Nang Rong is in one of the poorest areas of Thailand and the majority of the population works in agriculture, typically as subsistence rice farmers.Since cultivation is rain-fed, yields are affected by droughts and floods. Themain crop is rice, grown in paddy fields. It is important to recognize that the tasks involved in paddy rice farming are labor intensive and very strenuous—
especially transplanting young rice plants. The wear and tear on paddy rice farmers generallymeans that they must cut back and then retire from rice farming at a relatively young age, typically mid- to late-50s.