Thai rice farmers are proud of their planting skills. They produce enough grains to feed the whole country and to satisfy export demand. Foreign buyers consider Thai rice to be of the finest in the world.
What many farmers do not realise, however, is most of them are growing rice on poor and inappropriate farmland.
Out of the country's 84.5 million rai of land used to grow paddy, only about 2 %, or 2.48 million rai, of it is considered ideally suited to rice cultivation.
More than 30 million rai is considered improper for rice cultivation, and about two-thirds of this _ 19.2 million rai _ is marked as poorest for agriculture, according to the government's think-tank, the National Economic Social Development Board (NESDB).
The use of inappropriate farmland has resulted in low paddy productivity for farmers and put them in deep poverty.
Consider the figures over the past three years: average productivity of Thai paddy is only 440-450kg per rai, compared with over 800kg for Vietnam and 560-580kg for Laos. Only farmers in well-irrigated areas, mostly in the Central Plains, are capable of producing output that is greater than the country's average.
The low productivity from the Northeast, where only one crop of rain-fed cultivation is possible, is the main factor in Thailand's low productivity average and the main driver of farmers' mounting debts.
The results are migration of Northeastern farmers into Bangkok to seek better-paying jobs, and frequent protests to pressure state banks to restructure farmers' debts.
One government after another has tried to tackle the problems of low productivity and indebtedness.
The latest rice-pledging scheme is one such effort but critics view it as more of a political gimmick to win votes than a sustainable solution.
The government is aware the pledging programme is incurring huge losses _ about 220 billion baht so far. It is trying to stop the bleeding by cutting the pledging season to once instead of twice a year.
It is also pushing for implementation of an agricultural zoning policy which it hopes will help stabilise rice prices and those of other key farm products.
The NESDB promptly took up the zoning plan. The think-tank suggested piloting six cash crops _ rice, cassava, sugarcane, maize, rubber and oil palm.
The crops have a combined economic value of about 55% of gross domestic product (GDP).
However, resistance is high among farmers, some of whom must be persuaded to leave their existing profession.
NESDB secretary-general Arkhom Termpittayaphaisith recently noted the farm zoning programme is not new, as it was included in the fifth national development plan, which was in place from 1982-1986.
The scheme failed. Farmers did not cooperate with the plan as they did not want to shift to other crops. Some were being persuaded to adopt other professions altogether.
According to the NESDB, farmers usually rush to plant crops with high prices without considering future demand from the market.
The result is excessive supplies and falling prices in following years.
The pattern is the same for almost every cash crop.
When the government tries to intervene by buying the excessive supplies and keeping them off the market to push up the prices, it suffers hugh losses in the process.
The Yingluck Shinawatra government, for example, is expected to shoulder an annual loss of more than 100 billion baht from the rice-pledging scheme, 45 billion baht in shoring up rubber prices and about 30 billion baht for intervening to prop up the price of maize.
At present, agricultural officials are working hard to convince farmers to adopt the zoning plan, to grow crops that are appropriate to their natural conditions instead of those that will fetch high prices at that moment.
A key issue regarding the agricultural zoning effort is the map.
Initially, the government picked a 1:50,000 scale topography map produced by the Royal Thai Survey Department as the master map.
The topography map was then overlaid with a farming database which tells what type of crops are grown, and where.
If the information says the area has limited potential for plantation but the output is high, it may indicate forest encroachment has taken place there.
The master map will also show where the well-irrigated fields currently are and in which areas the government should construct irrigation systems that will give it maximum benefits.
After all the information is collated, it will then be put into a digital map by the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.
A farm zoning pilot project was implemented in tambon Kokklang in Lam Plai Mat district of Buri Ram, which Prime Minister Yingluck visited last month.
Lam Plai Mat's agricultural official Eke Kulkijwatana said farmers initiated the zoning plan by selecting sites to grow rice, sugarcane and cassava.
He said the latest survey shows more farmers joining the scheme.
It is raising his hopes that this time, the zoning system might run successfully.
''In the past, farmers just grew what their parents had grown,'' he said.
''Many followed their neighbours or planted popular crops without studying the market.
''Now, some have realised they cannot do it the old way any more.''
Under the zoning scheme, farmers would receive advice from officials over which soil types will be fit for what crop, Mr Eke added.
Montri Congtrukultien, vice-chairman of the Crop Integration Business of the Charoen Pokphand Group, said farm zoning could help solve many problems such as the drop in farmland stemming from urbanisation, industrialisation and high production costs.
He said the problems of rising prices of land and farm essentials, as well as an inability to gain access to better farm technologies or financial sources, will only intensify in the future.
He said the government must concentrate on how to increase yield from small farmlands.
A decade ago, Mr Montri floated the idea of cutting rice farming areas nationwide to about 40-50 million rai and turning inappropriate land to energy crops such as rubber, sugarcane, oil palm, and napier grass.
''Only areas with proper irrigation systems capable of producing as much as 1,000kg per rai yield should be allowed to grow rice,'' he said.
Mixed cultivation or planting two or more plants together in the same site should be promoted to improve soil fertility and help raise farmer incomes, Mr Montri suggested.
He said the zoning system was not successful in the past partly because the state did not offer potential alternative crops to use as mixed crops.
Now there are several energy crops that have a strong market outlook but in his view the government should still offer a clear policy to support their cultivation, including running a comprehensive alternative energy programme.
Mr Montri said the zoning system, if successfully implemented, would be a new chapter for rice farming in this country.
''It could open up an opportunity for farmers to move into a new era of not growing grains for the mass market but to cultivate them commercially like those in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan,''Mr Montri concluded.