Thailand, a Rice-growing Society


Book Description

Monographic compilation of articles on the agricultural development and agricultural production of rice in Thailand - gives historical background on the introduction of rice, cultivation techniques and cultivation technique, studies land reclamation, social structure, political system and environmental factors, and discusses future trends with regard to irrigation, drainage, technology, export promotion, etc. Graphs, photographs, maps, references and statistical tables.




White Gold: The Commercialisation of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin


Book Description

This open access book is about understanding the processes involved in the transformation of smallholder rice farming in the Lower Mekong Basin from a low-yielding subsistence activity to one producing the surpluses needed for national self-sufficiency and a high-value export industry. For centuries, farmers in the Basin have regarded rice as “white gold”, reflecting its centrality to their food security and well-being. In the past four decades, rice has also become a commercial crop of great importance to Mekong farmers, augmenting but not replacing its role in securing their subsistence. This book is based on collaborative research to (a) compare the current situation and trajectories of rice farmers within and between different regions of the Lower Mekong, (b) explore the value chains linking rice farmers with new technologies and input and output markets within and across national borders, and (c) understand the changing role of government policies in facilitating the on-going evolution of commercial rice farming. An introductory section places the research in geographical and historical context. Four major sections deal in turn with studies of rice farming, value chains, and policies in Northeast Thailand, Central Laos, Southeastern Cambodia, and the Mekong Delta. The final section examines the implications for rice policy in the region as a whole.




Thai Agriculture


Book Description

The history, science, and social aspects of today’s Thai agriculture is traced from hunters and gatherers through agro-cities through State-religious Empires and immigrating Tai to produce a sustainable agriculture. The wet glutinous rice culture determined administrative structures in a pragmatic society which regularly produced a saleable surplus. Continuing today, these systems consolidated the importance of rice agriculture to national security and economic well-being, as Chinese and European influence benefited agribusiness and initiated the demand which would expand agriculture through population increase until accessible land was expended. As agriculture declined in relative financial importance, it continued to provide the benefits of employment, crisis resilience, self-sufficiency, rural social support, and cultural custody. Agricultural institutions evolved from a taxation and dispute resolution base to provide research, education, and technology transfer at levels below potential as they supported commercial agriculture funded by credit. Agribusiness expanded from the 1960s and small-holders were partly viewed as a past relic which agribusiness could modernise. Unique elements of Thai agriculture include: irrigation technologies; administrative structures based on water control; global leadership in many agricultural commodities; multinational agribusiness; negotiating approaches; potential for further increases from known technologies, and an open culture which has embraced new ideas. One of the world’s few major agricultural exporters, Thailand leads the world in rice, rubber, canned pineapple, and black tiger prawn production and export, the region in chicken meat export and several other commodities, and feeds more the four times its own population from less intensive agriculture than its neighbours. Poised to benefit from expansion in livestock demand, poverty reduction, and improved education, research, and legal and social systems, evident in the recent Asian financial crisis, will be considered with popular concern for socially sensitive alternatives for small-holder farmers to co-exist with commercial agriculture. Thailand will likely remain one of the world’s major agricultural countries in social, environmental and economic terms for the foreseeable future, as it addresses the continuing rural issues of poverty and inequity.




The Rice Economy of Asia


Book Description

The purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive picture of the role of rice in the food and agricultural sectors of Asian nations.




Rice


Book Description

During the last nine millennia or so, man has improved the rice plant, increased its productivity and has found various uses of its parts. The story of rice differs from region to region and has been different in different periods of time. There was a time when tax was collected in the form of rice in Japan, the Southeast Asian kingdoms created hyd




