AGRICULTURAL MECHANISATION IN THAILAND

1. AGRICULTURAL
MECHANISATION IN THAILAND
Rob Cramb
University of Queensland

2. 1. CONTEXT

3. MONSOONAL (Am)
Wet Season May-Oct
Dry Season Nov-Feb
EQUATORIAL (Af)

4. NORTHEAST
Sandy soils
Mainly rainfed
Single
cropping
Farm size 3.2
ha
CENTRAL PLAIN
Fertile clay soils
30% irrigated
Double cropping
Farm size 3.7 ha
AGRICULTURAL LAND USE

5. AGRICULTURE IS DOMINATED 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
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
1.6 - 6.2
ha
51% 51%Mean farm size = 3.2 ha

6. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN
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 (%)
Agriculture 32 26 18 10 9 10
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

7. CRUDE BIRTH AND DEATH
RATES, 1960-2014
POPULATION
GROWTH RATE
IN 2014 = 0.4%

8. RURAL AND URBAN
POPULATION, 1950-2015

9. EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE
1971-2014

10. WAGE TRENDS 1980-1995
USD 1.00 = THB 30

11. 2. AGRICULTURAL
MECHANISATION

12. OVERVIEW
• 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, control-intensive, specific-
purpose machines, owned/operated by large
farmers/contractors
• Threshers

13. DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPLY OF
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

16. Photo: Scott Justice
20 cm x 6 metre
axial flow pump
Powered by 12 hp
2WT
Flexible plastic pipe
Irrigation canal
Rice field

18. RAPID INCREASE IN TWO-
WHEELED TRACTORS
• 90,000 in 1975 to 2.7 million in
2008
• Growth rate of 11%
• One 2WT per 7 ha in 2008

19. DECLINE IN DRAUGHT ANIMAL
POWER
• Buffaloes source of draught power
in rice farming before 2WTs
• 6.4 million in 1982 (peak)
• 1.5 million in 2001
• 1.0 million in 2014

20. OWNERSHIP AND USE OF
TRACTORS (2013)
2WT 4WT
No. of holdings using 2,438,848 2,427,001
% of all holdings 41.3 41.1
Owned by …
• Landholder 1,827,555 366,735
• Farmer group 5,631 4,869
• Service provider 643,863 2,056,174
• Government agency 1,884 2,966
• Other 14,359 6,361
(75%)
(85%)
• 75% of paddy area cultivated by 2WT and 5% by 4WT
• Dryland areas mostly cultivated by contractors with
4WT

21. THRESHERS AND COMBINE
HARVESTERS
• Development of power threshers in late 1970s
• Blueprints released for commercial production (AED, IRRI)
• Self-propelled Thai thresher developed (2 t/hr), ideal for
contractors
• By 2000, 88% of rice farmers used a power thresher
• Development of combine harvesters in late 1980s
• Local firms made small, track-type rice combine harvesters, 0.4-0.9
ha/hr
• By 2000, 35% of rice farms used combine harvesters
• By 2013, 28% of all farms and 54% of rice farms used combine
harvesters, 97% through a contractor

22. MINI COMBINE HARVESTER

23. COMBINE HARVESTER

24. MACHINERY USED FOR RICE
PRODUCTION (2000)
Machine Capacity Source Price
(THB)
Quantity
4W tractor <45 hp Japan, Europe 800,000 150,383
>45 hp Europe 1,300,00
0
183,704
2W tractor 9-12 hp Thailand, Japan, China,
Korea
50,000 1,753,639
Pump 5-8 hp Thailand, Japan, China 4,500 2,317,392
Thresher 1-2 t/hr Thailand 180,000 76,386
Combine
harvester
0.8 ha/hr Thailand
1,500,00
0
3,000
USD 1.00 = THB 30

25. PRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL
MACHINERY (2001)
Item Production
(units/year)
Two-wheeled tractors 80,000
Large tillage implements 3,000
Small tillage implements 90,000
Theshing machines 2,000
Combine harvesters 600
Hand-operated sprayers 60,000
Irrigation pumps 55,000

26. GROWTH OF MACHINERY
PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS
• In 2009 there were 1,607 machinery
production businesses and 1,192 repair and
maintenance businesses
• Exports of agricultural machinery increased
more than five times from 2009 to 2014 to USD
0.79 billion
• Most important export – 2WTs
• Major export destinations – Cambodia,
Myanmar, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia

27. EXPLAINING PATTERN OF
MECHANISATION

28. 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-

29. 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
(e.g., credit), agribusiness, and manufacturing
• Mechanisation driven by small-scale domestic
industry able to freely adapt generic technology to

30. 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