Publication Code: N11

Identification of Potential Land Reform Areas in Chanthaburi Province: Final Results

by Paul Hastings et al.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology in the identification of potential land reform areas (PLRA). An additional objective was to determine and evaluate the data reuired to accomplish this identification.

The definition for a PLRA used during this study was: non-forested, state owned land suitable for agriculture, with a relatively high rate of landlessness. In the case of coastal areas, intensive shrimp aquaculture suitability was also considered as a criteria for PLRA. It was determined that soil (Department of Land Development), elevation (Royal Thai Survey Department), forested land (Royal Forest Department {RFD}), forest reserve (RFD), and at least sub-district level landless data (national Economic and Social Development Board) was required to complete the analysis. All data was maintained by Royal Thai Government (RTG) agencies and was considered to be of reasonably high quality with the exception of the forest reserve and political boundary data. The forest reserve and political boundary data was found to be cartographically of somewhat low fidelity, but was still accurate enough to produce a reasonable product.

The study site was Chanthaburi province, eastern Thailand, covering an area of 3.96 million rai. It was determined that some 600,000 rai or 15% of the province would serve as PLRA. About 530,000 rai of this area had low erosion potential, while the remaining 70,000 rai had a high potential for erosion. Based upon 1986 NESDB data, there were some 7,451 "landless" households in the study area. Using past ALRO project figures, these houeholds would roughly require about 160,000 rai of land. With some 600,000 rai of feasible PLRA, this indicates that an ample supply of land is available for land reform projects in Chanthaburi province. It was established that some 11,000 rai of coastal public land was compatible with intensive shrimp aquaculture development.

May 1989