Some Crucial Issues in Thailand's Economic Development

Abstract

THE PEOPLE OF THAILAND have been fortunate among the Asian nations in seldom having to worry where their next meal would come from. They have had in the fields and fish in the water ever since the days of King Ram Khamheng (i3th century). An examination of the present situation in Thailand, however, induces doubts as to the justification for such complacency. Rice cultivation has provided the main staple food, the major single source of foreign exchange earnings, and the main source of employment. Between 70 and 8o percent of the labor force are engaged in rice farming, and others, mostly Chinese, act as middlemen, shippers, millers, and exporters of rice. Land in rice cultivation has increased steadily to supply both domestic and foreign demand, uncultivated land, mostly forest, having been cleared and converted into rice fields. But the cultivation techniques did not change with the expansion of the rice area.2 Free land good for rice cultivation is no longer available, however. The lands which have been brought under cultivation during the last few decades were increasingly marginal, permitting only a low yield per acre, and whatever increase in rice output is feasible in the future will require substantial investments. Moreover, different products will have to be developed with all the widespread ramifications involved in such a change, and, since Thailand, like many other countries, wishes to join the ranks of the developed countries, the change has to be drastic. Besides, the requirement of growth does not hinge only, or even primarily, on the emulation motive. An accelerated rate of growth is becoming well-nigh imperative because the application of modern medical services is rapidly expanding the population by reducing the death rate while the birth rate continues high.3 Thailand thus faces a crisis and a challenge, but the solution of her problems is difficult because of her state of economic under-development.4 This