23/05/2018

AGRICULTURAL
MECHANISATION IN 1. CONTEXT
THAILAND

Rob Cramb
University of Queensland

AGRICULTURAL LAND USE

MONSOONAL (Am)
Wet Season May-Oct
Dry Season Nov-Feb

NORTHEAST
Sandy soils
CENTRAL PLAIN
Mainly rainfed
Fertile clay soils
Single cropping
30% irrigated
Farm size 3.2 ha
Double cropping
Farm size 3.7 ha
EQUATORIAL (Af)

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PHASES OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

AGRICULTURE IS DOMINATED
EXTENSIVE GROWTH INTENSIVE GROWTH
BY SMALL-MEDIUM HOLDINGS

Farm size (ha) No. of farms Area (ha)

< 0.3 331,743 34,828
0.3-0.8 1,045,756 606,487
0.9-1.4 817,473 958,985
1.6-3.0 1,606,257 3,467,294
1.6 - 6.2Mean
ha farm51%
size = 3.2 ha 51%
3.2-6.2 1,393,786 6,002,413
6.4-9.4 444,160 3,334,890
9.6-22.2 244,665 3,123,534
22.4-79.8 26,094 855,625
80 > 1,633 275,732
Total 5,911,567 18,659,786

CRUDE BIRTH AND DEATH

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN
RATES, 1960-2014
THAILAND SINCE 1960s

Sector 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

GNI PER CAPITA (CURRENT USD x ‘000)
Economy 140 380 790 2,740 2,790 5,690
SHARE OF GDP (%) POPULATION
GROWTH RATE
Agriculture 32 26 18 10 9 10
IN 2014 = 0.4%
Industry 22 28 32 37 38 37
Services 46 46 50 53 53 53
SHARE OF EMPLOYMENT (%)
Agriculture 68 65 55 44 38
Industry 11 12 18 20 21
Services 21 23 27 36 41

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RURAL AND URBAN EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE

POPULATION, 1950-2015 1971-2014

WAGE TRENDS 1980-1995

USD 1.00 = THB 30

2. AGRICULTURAL
MECHANISATION

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OVERVIEW DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPLY OF

• An example of induced innovation, following labour-saving path
• Since 1960s, rapid and extensive mechanisation through locally-
adapted, locally-made, small-scale machinery
• First wave – affordable, small-scale, power-intensive, multipurpose
machines, owned and operated by smallholders
• Axial-flow low-lift pumps
• 2WT for paddy and dryland cultivation, transport, powering other machines
• Second wave – larger-scale, control-intensive, specific-purpose
machines, owned and operated by large farmers/contractors
• Threshers
• Combine harvesters
MACHINERY
• Many small-medium enterprises and a few large firms
• Small engineering workshops of 4-5 workers in 50 m2
• Freely copied and adapted imported machinery
• Close proximity to rice farmers in Central Plain
• Large firms with 100+ workers also sprang up in
industrial provinces north of Bangkok
• Close communication with public-sector engineers
(including IRRI) who shared designs
• Otherwise very little policy support

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Rice field

Flexible plastic pipe

Powered by 12 hp
2WT

20 cm x 6 metre
axial flow pump

Irrigation canal

Photo: Scott Justice

DECLINE IN DRAUGHT ANIMAL

RAPID INCREASE IN TWO- POWER
WHEELED TRACTORS

• Buffaloes source of draught power in

• 90,000 in 1975 to 2.7 million in 2008 rice farming before 2WTs
• Growth rate of 11% • 6.4 million in 1982 (peak)
• One 2WT per 7 ha in 2008 • 1.5 million in 2001
• 1.0 million in 2014

