Ethnic minority farmers in the infamous Golden Triangle were first incorporated into the nation states of China, Laos and Thailand, and later into the economic region called the Golden Economic Quadrangle. This article traces policies in each country for minorities, development and the environment, followed by an analysis of agrarian transitions under economic regionalization. Using the framework of powers of exclusion and racialization, our findings show the changes for ethnic minorities who, with the exception of those in the lowlands, face environmental enclosures that dispossess them from lands on which livelihoods are based. Ideological legacies from the Golden Triangle, including ‘backward’ minorities, the fight against drugs, and threats to national security, continue to inform policies and development projects. While some farmers have become entrepreneurs planting cash crops, most face increasing marginalization under deepening regional capitalism.

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Notwithstanding the rapid growth of commercial agriculture in Thailand over the past half century, farmer organizations and community enterprises have been a common and distinctive feature of the rural economy and have been strongly supported by government policies, especially with the promotion of the “sufficiency economy”. While informal cooperation has been a traditional part of village life, the government has consistently promoted more formal organizational arrangements for farmers, alongside policies for intensification and commercialization of rice and other crops. This juxtaposition of independent smallholder farming and collective, community-based economic activity is explored in this chapter through case studies of organizations in three villages in Northeast Thailand. It was found that farmer organizations can facilitate the sharing of knowledge and skills, improve access to production technologies, encourage saving and investment, and increase farmers’ market competitiveness. Community enterprises can create new employment opportunities, especially for women and disadvantaged groups, contributing to livelihood diversification while reducing the need for out-migration. The key factors contributing to the success of these groups were strong committed leadership, involved membership, connecting with wider networks, the role of government and non-government assistance providers, and supportive government policies.

Although contingent valuation is the dominant technique for the valuation of public projects, especially in the environmental sector, the high costs of contingent valuation surveys prevent the use of this method for the assessment of relatively small projects. The reason for this cost problem is that typically only contingent valuation studies which are based on face-to-face interviews are accepted as leading to valid results. Particularly in countries with high wages, face-to-face surveys are extremely costly considering that for a valid contingent valuation study a minimum of 1000 completed face-to-face interviews is required. This paper tries a rehabilitation of mail surveys as low-budget substitutes for costly face-to-face surveys. Based on an empirical contingent valuation study in Northern Thailand, it is shown that the validity of mail surveys can be improved significantly if so-called Citizen Expert Groups are employed for a thorough survey design.contingent valuation, mail surveys, citizen expert groups, willingness to pay, Thailand, convergent validity,

This chapter questions the continued need for public plant breeding programmes in developing countries and discusses their future role. The following factors driving the changes taking place in the plant breeding industry are identified: the commercialization of agriculture; the privatization of national seed industries; the strengthening of intellectual property rights; and the erosion in public research capacity. Based on the presence or absence of commercial incentives, 'natural domains' for public and private plant breeding programmes are defined. It is suggested that the role of public plant breeding programmes in developing countries should be based on three guiding principles: (1) rely on market-based solutions when possible; (2) ensure that markets remain competitive; and (3) complement rather than compete with private firms. It is further suggested that the public sector should concentrate on five essential functions that the private sector is likely to perform at socially suboptimal levels: (1) genetic improvement for specific products, crops, and traits; (2) conservation of genetic resources; (3) training of plant breeders; (4) varietal testing and evaluation; and (5) biosafety regulation. Institutional challenges for public plant breeding programmes are discussed as well.