The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

PAT'J'EHNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP IN CENTHAL 'l'IlAILAND 267
TABLE 9
Average Size of Transaction
By Decade for Major Types of Land Transaction:
Ayuthia and Nakhon Pathom
(Number of Rai Per Transaction)
---·---~~---- --- ·-·- ---~--·
Sale Gift & Will Mortgage Khai Faak
Ayu- Nakhon Ayu- Nakhon Ayu- Nakhon Ayu- Nakhon
Peri on thia Pathom tbia Pathom thia Pathom thia Pat hom
----------- ------~----
1910-19 22.3 24.8 17.4 25.2 21.5 39.4 19.5 39.8
1920-29 17.6 24.2 16.6 27.1 23.5 47.7 22.8 29.0
1930-39 17.1 22.4 13.8 21.8 17.8 31.7 20.6 32.9
1940-49 16.5 23.8 11.5 18.8 21.2 27.7 26.2 27.5
1950-59 10.7 15.8 12.4 17.6 16.3 21.8 16.1 18.3
1960-69 9.6 11.2 11.7 11.8 15.3 19.2 11.0 17.4
1970-72 7.6 8.3 8.1 13.1 14•6 20.9 18.2 13.7
Note:
In cases where there is more than one owner registered on the title deed, the
transfer of each individual's interest is counted as a separate transaction.
employment possibilities in the provincial towns and Bangkok and on
lands opened up in other regions have greatly relieved the Malthusian
pressure on the paddy fields of the Central Plain. A recent United
Nations' study of land capability concluded that less than one quarter
of the land suitable for paddy is being cultivated.24 The migration of
many of tbe rural youth to seek employment beyond their villages and
the capacity of the economy to produce opportunities for them have
granted at least a temporary reprieve from the consequences of the
Burmo-Malthusian model.
Alternatively, the heterogeneity of village life makes it possible to
fit together different pieces of experience to substantiate conflicting
models of development. It was hoped that the random selection of this
village sample would permit broad generalization of the results, but
qualifications of the validity and representativeness of the data have been
recognized. The objective, therefore, is not to postulate an alternative
version of the conventional wisdom but simply to caution against the
naive acceptance of unsubstantiated generalizations about land ownership
and the value of simple solutions to the complex problem of raising the
productivity and welfare of the Thai farmer.
24) Bimbandha Vasuvat. Land Development in Thailand. (Bangkok: Ministry of
Agriculture and Cooperatives, January, 1974), Technical Paper No. I 03, P· 12.