The Agricultural Sector

Highlights

• The word ;agriculture” is a compound of ;agri”, meaning field or soil, and ;culture”, meaning the practice of growing crops. Agriculture, then, is essentially the practice of using soil for production, or farming on a plot of land.

• ;Cultural practices” are the methods of farming and can refer to both the cultivation of crops and to raising animals.

• The agricultural sector is divided into five categories: the cultivation of crops, livestock production, fish production, forestry, and agricultural services. Crop cultivation refers to raising plants, livestock refers to terrestrial animals, fish production includes both farming and catching aquatic animals, forestry makes use of forest products, and agricultural services refers to farm labor and machinery.

• Agricultural products account for approximately nine percent of the nation's GDP. There are about 25.17 million people in the agriculture sector, approximately 40 percent of the total population. There are about 14 million workers in the agriculture sector, approximately 44 percent of Thailand's total labor force.

• KResearch forecasts that in 2009, the value of agricultural and agroindustry exports will increase to 33.5 billion USD, an increase of approximately 7.7 percent. However, the growth rate is tending downward even as the volume of agricultural production increases, with forces in the global market leading to a decline in the prices of agricultural goods.