This is an interesting study of the relevant role of Thailand on international trade of food and agricultural products, which are in concordance with its successful national strategy positioned itself as the “Kitchen of the World”. To that end, and when looking at its agricultural promotion and export policies, the country has not yet taken into consideration issues related to environmental externalities with regard to plantation methods; the value gains are only counted from exports. For this study, the main purpose was to discharge a trade-off analysis among consumptive water, land, and fertilizer use together with economic values of main crops for exporting and consumption in the country. The findings provide a fresh inside on how to increase income from agricultural exports by exploiting several natural resources such as rubber crops. Moreover, more sustainable agricultural practices are needed to foster such as increased yields and decreased fertilizer and water use.
The results of this study leads to conclusions that the government should clearly accentuate on encouraging good farming practices for sustainable crop production as high productivity to increase the values of agricultural practices on selecting the right crop with low natural resources and high economic value.
Mangmeechai, A. (2014). Environmental externalities in relation to agricultural sector in Thailand with trade-linked analysis. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 16(5), 1031-1040.
