invest to ensure the accuracy of the figures for better management plans in the future," said Apichart Jongskul, the OAE secretary-general.
Farmland has over the years been threatened by rapid urbanisation, industrial expansion and leisure developments such as golf courses.
The ongoing high grain prices have underscore the concern as people start noticing that rapid growth of cities, roads and factories. "Golf courses, for instance, have tapped the government-financed irrigation systems intended for farmers."
A number of fertile rice lands and fruit orchards have also been encroached by housing estates in the past years, especially those in Bangkok's neighbouring provinces once famous for delicious fruit such as durian and oranges.
According to Mr Apichart, possible measures include tax schemes to deter encroachment, and more support for farm owners such as better marketing strategies and product-price support to encourage them to keep their land.
The government has previously initiated the idea of zoning for food and energy crops to keep the right balance between the two, but he believes additional measures are needed to enhance its effectiveness. Access to more efficient logistics and price subsidies would encourage farmers to keep up the profession in designated areas. The OAE has also registered geographical indications (GI) for some farm products to protect them from abuse such as Sangyod Rice of Phatthalung province, he said.
According to Mr Apichart, Agriculture Minister Somsak Prissananantakul is also worried about the threat from foreign "invasions" of farming areas and instructed authorities to review whether current laws are adequate to prohibit foreigners from owning farmland.
A committee was set up last month to determine whether more teeth should be added to existing laws including the Foreign Business Act, the Land Code, and the Investment promotion Act.
"Fines and fees against violators remain small and some laws still have loopholes," he said.
However, the committee would first tighten existing laws before deciding to pass new legislation, which could be a time-consuming process, he said.
The reasons behind the concern are to ensure food security, protect local farmers and prevent them from becoming just farm workers.
Several countries have eyed Thailand for years thanks to its rich farm resources, relatively few natural disasters, and better farm technology when compared to other nations in the region.
"As Thailand produces in excess of 20 million tonnes of milled rice a year, the country has attracted foreign countries as a perfect food-production venue," he said.
Recent reports that investors from Middle Eastern countries are interested in buying farmland here have sparked the fear. "However, we have [not] yet found any irregularities, or possession of farmland by foreigners," he said.
The planting of Japonica short-grain rice supported by Japanese investors in a northern province involves a small volume and serves only local consumption of a particular group.
Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Rice Exporters Association, said he was not aware of any foreign investment in rice farming in recent years.
He recalled one case more than 20 years ago when a Japanese firm formed a joint venture with a local trader to grow Japonica rice for export to Japan. "But it did not work successfully. Although the grain looked right, the taste was different from the authentic variety."
According to Mr Chookiat, the foreign presence is limited to rice trading with only a handful of companies that enter joint ventures in rice mills with local businessmen to mill Hom Mali rice for sale to parent companies in Hong Kong.
(Source: Bangkok Post, business, 10-07-08, page B3, WALAILAK KEERATIPIPATPONG, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
security - protecting from danger (See Wikipedia)
food security - protecting from the danger of not having food (See Wikipedia)
prompted - cause to take action
store of - something kept for the future (not consumed or traded away)
free-market - a market in which prices of goods and services are arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers (See Wikipedia)
capitalism - an economic system in which property is owned by private persons and operated for profit, investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a market economy (See Wikipedia)
"free-trade" - a economic model in which the trade of goods and services between or within countries is not controlled by government restrictions (See Wikipedia)
out of luck - unlucky, not lucky anymore
under the spell of X - fascinated by X and cannot think about anything else
neoliberalism - the policies of privatization, austerity, and trade liberalization dictated to dependent countries by the International Monetary Fund (See Wikipedia)
an absolute good - always good, never bad (no need to split it apart and find the good as well as the bad in it)
moral of the fable - the lesson taught by the story
absolutely essential - always necessary
spur - cause or encourage something to happen (See glossary)
skyrocketing food prices - food prices increasing very fast
a drastic change - a very big change, a complete change in everything
devise X - create, come up with new X
safeguards - things done to protect people from danger and harm
devise safeguards - create new ways to protect people from danger and harm
figures - numbers (for example, statistics in a report or amounts in accounting records)
ensure the accuracy of the figures - make sure the numbers are correct
rapid urbanisation - cities and towns increasing in size fast
underscore - emphasize, stress, make more important
a concern - worry about a situation
underscore the concern - stress that people should be more worried about this
tapped - used (See glossary)
encroach - moving into and using a space that doesn't belong to you (See glossary)
deter X from doing Y - make person X stop doing Y
zoning - making laws on how land can be used
zoning for food and energy crops - making laws that say what crops can be grown on what land
effective - works well, gets the job done
effectiveness - the degree that a method or approach works well and gets the job done (See glossary)
enhance its effectiveness - increase
efficient - waste little time, energy and resources in doing a task
(minimize time, energy and resources in performing a task) (See glossary)
logistics - Efficient organisation of "the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products, services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace." (See glossary)
more efficient logistics
designated areas - special areas created for an activity
keep up the profession in designated areas - keep people doing the work that they have always done in certain areas
register Y - create an official list or record of Y
registered geographical indications (GI) for some farm products
more teeth should be added (to the law) - the laws should be improved and made more effective
loopholes - imperfections in a law that allow legal experts to avoid and go around the law (See glossary)
laws still have loopholes
tighten existing laws - make the currents laws more strict (so that the laws can be enforced and people can't find ways to avoid the laws)
time-consuming process - what they did used a lot of time, took a long time to do
a venue - a place where an event happens
irregularities - something happens that doesn't follow normal patterns, might be breaking a law or a rule
Japonica short-grain rice - the rice eaten in Japan, has a special stickiness and texture (See Wikipedia on Japanese rice)
authentic - the real thing, genuine, not fake
an authentic variety - the real kind (not a fake kind made to look real)
