Recent Expansion of Nonglutinous Rice Cultivation in Northeast Thailand : Intraregional Variation (<Special Issue>Transformation of Agriculture in Northeast Thailand)

Abstract

In Northeast Thailand, the planting of nonglutinous rice for sale is now spreading to some villages where only glutinous rice was traditionally grown. In these villages, rice productivity has increased, due mainly to the introduction of chemical fertilizer which normally accompanied the change in the type of rice planted, rather than the higher productivity of the nonglutinous varieties. Though fertilizer application, glutinous rice production has also become sufficient for domestic consumption and a surplus has appeared. The commercialization of rice-growing was made possible by higher productivity of more than 400kg per capita annually, and lower annual fluctuation of yields. Productivity was effectively raised by fertilizer application to all paddy fields in a village located in a area of high rainfall far from a floodplain, which escaped the effects both of severe drought due to an unreliable dry spell and of flooding. Here, the higher price of nonglutinous rice, expanding demand for cash in village life and the paucity of agricultural products other than rice promoted the villagers to plant nonglutinous rice.