BASELINE STUDY 5, Thailand - Forest Trends

potential of existing teak plantations in Thailand is estimated to be about 0.9 - 1.0 million m 3 /year, from both
private and FIO-managed plantations.
The Thai wood industry still prefers Myanmar teak, as Thai plantation teak is of lower quality and possibly less
in demand by the global wood product market. 22
5.2.6 Overview of Plantation Promotion Programs in Thailand
A primary obstacle to timber plantation development in the country has been smallholder farmer constraints.
Poor, indebted farmers need faster financial returns than timber tree species can provide, and so they often are
more interested in agricultural crops or short rotation tree species. For slower-growing timber species, only
more wealthy and large-scale farmers can afford to wait until returns develop on mature trees.
In order to overcome these obstacles, both the private and public sectors (e.g., RFD and FIO) have been involved
in timber plantation promotional schemes. Although teak is the highest-demand timber species, especially
for the furniture and boat industries, its long maturity duration dampen its planting extent. Teak plantations
are often established in agroforestry systems and limited to commercial plantations, especially by the FIO.
Since 1992, numerous plantation development programs have been promoted by the RFD and FIO under the
Private Reforestation Division. Nearly all of them did not have adequate monitoring programs to be able to assess
success rates. In many cases, farmers did not maintain the tree plantations after their subsidies ceased
since the farmers needed supplemental income until trees could be harvested.
Some analysts argue that such plantation programs can actually inhibit further development of the domestic
plantation industry in Thailand, as they can result in problems of local oversupply and resultant price declines
(Barney 2005:12; Mahannop 2002). The overall plantation promotional policy environment in Thailand is also
restrictive on a number of issues. For example, a complex permissions process for harvesting some species of
planted trees (Barney 2005:12) tends to act as a disincentive for smallholder commercial tree farming.
22 See also FAO 2009:45.
© EU FLEGT Facility, BASELINE STUDY 5, Thailand: Overview of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, July 2011
This Action is funded by the European Union and the governments of Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. The views expressed herein
can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
www.euflegt.efi.int
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