VZCZCXRO2756
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHCHI #0115/01 2150223
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 030223Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1130
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 1213

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHIANG MAI 000115 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON EAGR EAID ELAB SENV TH
SUBJECT: LAND CRUNCH AND AGRIBUSINESSES HURT HIGHLAND AGRICULTURE AND 
FOOD SECURITY 
 
REF: A. CHIANG MAI 109 (ENVIRONMENTALISM, HILL TRIBES) 
     ¶B. CHIANG MAI 114 (GREEN POLICIES USED TO EARN GREEN) 
     ¶C. CHIANG MAI 75 (NGOS ASSIST HILL TRIBES) 
     ¶D. 08 CHIANG MAI 140 (RELOCATIONS HURT HILL TRIBES) 
     ¶E. 08 CHIANG MAI 192 (HILL TRIBES PLAGUED BY STATELESSNESS) 
     ¶F. CHIANG MAI 100 (RUBBER GROWS INTO NEW CASH CROP) 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000115  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly. 
 
------------------- 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Agriculturally-dependent hill tribe people, as well as 
other upland farmers, face increasing pressures stemming from a 
general shortage of available agricultural land, problematic 
development policies, and the growth of agribusinesses in 
northern Thailand.  In recent years, development programs have 
encouraged subsistence farmers to adopt cash crop agriculture, 
and agribusinesses have struck contract farming deals with 
upland farmers.  Instead of increasing food security among 
highlanders, these initiatives have often created challenges for 
small scale farmers.  This cable, part three in a three-part 
series on highland agriculture and land tenure, will focus on 
threats to food security in agricultural communities.  Part one 
in the series (ref A) focused on the political ecology of 
highland agriculture, and part two (ref B) examined the ways in 
which environmental policies have been used to displace 
highlanders. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Comment:  In meetings with NGOs and academics, post 
has found that strategies ostensibly designed to help hill tribe 
people and other upland farmers have, in some cases, contributed 
to growing food insecurity in previously self-sufficient 
communities.  These controversial policies may unnecessarily 
jeopardize the livelihoods of already vulnerable ethnic hill 
tribe minorities and other upland dwellers.  End Summary and 
Comment. 
 
----------------- 
The Landless Poor 
----------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU)  The establishment of national parks and protected 
forests has largely come at the expense of forest-dwelling hill 
tribe people (ref b and d).  Entire villages have been relocated 
outside of protected areas, and those without formal land titles 
continue to face lawsuits accusing them of encroaching on 
national park lands.  Villages may be relocated to less fertile 
lands, resulting in lower crop yields and increased food 
insecurity.  Land use restrictions and relocations may also 
result in a reduction in the area of land available for each 
family's use. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Aggregation of land by distant landowners has also 
contributed to a shortage of available agricultural land. 
According to figures from the Northern Development Foundation, 
90 percent of the land in Thailand is owned by just 10 percent 
of the population, and at least 4.8 million people do not have 
enough land to support their livelihoods. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Distant land owners often hold onto land for 
speculative purposes, hoping to one day develop and sell their 
lands. Other land owners buy large tracts of land to establish 
rubber, palm, or tangerine plantations (ref f).  Several NGOs 
told us that politically connected landowners pressure small 
scale upland farmers to sell their land, threatening eviction 
under forestry laws if they refuse. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  While some of these farmers and their children later 
end up as laborers on large agricultural plantations, others 
migrate to urban areas in search of wage labor.  Many of the 
highlanders migrating to cities lack Thai citizenship, but face 
the risks associated with leaving their home district in order 
to find employment (ref d and e). 
 
¶7. (SBU)  As a result of the pressures mentioned above, upland 
farmers are facing a land shortage which has hampered economic 
development and threatened food security (ref d).  Farmers who 
continue to practice shifting cultivation now have smaller plots 
and shorter fallow periods.  One agricultural expert noted that 
farmers now have rotations of only 3-5 years when they used to 
have rotations of 8-20 years.  Without long fallow periods, the 
soil becomes less fertile; erosion increases; landslides become 
more frequent; and farmers may have difficulty supporting 
themselves. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Land Tenure Impacts Agricultural Strategies 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Lack of formal land title has affected agricultural 
strategies in northern Thailand's uplands.  A staff member from 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000115  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
the Upland Holistic Development Project noted that fear of 
arrest and resettlement has kept some highlanders from fully 
utilizing their lands and resources (ref c).  Knowing that they 
could be relocated on short notice, some upland farmers are 
simply unwilling to invest in expensive infrastructure which 
could improve their productivity. 
 
