The Political Economy of Sugar in Thailand

A MAIN THEME of studies of Third World politics is that while farmers are majority of population in these countries they are unable to convert their numbers into political influence. Michael Lipton, for example, writes that, while rural sector of Third World countries contains most of people and most of poverty, the urban sector contains most of articulateness, organisation and power.' Robert Bates makes a similar point in his studies of agricultural policies in Africa.2 Thailand clearly fits this general pattern. While Thai farmers are not as politically passive as some authors have argued, they generally have been unable to prevent enactment of government policies which have discriminated against them.3 There are, however, exceptions to this pattern ot rural political debility. Both Lipton and Bates recognize that in some cases large commercial farmers have effectively pressured governments to support their interests.4 In Thailand, sugarcane farmers are clear exception to pattern of rural political weakness. Unlike other farmers in Thailand, sugarcane farmers are extremely well organized, and in recent years they have pressured governments to maintain price of sugarcane well above price it would receive in world markets. They have even forced organizational changes upon government ministries in order to accommodate their needs.