Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

Challenges to Recovery and Reconstruction
A majority of the rural Thai population makes their living out of a combination of farming
and off-farm activities, including some off-farm employment and small businesses (shops,
local trade, etc). This assessment registered severe damage and losses to croplands,
fishponds, and livestock as well as damage to irrigation systems, and these are likely
to have serious socio-economic implications on the livelihoods of the people who were
affected. Damage to critical rural infrastructure such as rural roads and bridges would
potentially limit mobility and access to markets of people in the affected provinces. Small
businesses including home-based agri-businesses have also been affected. At the time
of the assessment visits, prices of food and meat were reported to have risen significantly
above the pre-flood level. Similarly, the price of animal feed rose after the floods, and farmers
speculated a high price increase for rice seed, fingerlings and other inputs. Meanwhile,
due to urgency of cash requirements for daily household expenses farmers were forced to
sell some of their livestock assets to generate cash at a much lower price than would be
expected during this time of year. During the field visit, one female farmer reported to have
pawned her gold jewelry to pay for the preparation required for the next cropping season.
Artisanal fisher folk feared that the middlemen may only offer fingerlings and fish feed with
more pre-conditions attached, and that they would not receive timely support for the preparations
for the next season.
Farmers in different provinces practiced inter-family lending and borrowing, and borrowing
from local cooperatives at different interest rates. Systems also existed for borrowing
seeds and seedlings, and such systems looked to be working well in the communities.
However, farming families with access to banks for credit reported holding debt, and were
much relieved after getting the news on debt suspension from the banks for the next twoto-three
years. The farmers however were still found to be under stress from the amount of
damage and losses to their enterprises and for fear of the accruing interest on loans. Most
of the farmers confirmed paying the interest on their loans regularly, but very few of them
claimed to be able to pay the capital loan back, even in installments. Thanks to the resilient
nature of Thai society and culture, a high level of confidence for rebuilding their livelihoods
was observed in the farmers. However, with the given scale of damage and losses, there
is a significant socio-economic impact on the livelihoods of the rural farming families and
fisher folk, and the size of support needed to ‘build-back-better’ will be enormous. Immediate
measures therefore are vital for recovery and reconstruction.
Recommendations for Reconstruction, Recovery and Resilience
The floods started affecting Thailand from May 1, 2011, and the government has since
introduced a myriad of measures to alleviate the losses and damage. Table 10 below
summarizes the government’s initiatives related to the agriculture sector and identifies
plausible limitations based on information gathered during the field visits and observations.
Recommendations regarding each policy are included here, and subsequently a detailed
discussion of the short-, medium- and long-term recommended activities.
THAI FLOOD 2011 RAPID ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING
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