Number

No.2022-02

Month of Issue

July 2022

Title

Thai State’s Domestic Practice on Agrifood Production and Governance: The Catastrophic Consequences of Capitalist Logic Applied to Food

Author(s)

Jirawat Suriyashotichyangkul

Affiliation(s)

Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University

Keywords

Agriculture, Patronage, Capitalism, Industrialization, Agrifood

Abstract

The mainstream agrifood system in Thailand was complex with transnational and national forces. With these two forces, small-scale farmers have been significantly oppressed, powerless, unequal, and poor compared with other social classes, dwellers in the city, and business sectors. To understand agrifood system and power relations in agriculture under the Thai context, this paper attempts to seek the factors that formulate the current practice of the Thai state in the agrifood system by considering the practices of the state in agricultural development with the time series analysis. Six significant periods from the past to the present (2021) are displayed an overview of the agrifood in Thailand and the dominant thoughts and role of the state in promoting and sustaining the hegemonic corporate agri-food system—engaging with the periodization of successive rural development policies and agricultural policies made possible the presentation of the state’s rationale, orientation, objectives, and significant characteristics.