Deep Roots

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Thailand initiatives for strengthening

family farming towards food security, farmer

well-being and sustainable development

Agricultural Extension Research and Development Division and Planning Division,

Department of Agricultural Extension Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives: Kingdom of Thailand

hailand’s development has been generally based

on agricultural production, which is mainly

supported by smallholders. Agricultural produc-

tion continues to be the basis of the livelihood of the

majority of Thailand’s 65 million people, about one-

third of whom are presently engaged in agriculture.

Although agriculture’s share of gross domestic product

in 2013 was only 8.3 per cent and has decreased

substantially, it still accounted for 20.2 per cent of the

total value of exports, including agricultural products

and agromanufacturing products.

Of the country’s total land area of 321 million rai (about

51.4 million hectares), 115 million rai or 36 per cent is

under agriculture with a farm labour force of 39.1 per cent.

Therefore, agriculture is still of great importance to the

Thai economy, since the majority of the population still

earn their living from it in terms of a key source of income

and a base for value-added activities.

According to farmer registration, in 2013 there were

7,074,355 farm households in Thailand, of which the

majority are small-scale farmers who hold an average 3

hectares of land. These farmers not only face the chal-

lenges of accessibility to capital, agricultural technologies

and inadequate land for farming; they also have to cope

with sudden natural disasters such as flood, drought and

unusual rain as well as soil erosion, disease epidemics and

outbreaks of insect pests. Agricultural chemicals are still

used for high yield production, while natural resources

have been depleted and the environment has been

degraded, causing climate change. Therefore, production

is effected in terms of damaged products, lower produc-

tion, inadequate food intake, insufficient income for family

consumption, and malnutrition. These also have an impact

on food security, poverty, migration and the use of existing

resources. Furthermore, the multi-polar economy and the

integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

community in 2015 will affect the competitiveness of

small-scale farmers.

In order to cope with such phenomena, Thailand has

adopted His Majesty the King’s Philosophy of ‘sufficiency

economy’ as its guiding principle since the Ninth National

Economic and Social Development Plan (2002-2006). In

order to achieve sustainable development with a people-

centred approach and pave the way towards a good

balance between environmentally friendly production and

consumption, it is necessary to enhance the country’s self-

resilience by strengthening its economic and social capital

and improving risk management to effectively handle inter-

nal and external uncertainties.

Sufficiency economy is a philosophy that stresses the

middle path as an overriding principle for appropri-

ate conduct by the populace at all levels. This applies to

conduct at the level of families and communities, as well

as the level of national development and administration

so as to modernize in line with the forces of globalization.

The strengthening of the agricultural sector and the

security of food and energy are key development strate-

gies to ensure sustainable agriculture from the family level

up to the national level. Thailand, through the Ministry

of Agriculture and Cooperatives, has laid down a Food

Outstanding farmer, Mr Patphong Monkolkanjanakhun, received the national

award in 2014 for integrated farming by practicing the ‘New Theory’ agriculture

Image: MOAC – Thailand

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