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OWNERSHIP AND USE OF

TRACTORS (2013) THRESHERS AND COMBINE
HARVESTERS
2WT 4WT
No. of holdings using 2,438,848 2,427,001 • Development of power threshers in late 1970s
% of all holdings 41.3 41.1
• Blueprints released for commercial production (AED, IRRI)
Owned by …
• Self-propelled Thai thresher developed (2 t/hr), ideal for contractors
• Landholder 1,827,555 (75%) 366,735
• Farmer group 5,631 4,869 • By 2000, 88% of rice farmers used a power thresher
• Service provider 643,863 2,056,174 (85%) • Development of combine harvesters in late 1980s
• Government agency 1,884 2,966
• Local firms made small, track-type rice combine harvesters, 0.4-0.9 ha/hr
• Other 14,359 6,361
• By 2000, 35% of rice farms used combine harvesters
• 75% of paddy area cultivated by 2WT and 5% by 4WT • By 2013, 28% of all farms and 54% of rice farms used combine harvesters,
• Dryland areas mostly cultivated by contractors with 4WT 97% through a contractor

MINI COMBINE HARVESTER

COMBINE HARVESTER

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MACHINERY USED FOR RICE

PRODUCTION (2000) PRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL
MACHINERY (2001)

Machine Capacity Source Price Quantity

(THB) Item Production
4W tractor <45 hp Japan, Europe 800,000 150,383 (units/year)
Two-wheeled tractors 80,000
>45 hp Europe 1,300,000 183,704
Large tillage implements 3,000
2W tractor 9-12 hp Thailand, Japan, China, Korea 50,000 1,753,639
Small tillage implements 90,000
Pump 5-8 hp Thailand, Japan, China 4,500 2,317,392
Theshing machines 2,000
Thresher 1-2 t/hr Thailand 180,000 76,386
Combine harvesters 600
Combine
0.8 ha/hr Thailand 1,500,000 3,000 Hand-operated sprayers 60,000
harvester
Irrigation pumps 55,000
USD 1.00 = THB 30

EXPORTS OF AGRICULTURAL
MACHINERY BUSINESSES (2009)
MACHINERY

Type of machinery No. of

businesses • Exports of agricultural machinery increased
Two-wheeled tractors 275 more than five times from 2009 to 2014 to
Tillage equipment 329 USD 0.79 billion
Planters 16 • Most important export – 2WT
Sprayers 447 • Major export destinations were Cambodia,
Harvesters 386 Myanmar, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia
Other machinery 164
Repairs and maintenance 1,192

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EXPLAINING PATTERN OF
MECHANISATION
SUPPLY SIDE
• Capacity of small and medium engineering workshops to
develop, produce and repair suitable and affordable machines
for farmers (pumps, 2WT)
• Emergence of larger firms producing single-cylinder engines,
locally adapted threshers, harvesters, small 4WT, implements
• Informal interaction with farmers and agricultural engineers
• Policy environment supportive of smallholder agriculture and
agribusiness, including credit for farmers
• Mechanisation driven by small-scale domestic industry
able to freely adapt generic technology to meet
specific needs of farmers, e.g., 2WT to Thai ‘Iron Buffalo’
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DEMAND SIDE
• Agriculture dominated by small-medium landholdings (3 ha)
growing rice and field crops
• Axial-flow pumps saved labour and facilitated irrigation
• Expansion of irrigation and double-cropping of rice in Central
Plain created labour bottleneck in land preparation
• Production for domestic and export markets (elastic demand)
• Industrialisation led to rural-urban migration
• Rapid fertility decline added to rural labour shortage
• Mechanisation driven by farmer demand for small-
scale labour-saving technology for rice and field crops
CONCLUSION
• Mechanisation is widespread on both irrigated and
rainfed croplands, for rice and field crops (sugarcane,
cassava, maize), due to scarcity and cost of labour
• Domestic manufacturing started with local inventions and
adaptations in response to farmer demand
• Small machines (2WT, small harvesters) have spread even
though farm size is relatively large cf. other Asian countries
• Smallholders have benefited by owning multipurpose
machines or hiring machinery services
• Mechanisation largely driven by private sector, with
timely sharing of blueprints and prototypes by public sector