expanded cultivated areas as a source of agricultural growth stemming from the resource
endowment of the nation, abundant land itself which permitted the Thai farmer to expand
land frontiers instead of improving productivity. Land productivity (yield per rai; one rai =
0.16 hectares or 0.4 acres) has been very low and stable, while labour productivity (output per
farmer) has increased significantly (see James, et al., 1987; Timmer, 1991; Watanabe, 1992).
The resource rich case, land abundance, can smoothly tolerate the slow maturation of land
productivity because its primary sector (rice sector) is able to generate adequate rents and as a
result, the greater part of economic rents is extracted from clearing fertile forest land. (See
table 11)