The first-quarter farm economy contracted by 1.5% year-on-year due mainly to a wide-reaching drought that started late last year, says the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE).
The agency expects the dry spell will continue to weaken the sector the rest of this year, shrinking the agricultural economy to between -1.8% and -8% this year. That is far lower than the earlier projection of 2-3% growth as well as the 1.2% expansion last year.
Secretary-general Lersak Riewtrakulpaibul attributed the poor performance to a significant dip in crops, which contracted by 3.8% year-on-year due to lower output of second-crop rice, maize and rubber.
Government measures to discourage farmers from growing second-crop rice in areas that use water from the Chao Phraya and Bang Pakong rivers resulted in falling supplies, he said.
An OAE study found 8.87 million rai of fields grew second-crop rice producing 5.52 million rai of paddy, a 41% and 43% decline in plantation and production, respectively.
The weak farm sector is despite the recovery of fisheries after easing of early mortality syndrome (EMS), a virus that spoiled Thai shrimp production in recent years. For the first quarter, fisheries expanded by 6.5% year-on-year, with production of white shrimp or vannamei in the first two months at 26,600 tonnes, up by 13% year-on-year.
The Thai Shrimp Association reported EMS cut Thailand's shrimp output to 230,000 tonnes last year, down from 250,000 tonnes in 2013. Shrimp exports fell to 160,000 tonnes in 2014, down from 190,000 tonnes shipped the year before.