The economic history of Thai agriculture (1980-2003)
Lessons and implications for agriculture and food securityRepublic of Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam,
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Bangkok, © FAO 2006
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The study covers the "decline and revival of Thai agriculture" from 1980 to 2003 including changes in how technology, labour, commercialization, government policy, water scarcity, and migration from countryside to city have affected agriculture. Price supports, subsidies and other government interventions in agricultural markets are covered:
"…in recent years, there has been an increasing use of highly distorted policies that provide a rising level of support to the farmers, e.g. price support programmes, a debt deferment programme and various subsidized credit programmes for people at the grassroots level. The assessment of these programmes finds that their performance, excepting the debt deferment programme, is very disappointing. All the price-support programmes have been plagued by widespread corruption as shown by reports of both the police department and the senate committees. Although these sectoral policies have been quite costly and distorted the resource allocation, their overall impact on the agriculture sector remains limited. But if these sectoral policies continue to expand, they may impose higher fiscal cost on the tax payers and seriously affect the competitiveness."
Important aspects of the rural sufficiency economy and how it relates to the urban and international economies are also covered including education, care for the elderly, and adjusting to changing prices and competition in international markets under FTAs.
