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Agriculture (crop cultivation. livestock. fishery. and forestry) has long been an important sector of the Thai economy despite the rapid growth of other sectors in recent years. In 1988. agriculture contributed about 17 per cent of the GNP and 34 per cent of all exports. while providing full of part-time employment for more than half of the country's labor force. Of the total land area of 51 million hectares, 21.6 million hectares are used for agricultural purposes and employ a labor force of about 17 million.

Today agricultural products account for the bulk of Thailand's foreign exchange earnings and are produced in such large quantities that the country ranks as the world's number one supplier in many commodities. Agriculture has also provided the springboard for the rapid development of Argo- processing industries. with their favorable bias towards labor-intensive production and foreign exchange earnings.

Thailand's agriculture growth rate during the past decade has been quite impressive--an average rate of four per cent a year. This high growth rate has been achieved largely through expansion of the cultivated land. Government policies also stimulate an increase in agricultural production and change in its composition by promoting new production technologies, effecting favorable changes in production input and price control, and providing such infrastructure as irrigation and credit facilities. Another important policy has been to distribute crop production throughout the country.

The four most important food crops in terms of the planted area and the value of production are rice, maize, sugarcane, and cassava. The first three are important domestic food commodities as well as foreign currency earners, while the fourth is predominantly an export crop. Other major upland crops are mungbean and soybean in the northern region and kenaf in the northeastern region. Mungbean and soybean accounted for nearly half a million hectares and 0.23 million hectares of the total cultivated land, respectively. Other agricultural crops are grown in the southern region, where the most important crop is rubber. At present, Thailand is becoming a major producer of tropical fruits (e.g.,pineapple and longan) and horticultural crops (e.g., orchids) for export.

Thailand is among the world's top ten fishing nations, in terms of total catch and exports. Major export earners are squid and cuttlefish. The country is also among the world's largest producers of frozen shrimp. Agriculture which includes fish and shrimp farming and breeding is being vigorously promoted by the government to serve rapidly expanding domestic and overseas markets.