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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

the Thai state’s concern to secure control, initially vis-à-vis colonial powers and
subsequently by maintaining loyalty of the rural citizenry during the Cold War
(Larsson 2012).

40

35
1963
30
25 1978

20
1993
15
2003
10
5 2013

0
> 2-9 10-19 20-39 40-59 60-139 140-499 500 and over

Figure 1: Distribution of land holdings in Thailand

Figure 1: Distribution of land holdings in Thailand
Farm size distribution shows another interesting trend that demonstrates
the changing context of inequality within which farming takes place. Rental of

land by farmers is a longstanding phenomenon, particularly in northern and

central Thailand. In the past, when a much larger proportion of the Thai
population depended primarily on farming for their livelihoods, there was a

clear pattern of land-short farmers renting from those with more land. However,

as Figure 2 shows, this has been reversed, so that those with larger plots now
proportionally rent in more of their land than do smaller farmers. On the one
hand, this reflects consolidation of farm enterprises whereby better-off farmers

enlarge the size of their farms while smaller farmers move out of agriculture in
favour of urban and other off-farm jobs. On the other hand, it turns small farmers
into “landlords” of a sort, exercising the option of more lucrative job off-farm
opportunities, supplemented by rental income for their relatively small plots.
The question of which situation is more or less unequal raises complex issues
of how we are to interpret inequality.

120 Land Governance and Inequality in Thailand:
The Need for Context

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