page_title: Economy of Isan
section_title: Agriculture
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Isan / Economy / Agriculture
caption_attribution_description: Thailand: Isaan Farmer and Ricefields.
context_page_description: The economy of Isan, Thailand's largest region, composed of 20 provinces in the northeast, is dominated by agriculture, although agricultural output is low and decreasing in importance while the trade and service sectors are growing. Much of the population is poor and badly educated. Many labourers have been driven by poverty to seek work in other parts of Thailand or abroad.
  Isan accounts for around a third of Thailand's population and a third of its area. In 2013 it contributed 10.9 percent of the kingdom's GDP. The gross regional product per capita in 2013 was 74,532 baht per year, the lowest of all Thai regions, 5.8 times lower than that of the leading eastern region.
context_section_description: Agriculture remains the largest sector of the economy, but its importance is decreasing. Its share of GRP fell from 45 percent in 1980 to 33.2 percent in 1990, and to 27.1 percent in 2013. During the 1990s, the agricultural sector grew at 3.8 percent per annum, compared to 9.7 percent for the service sector. Although 76 percent of the population engages in some form of agriculture, only 46 percent of the workforce is formally employed in the sector, reflecting the fact that for many it is a part-time occupation.
  Of the region's 155,400 km², only 92,204 km² is cultivated, and only 7,770 km² of that is irrigated. There are a number of reasons for this. Saline contamination makes a third of the land unfit for cultivation. Although average rainfall is not much less than in other parts of the country, its unpredictability often causes droughts or flooding. The latter is worsened by the generally flat terrain of the plateau, while both are exacerbated by the sandy soil, which is poor at retaining water. Deforestation reduced forest cover from 25 percent in 1975 to 14 percent in 1995, again inhibiting water retention.
  Attempts to improve the agricultural sector through irrigation and diversification have caused unforeseen environmental damage. Increased irrigation has raised the water table in some areas, bringing salt to the surface and contaminating the soil. The same effect has also been observed following forest clearance and the planting of cereal crops, cassava, and sugar cane.
  Irrigation has also proved somewhat ineffective in increasing agricultural production. Workers commonly work in agriculture during the wet season and turn to non-farm activities during the dry season. Using irrigation to increase dry season production would therefore reduce the labour devoted to these other activities and so reduce the income they provide, rather than supplementing it.
  The cultivated land is relatively unproductive: paddy fields produce only 424 tonnes of rice per square mile, compared to 547 nationally. Most farmers can produce only one crop of rice a year. Many farmers still use water buffalo rather than tractors.
  Sixty percent of cultivated land is devoted to rice paddies. The concentration on rice farming has made the farmers vulnerable to fluctuating prices. This has been reduced somewhat by increased diversification, but Isan still accounts for half of Thailand's exports of rice, cassava, and sugar. These crops employ 700,000 Isan families. Other crops include, tobacco, cotton, and watermelons.
caption: Farmer with cattle
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