Agricultural Sector in Thailand

THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN THAILAND

The agriculture in Thailand is highly competitive, diversified and specialised and its exports are very successful internationally. This sector underwent several changes during past years, and is going on to change. This have determined and is determing a rapid and great development in its economy,

GDP (current US$)

$365.6 billion 2012 + 6,4%

Population, total

66.79 million 2012

just in the 2012 its GDP increased for 6.4%, thas is more or less the same increasing in every year of the last decades. First of looking at some data on it, let’s look at its geography and the differences among its regions. We can divide Thailand, based on agricultural point of view in 4 regions:

* Central region: The historical rice basket of the country, with much irrigated land, where commercial agriculture first developed. The centre has high agricultural productivity but the lowest share of agriculture in its economy.

* Northern region: Low population density and mountainous. Smaller landholding, with a large proportion of farmer specialised in high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables.

* Northeast region: The most agricultural region, where almost half of Thai farmers live. Agro-ecological conditions are less favourable than elsewhere, and it is relatively remote from the coast and the main urban centres. This partly explains why this region experiences the lowest agricultural productivity of the country and the highest incidence of rural poverty.

* Southern region: Low density and very suitable agro-ecological conditions, with rainfall spread all over the year. The south is by far the most important region for rubber production, the first agricultural export of the country in terms of value.

Knowing the main differences among these regions is very important since each regions contributes in a different way at the total amount of agricultural production, and because it allows us of having a good basic...