Determinants and land-use patterns of commercial cultivation of a fuel-wood crop in Thailand

Several studies estimate that the potential contribution to global energy supplies in the long term from biomass from energy-crop plantations is large, based on assessments of global land area available for energy crops. However, there are few detailed analyses of the development of these plantations at the local level, taking into consideration land-use decisions by individual farmers and the potential competition between land uses. In this paper, we explore the characteristics of commercial farmers who grow and those who do not grow eucalyptus trees, a widely-cultivated fast-growing fuel-wood crop, in eastern Thailand, encompassing basic household, land and land-use, and farming characteristics. In addition, we analyze the determinants of, first, the farmers' decision to plant eucalyptus and, second, how large an area to plant with eucalyptus, with two econometric models. We find that while there are some similarities among the basic household characteristics of eucalyptus growers and non-growers, farm sizes of growers and non-growers are very different: on average, eucalyptus growers' farms are three times as big. We find a combination of factors that increases the likelihood of planting eucalyptus: large farm, the judgment that eucalyptus is less labor-intensive than alternative crops, and the availability of only a small number of workers within the family. We find that not only the potential available land area but also who cultivates a given parcel of land – several small-scale subsistence farmers or a single wealthier farmer – significantly determine the potential supply of fuel-wood. While the price of eucalyptus and that of the main alternative crop, cassava, are not main determinants for the decision to cultivate eucalyptus, for farmers who do grow eucalyptus, we find the price determines what fraction of the total land is used for this purpose. On average, eucalyptus growers allocate a third of their total area to eucalyptus and another third to cassava cultivation. We find that land quality does not affect the decision to plant eucalyptus trees or the size of the area chosen for planting. Thus, eucalyptus is grown on lands both suitable and unsuitable for food crops. About three-fourths of eucalyptus growers plant eucalyptus on land where food crops (mainly cassava) used to be planted. This implies that commercial farmers do not take only degraded or unproductive lands to grow fuel-wood crops. Thus, there is a competition between land use for food and fuel, and the increased expansion of the cultivation of fuel-wood crops could affect the production of food crops.