Proceedings of the UNESCO - University of Tsukuba International Seminar on Traditional Technology for Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Asian-Pacific Region, held in Tsukuba Science City, Japan, 11-14 December, 1995.
Editors: Kozo Ishizuka, D. Sc. , Shigeru Hisajima, D. Sc. , Darryl R.J. Macer, Ph.D.
In terms of growth, the agricultural growth has shown a declining trend at the rate of 7.6%, 4.2% and 2.5% in the First, Second and Third, and the Sixth Plan respectively. For the Seventh Plan (1992-1996), the agriculture growth rate is targeted to be 3.4% per annum. The opposite trend is seen in the industrial growth rate. The expansion of industrial products rose more than 10% since 1990. The rise in industrial sector follows the policy stated in the national economic and social development plans. Problems arising from the changes in traditional society of agricultural base to industrial society are discussed.
Key words: Thailand, Agricultural Society, Industrial Society.
At the present time, the majority of Thai people are still engaged with agriculture. The development of an appropriate policy conducive to sustainable human development and agriculture is urgently needed. The term "sustainable development" was introduced. This development calls for a new type of structural adjustment : adjusting not only to macro-economic circumstances, but also adjustment to people's needs and realities at the micro-level, both as producers and consumers, concerning poverty, natural resources and environmental limitations, in particular in terms of food security and the environment.
After the introduction of the National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP), the economic structure of the country was seen gradually shifted from agricultural to industrial societies. With the government policy on encouragement and supporting industrial investment together with the policy of supporting foreign investment in the country in the NESDP 1 and 2 (1961-1972) led to the reduction of importing finish products with the establishment of many local manufacturing industries producing textiles, automobile parts, bicycles, cement, steel etc.
During the period from NESDP 3 (1972-1976) until the present time, the policy was emphasized the industrial production for export. The expansion of production and foreign markets for industrial goods was evident. This was followed by rapid economic growth of the country with the rise in per-capita income. Various kinds of industrial produces were seen during this NESDP 3, the production exporting products such as chemical, clothing and textiles, canned food, cars and bicycle, jewelry and gems, and plastic goods were greatly accelerated. Thus the production structure of Thailand changed, that is the proportion of agricultural produce in the whole country production decreased whereas the ratio of industrial produce to the total production increased (Table 1).
As for land use, the land occupied by agriculture in 1993 amounted to 23.6 million hectares or 46% of the whole country. Within this agricultural land, about 11.8 million hectares or 50% were used for rice production, 5.7% million hectares or 24% for field crops, 3.1 million hectares or 13.1% for fruit trees and 0.13 million hectares or 0.5% for vegetable and flower production, 0.8 million hectares were used for livestock and the rest was devoted to housing area, idle land and other crops which amounted to 2.0 million hectares.
The trend of agricultural production in Thailand lies with the increase in horticultural production which can be exported. In the NESDP number 8 it is expected the change from grain production to crops of high export potential or high value crops. Also the new picture of agricultural sector in Thailand will have more production in the agro-industrial produces. The driving factors in changing the agricultural production system to the new structure of producing high value crops are due to the competition in value and quality of the produces in the international market. The increase in production cost especially in the labour cost makes farmers to look for new crops of high value than confining to their traditional crops.
In future, one will find the agricultural production in Thailand changes from the traditional production to use new technology for production of high value crops. The trend for consistent increase in production may be seen in rice and crops, using raw materials such as oil crop, cassava products, maize, sugarcane in agro-industrial manufacture. Those that may rapidly be increased in both production and export are fruits and vegetables, shrimp and sea food product, frozen chicken and other meat products.
However, the development of fundamental industry especially those that are required for supporting heavy industry is still limiting in Thailand. This development is rather slow in comparison to Malaysia and Indonesia (Table 4) which are also in the same category as Thailand. This data indicates a better basic fundamental industry for industrial production in Malaysia and Indonesia as compared to Thailand.
The potential in production and exporting of industrial goods in Thailand is subjected to the competition especially those intensive labor requiring industries such as traditional manufacturers.
1) Traditional manufacturing industries are those that require intensive labor such as clothing, shoes, furniture, leathers and those that require skill labor such as jewelry. In the last century, these products contributed to high export value, however at present, the industry faces high labor cost and high competition from China and Vietnam which are attracting foreign investment. At the same time these special trade agreements that Thailand used to receive from developed countries such as GSP from US. is decreasing due to the country's development. However, these industrial products have developed to a level which should be able to stand on by its own, have its own market and has developed to a high quality and name in the international market.
2) New exporting manufacturing such as electrical and electronic goods have risen to high export value. This kind of industry is expected to receive more investment in Thailand especially from Japan and new industrial countries. This is due to the rather cheap production cost in Thailand in comparison to those industrial countries and also due to the closer distance of Thailand to markets in Indochina.
3) Supporting manufacturing are those producing parts and spare parts for electrical and electronics equipment as well as of motor cycles and motor cars. There is a trend to the production of these parts to Thailand from Japan in the near future.
In recent years Indochinese nations have been liberalizing economically, and circumstances surrounding Thailand have otherwise been changing at a dizzying pace. The need to alleviate rural poverty in Thailand is still the most pressing issue. What is required are both further advancements in agriculture which are still one of the country's major industries, and the rapid industrial development outside agriculture along with the requisite human resource development. Hence, greater emphasis must be placed on these areas in government policy in the future.
1) The rural people exhibit more participation in the development of integrated farming systems e.g. by means of forming organizations such as agricultural cooperatives.
2) The country's society gradually moves towards decentralization and a recognition of the role of farmers, their families and local authorities in decision-making, including incentives for initiatives by local communities.
3) More acceptable to include a role for women in food production and food provision.
4) More attention on the safeguarding of human health and environmental quality in relation to the use of dangerous pesticides and other chemicals.
5) More off-farm income e.g. food processing and handicrafts in the rural area.
Table 1: Gross domestic product (GDP) of different production societies in Thailand.
Table 2: Farm cash income of Thailand.
Table 3: Gross domestic product (GDP) of industrial sector in Thailand
Table 4: Ratio of heavy industry to fundamental industry