Conflict, Legitimacy and Government Reform: Equitable Allocation of ...

Panel Discussion
We’re still waiting for study results. However, there are enough statistics
that can give us a picture that there is a rather high concentration.
During 1995-2004, it was found that 11 families traded positions among
the top-5 families with the highest value of shares, including Maleenon,
Shinawatra, Damapong, Jirathiwat, Bencharongkul, Damrongchaitham,
Asavabhokin, Liewphairat, Photharamik, Kannasutra and Jaranachit
(Netnapha, 2006: 99-100)
Land: Land ownership is still the most vital source of wealth in the
Thai society. Table 2 illustrates distribution of agricultural land
ownership by land size in 2006 which reveals a distinct concentration.
The group that doesn’t own any piece of land makes up almost 20 per
cent of the total. When combining this group with the group owning 10
rai or less, both groups make up 42 per cent of the entire country. Some
people might argue that owing 10 rai is a lot. In fact, if you own 10 rai of
land in the Northeast and the land is located in an arid area or has saline
soil. Ten-rai of land doesn’t mean anything. This is an important point
because one-third of farmers in the country lives in the Northeast and
faces problems with infertile soil conditions. Thus, 42 per cent of farmers
owning 10 rai or less or having no land at all is considered a very high
ratio.
Table 2: Distribution of land ownership of
farmer households in Thailand (2006)
Land size %
None 18.42
Less than 10 rai 23.94
10-19 rai 24.91
20 rai or over 22.73
Source: Adapted from Duangmanee 2009: 6-6
Another study carried out by an expert in land economics from the
Department of Land Development concluded that most lands are in the
hands of a marginal number of people, that is, 10 per cent of the
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