Causes and impacts of abandoned paddy fields in Pattani province

Abstract

This research paper is a part of a research project entitled, “A Study on Rice Production Potential and its Limitations Aiming for Farmers’ Food Security in Pattani Province. The objective of this paper is to investigate fundamental causes of abandoned paddy fields in Pattani province as well as their impacts. The data used were from in-depth interviews with 50 key resource persons from the government and civil sectors. The Goal-oriented project planning technique was applied for the synthesis of causes and impacts of the abandoned paddy fields. The research team arranged six public hearing forums in different locations to present the research results and obtain feedback from the audiences.It was found that the problem of abandoned paddy fields in Pattani province has been realized since 1981 and became steadily obvious in the period before 1997. From the government statistics in 2005, the area under rice cultivation in Pattani province was 323,786 rai. Out of this, 61,906 rai or 19.12 percent were abandoned. Major causes of the paddy fields abandonment were an incoming of other higher-return economic crops; emigration of local people to work outside the province and overseas; floods-affected paddy fields due to the construction of irrigation canals and high-elevated roads; massive sale of rice fields to speculators; and increasingly negative attitudes among rice farmers towards their occupation. After the emergence of unrest in the three southern provinces in 2004, the Royal Thai Government allocated huge budget to many development projects aiming at improving well-being of the rice farmers. Many projects appeared to be less successful than expected due primarily to lack of farmers’ participation in project identification, decision and operation. These abandoned paddy fields have shown their impacts in terms of food insecurity of rice farmers, changing family value, declining generosity previously embedded in rice culture community, and degradation of the environment. Finally, the impacts reduced a priori self-sufficient ability of the rice farmer households and their community, which consequently resulted in the development that was unsustainable.