Having Your Rice and Eating It too: A View of Thailand’s Green Revolution

Benjavan Rerkasem*

ABSTRACT: The great achievement of the green revolution has helped to feed billions and lifted many out of poverty over the last half century. Thailand is one of the countries in Asia that have benefited, but the country’s green revolution is a little different. This paper describes some unique features of growth in Thailand’s rice production system. Productivity gains have been wrought from deployment of modern rice technology, but in combination with home grown knowledge and innovations. Improvement in Thailand’s rice farming has emphasized quality, along with somewhat moderate yield gains. Utilization of the country’s genetically rich local rice germplasm has helped to meet the need of those not reached by modern varieties, because of some biotic or abiotic stresses or social and economic constraints. Heroes of this particular revolution include the country’s rice farmers, those involved in rice processing and trade in the private sector, and the public sector’s rice scientists. The emerging problem of weedy rice is also discussed.

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Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.

* Corresponding author, E-mail: benjavan@chiangmai.ac.th