¶9. (SBU)  On the other hand, some farmers have chosen to 
deliberately invest in agricultural infrastructure and to adopt 
farming techniques that may enhance their claims to land.  In 
Nan province, for example, farmers on upland slopes have begun 
to construct rice terraces, a highly labor intensive endeavor. 
(A recent Bangkok Post article reports that converting just 
one-quarter acre of hill slope into rice terraces can take five 
workers an entire month.)  As visible alterations of forest 
ecosystems, these terraces provide proof that the land is being 
used for subsistence purposes. 
 
¶10. (SBU)  On the other hand, shifting cultivation involves the 
planting of a diverse mix of plants, an agroforestry strategy 
that creates plots which do not necessarily look like 
traditional agricultural fields (ref c).  Furthermore, fallow 
fields are sometimes undistinguishable from virgin forest, even 
though they are critical to a farmer's livelihood.   Farmers 
often have a difficult time proving that their fallow plots are 
part of their total agricultural lands.  (In one case, Hmong and 
Karen farmers in Ban Loh Ko, a village located in the middle of 
a national park which straddles both Tak and Kamphaeng Phet 
provinces, had their fallow lands designated as part of the 
protected forest.) 
 
¶11. (U)  Rice cultivation has another advantage for upland 
farmers; it is the agricultural technique most closely 
associated with Thai identity.  One NGO has maintained that 
authorities are more inclined to grant rice farmers title to 
their lands.  One upland village- without land titles and 
located within the boundaries of a national park- was granted an 
exemption to live and farm there after its inhabitants began 
cultivating rice in terraces. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Economic Development Policies May Hurt Food Security 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶12. (SBU)  NGOs have also told us that economic development 
policies have negatively impacted highland farmers (ref D).  The 
RTG has sought to increase the market competitiveness of Thai 
produce and has thus encouraged upland farmers to specialize in 
exportable produce.  Instead of growing a diverse mix of 
vegetables, many upland farmers now grow a single species, a 
practice known as "monocropping."  Many of these cash crops are 
not indigenous to the uplands and are not adapted to upland 
conditions.  While arguably more efficient than diversified 
agriculture, monocropping often requires intensive use of 
agrochemicals (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides) and 
advanced irrigation systems.   The increased use of these 
agricultural techniques in the highlands often creates conflicts 
between upland farmers and their lowland counterparts over water 
use and pollution. 
 
¶13. (SBU)  Forestry policies have also encouraged farmers to 
switch from shifting cultivation to permanent plots of cash 
crops.  In 2004, a village in Tak Province was selected as the 
pilot site for the "New Approach to Forest Villages" program. 
This project was designed to combat deforestation and restore 
forests through the involvement of local communities.  Under 
this initiative, villagers were encouraged to grow cash crops, 
such as fruits, and asked to plant trees on their fallow lands. 
Unfortunately, this project has not enhanced the livelihoods of 
villagers.  Under the shifting cultivation model, villagers had 
grown sufficient quantities of rice and vegetables to meet their 
subsistence needs.  Under the new system, villagers were forced 
to sell fruits and purchase rice.  Whenever the price of rice 
rises or the price of fruit drops, villagers have trouble 
meeting their food needs.   Furthermore, they cannot return to 
shifting cultivation, as they could be accused of destroying 
protected forests if they fell any of the trees planted on their 
fallow lands as part of the forest restoration program. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Agribusiness Models Put Small Farmers at Risk 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  The commercialization of upland agriculture has also 
increased the costs associated with farming.  One NGO noted that 
some highlanders are contract farmers, working for 
agribusinesses based out of China or Taiwan.  While they still 
work their own land, they purchase their inputs (e.g.  seeds and 
agrochemicals) on credit from agribusinesses and sell their 
produce back to the agribusiness at the end of the growing 
season.  However, this farming model places all the risk on the 
individual farmer.  Should the farmer have a poor yield or 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000115  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
should the produce not meet the company's standards, the farmer 
goes into debt.  Even with a bumper crop, farmers may find that 
the cost of inputs is higher than their selling price, resulting 
in chronic debt. 
 
¶15. (SBU)  A highland agricultural expert told us that many 
upland farmers would prefer to maintain a subsistence lifestyle, 
but that they need cash in order to pay for their children to go 
to school.  In the past, upland farmers grew enough food to feed 
their families and had little interaction with the cash economy. 
 Now, however, they must have some cash income to offset the 
costs associated with schooling (ref d). 
 
¶16.  (U)  This cable has been coordinated with Embassy Bangkok. 
MORROW