Is Thailand no longer an agricultural country? Many people believe so and they have the statistics to prove their point. I beg to differ.
But listen to their statistics first.
How can Thailand be an agricultural country, they argue, when agriculture accounts for only 8.4% of the gross domestic product, as opposed to the industrial sector, which accounts for 39.2% of the GDP, and the service sector 24.9%.
Farming is also earning less than the trade and the logistics and communication sectors, which account for 13.4% and 9.8% of GDP, respectively. The figures are from the the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board.
The policy implications from these figures are clear: Focus on the big money earners. Give policy support to the industrial, telecoms and service sectors, which are now the driving engines of the country's economy. Forget the farming sector.
So what about the underdog small farmers who are losing out in the system? The answer is to forget them totally.
But you can't.
Here is my argument. How is Thailand no longer an agricultural country when nearly half of its labour force is still in the farming sector?
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, one of the core agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, more than 45% of the labour force is in the farming sector. That this huge base of population accounts for only 8.4% of GDP speaks volumes, not of inefficiency, but the glaring disparities in this country.
We also need to ask if growth in other sectors depends significantly on the government's policy bias to provide industry and other sectors with cheap labour by keeping the prices of food and farm produce forever low. Or if the massive migration from farming to other sectors has actually stemmed from state policies that destroyed rural livelihoods and communities.
Indeed, do we think it's all right to support the growth of the industrial and service sectors by destroying our forests, rivers and mountains to build dams and meet their bottomless need for electricity?
Do we think it's OK to let the mining industry grow by allowing it to contaminate the environment so seriously that locals must leave their homes and farms?
Do we think that's fair?
In the farming sector, we also have to ask who benefits the most _ the farmers or the agro-industry giants?
You see, after 40 years of the state pushing for chemical farming methods, farmers are now under the firm grip of agro giants which control farm chemicals and commercial seeds.
This 45% of the labour force who are farmers are also in the "non-formal" sector and totally reliant on the government for public health services. The same goes for those who have left for non-farming sectors but are outside the bureaucracy and social security welfare systems.
We are talking about the majority of workers here. So any policies that will worsen their vulnerable situations should be of great concern.
A case in point is the Thai-European Union free trade agreement now on the negotiating table in Chiang Mai. If the EU has its way, Thai farmers will no longer be able to save commercial seeds for the next season. They cannot sell the saplings from those seeds either. Nor can they use the harvested crops for their products.
Plant breeders who use local species to create new patented seeds are also no longer required to share the benefits with locals. The definition of the species is also written in such a way that the locals can no longer claim ownership of their local plants.
That's not very fair, is it?
In addition, more stringent drug patent regimes will make medicines much more expensive, put a greater financial burden on the universal health care system and prevent the country from producing generic drugs in order to save lives.
So what are the politicians doing? The Pheu Thai-led government wants to clinch the Thai-EU deal quickly to serve big business. The opposition, meanwhile, is too busy putting down the premier with misogynist rhetoric to come up with better policies.
Whether or not Thailand is still a farming country, 45% of the labour force and the majority of workers in other sectors will be seriously affected by the Thai-EU deal. It will affect the red, the yellow and everyone in between alike.
But, as is usually the case, the poor will be affected far more. That is something we can be certain of.
Sanitsuda Ekachai is editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.