Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific region - United Nations in ...

- Farmers can sell their rice at a higher price (without being suppressed in terms of theprice they want in exchange for the products).- Credit sources can buy rice at a lower price (since they buy directly from farmers andmill the paddy by themselves).- Farmers can obtain consumer goods at a low price because they can buy in bulk (byoperating like a cooperative store and having the privilege of buying commodities ata wholesale price).- Credit sources can dispatch their personnel to various locations to implementdifferent activities, which guarantee better results.8. GOVERNMENT’S POLICIES AND STRATEGIES FOR CROPDIVERSIFICATIONThe achievement of agricultural development over the past resulted from thecountry’s existing natural factors which made it more advantageous than other nations, i.e.favourable climatic conditions, vast and fertile planted areas, oversupply and cheapagricultural labour costs. All these factors contribute to low production costs although theyields per unit area are not particularly high. However, as far as the world market isconcerned, Thailand faces stiff competition from the agricultural sector of many countries ofthe world.In the past, plans and directions for agricultural development were laid down in linewith the economic changes and the national development guidelines as follows:During the period of the First and Second National Economic and SocialDevelopment Plans, emphasis was placed on the improvement of the country’s basicinfrastructure. This included the construction of large-scale dams for irrigation andelectricity, roads, the support for research, agricultural promotion and experimentation.Although these plans helped to develop infrastructure in farming communities, they did nottrigger any dramatic improvement in the farmers’ production levels.The Third and Fourth Plans gave emphasis on speeding up agricultural production,quality improvement of export products, and production diversification. The latter wasaimed at widening the range of commodities, that is rather than dwelling only on the majortraditional crops like rice, maize, cassava, and para rubber. During this period, there was agreat number of forest encroachments and expanding farm land. Hence, the importance ofproviding land ownership was taken into account by the promotion of land reformprogrammes. Still, this development did little to change the income distribution structure. Itwas envisaged that income derived from the agricultural sector was much lower than that ofother sectors.During the Fifth Plan period, importance was given to the increase in productionefficiency rather than expansion of planted areas. Attention was also paid to incomedistribution, expansion of prosperity to rural areas, and alleviation of rural poverty problems.But the national development during this plan caused a remarkable disparity of incomebetween agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. With regard to the Sixth Plan, its141