page_title: Isan
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Isan / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: phukradung national park
context_page_description: Northeast Thailand or Isan consists of 20 provinces in the northeastern region of Thailand. Isan is Thailand's largest region, located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Sankamphaeng Range south of Nakhon Ratchasima. To the west it is separated from northern and central Thailand by the Phetchabun Mountains.
context_section_description: Isan is home to one-third of Thailand's population of 67 million, but contributes only ten per cent to the national GDP.
  In terms of regional value-added per capita, Isan is Thailand's poorest region. Bangkok is the richest, followed by central Thailand, southern Thailand, then northern Thailand. This ordering has been unchanged for decades. Thailand's highly centralized fiscal system reinforces the status quo. An obvious example of this Bangkok-centric policy is the allocation of budgets: Bangkok accounts for about 17 percent of the population and 25.8 percent of GDP, but benefits from about 72.2 percent of total expenditures. Isan accounts for about 34 percent of the population and 11.5 percent of GDP, but receives only 5.8 percent of expenditures.
  Agriculture is the largest sector of the economy, generating around 22 percent of the gross regional product (compared to 8.5 percent for Thailand as a whole). Sticky rice, the staple food of the region, is the main agricultural crop (accounting for about 60 percent of cultivated land). It thrives in poorly drained paddy fields, and where fields can be flooded from nearby streams, rivers, and ponds. Often two harvests are possible each year. Farmers are increasingly diversifying into cash crops such as sugarcane and cassava, which are cultivated on a vast scale, and to a lesser extent, rubber. Silk production is an important cottage industry and contributes significantly to the economy.
  Nong Khai Province, which stretches along the Mekong River, is noted for the production of pineapples, tobacco (which is dried, cured and shredded by the families before collection by cigarette manufacturers), and tomatoes, which are grown on an industrial scale, particularly in Si Chiang Mai District.
  Despite its dominance of the economy, agriculture in the region is problematic. The climate is prone to drought, while the flat terrain of the plateau is often flooded in the rainy season. The tendency to flood renders a large proportion of the land unsuitable for cultivation. In addition, the soil is highly acidic, saline, and infertile from overuse. Since the 1970s, agriculture has been declining in importance as trade and the service sector has been increasing.
  Very few farmers still use water buffalos rather than tractors. Nowadays, water buffalos are mainly kept by almost all rural families as status symbols. The main piece of agricultural equipment in use today is the "rot tai na" (Thai: รถไถนา, lit. "vehicle plow field") colloquially referred to as "kwai lek" (Thai: ควายเหล็ก, or "iron/steel buffalo"), or more generally by its manufacturer's name of "Kobota", a mini-tractor composed of a small diesel engine mounted on two wheels with long wooden or metal handlebars for steering. It is usually attached to a trailer or a plow. Buffalo are now mainly used for grazing on the stubble in the rice paddy, which they in turn fertilize with their manure. The main animals raised for food are cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish.
  Most of Thailand's rural poor live in Isan. The region's poverty is reflected in its infrastructure: eight of the ten provinces in Thailand with the fewest physicians per capita are in Isan. Sisaket Province has the fewest, with one physician per 14,661 persons in 2001, with the national average being 3,289. It also has eight of the ten provinces with the fewest hospital beds per head. Chaiyaphum Province has the fewest, with one per 1,131 in 2001 (the national average was 453). Nevertheless, as in the rest of Thailand, all districts (amphoe) have a hospital, and all sub-districts (tambon) have clinics providing primary health care. The introduction of the "30 baht" health card has dramatically changed the numbers of those attending hospitals for treatment, as it has meant that full health care is available to all who register for only 30 baht per visit. The few who can afford it travel to the modern private hospitals and clinics in the large cities for non-urgent specialist consultations and care.
  The region lags in new technology: there was only one Internet connection
caption: Phu Kra Dung is a well-known tourist destination in Isan.
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