Agribusiness, Peasant Agriculture and the State: The Case of Contract Farming in Thailand

The increasing significance of contract farming in Third World agriculture has attracted a good deal of interest in recent years, resulting in a substantial body of literature on this topic (see de Treville, 1987). This literature has addressed a wide range of concerns, from business and policy studies which serve to guide agribusiness activity in extending the contract system, to radical studies which have criticised that system for (among other things) intensifying the exploitation of peasant farmers and encouraging the substitution of cash crops for food crops (Glover and Kusterer, 1990). It is not possible, in the space available, to address all of the important issues raised by this literature, although many of these do form a significant component of a wider research programme currently underway. This chapter is concerned with the role of the state in promoting the contract farming system in the Third World. This issue is seldom analysed in a literature which usually focuses on the relationship between the agribusiness companies, the main proponents of contract farming, and those farmers who produce commodities under contract. We focus on Thailand, which has put considerable emphasis on export-oriented agri-processing industries in recent years and has, as a consequence, experienced an increasing emphasis on contract farming and a growing role for the state in agricultural development.