Thailand


Book Description

Thailand is exceptional among modern states in Asia in that it has built and retained a national culture around a traditional monarchical institution. Moreover, this culture has also been based on a dominant religious tradition, that of Theravada Buddhism. The process of creating the modern nation-state of Thailand out of the traditional Buddhist kingdom of Siam began in the nineteenth century when the rulers of Siam, confronted with increasing pressure from the colonial powers of Britain and France, were able to preserve their country's independence by instituting revolutionary changes that established the authority of a centralized bureaucracy throughout the country. The new state asserted its authority not only over Siamese who lived in the core area of the old kingdom but also over large numbers of Lao, Yuan or Northern Thai, Khmer, Malays, tribal peoples, and other groups, all of which had previously enjoyed relative autonomy, and over the sizable immigrant Chinese population, which was assuming an increasingly significant role in the economy. Because the rulers of the Siamese state strove to incorporate these diverse peoples into a Thai national community, how this community should be defined and what type of state structure should be linked with it have been dominant questions in modern Thai history. Significant tensions have arisen from the efforts by members of the Thai elite to make the monarchical traditions of the Bangkok dynasty, Buddhism, and the central Thai language basic to Thai national culture. Other tensions have arisen as monarchy, military, bureaucracy, the Buddhist sangha, business interests, and elected political representatives assert or maintain an authoritative position in the state structure. This book examines these tensions with reference to the major changes that have taken place in Thai society, economy, polity, and culture in the twentieth century, especially since World War II.




The End of the Peasantry in Southeast Asia


Book Description

This book analyses the changing context and conditions of production and livelihood amongst Southeast Asia's peasants since the beginning of the nineteenth century. It argues that with demographic growth and the nineteenth century development of great global markets based on small-scale production, the size and economic significance of peasantries throughout the region was magnified. However, such changes brought with them new forces - stronger states, more regular legal systems, a revolution in communications, intensive commercialisation - which themselves worked to undermine the foundations of peasant society and, eventually, to transform peasants into farmers, workers and citizens.




Farmers in the Forest


Book Description

Farmers in the Forest, while using examples chiefly from northern Thailand, is concerned with complex problems found in all tropical countries. In these areas rapid population growth, increasing demands for food, and burgeoning international markets for forest products and other raw materials are associated with active competition for land and natural resources in upland areas. This book brings together studies by administrators, agronomists, anthropologists, forest ecologists, geographers and jurists, who describe a variety of swidden systems and their effect on soil, forest, society, and economy. They point to conflicts between traditional farming systems and modern legal and administrative constraints now being imposed, and they describe special and technological conditions that contribute to a marginal, stagnant upland economy, increasing socio-economic disparities with the lowlands, and the serious ecological consequences of these conditions. Several possible solutions are suggested to solve these problems.




Resilience in Ecology and Urban Design


Book Description

The contributors to this volume propose strategies of urgent and vital importance that aim to make today’s urban environments more resilient. Resilience, the ability of complex systems to adapt to changing conditions, is a key frontier in ecological research and is especially relevant in creative urban design, as urban areas exemplify complex systems. With something approaching half of the world’s population now residing in coastal urban zones, many of which are vulnerable both to floods originating inland and rising sea levels, making urban areas more robust in the face of environmental threats must be a policy ambition of the highest priority. The complexity of urban areas results from their spatial heterogeneity, their intertwined material and energy fluxes, and the integration of social and natural processes. All of these features can be altered by intentional planning and design. The complex, integrated suite of urban structures and processes together affect the adaptive resilience of urban systems, but also presupposes that planners can intervene in positive ways. As examples accumulate of linkage between sustainability and building/landscape design, such as the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park and Toronto’s Lower Don River area, this book unites the ideas, data, and insights of ecologists and related scientists with those of urban designers. It aims to integrate a formerly atomized dialog to help both disciplines promote urban resilience.




The Rice Crisis


Book Description

The recent escalation of world food prices – particularly for cereals - prompted mass public indignation and demonstrations in many countries, from the price of tortilla flour in Mexico to that of rice in the Philippines and pasta in Italy. The crisis has important implications for future government trade and food security policies, as countries re-evaluate their reliance on potentially more volatile world markets to augment domestic supplies of staple foods. This book examines how government policies caused and responded to soaring world prices in the particular case of rice, which is the world's most important source of calories for the poor. Comparable case studies of policy reactions in different countries, principally across Asia, but also including the USA, provide the understanding necessary to evaluate the impact of trade policy on the food security of poor farmers and consumers. They also provide important insights into the concerns of developing countries that are relevant for future international trade negotiations in key agricultural commodities. As a result, more appropriate policies can be put in place to ensure more stable food supplies in the future. Published with the Food and Agriculture (FAO) Organization of the United Nations