Rice Production in Thailand - Pre-World War II History

Pre-World War II History

Until the 1960s, rice planting in Thailand consisted mainly of peasants farming small areas and produced modest amounts of rice (subsistence agriculture). The Chao Phraya River delta was the hub of rice production. Agriculture constituted a large portion of the total production of Thailand and most Thais worked on farms. The extreme focus on agriculture arose for two main reasons, the vast amount of land available for farming and the government's policies to clear more land and protect peasants' rights. The government helped peasants gain access to land and protected them from aristocratic landlords. Due to the government's stance, urban merchants were unable to gain much control over the Thai rice industry. The government concerned itself with protecting farmers and not with overall production. As a result, Thailand was relatively self-sufficient, resistant to government invention, mobile, and egalitarian. Most rice farmers owned their own land and exchange labor between farmers was common. Rice production normally was not much more than the farmers needed to survive on.