been significantly increased through this diversification, and the farming villages in Thailand have continued to supply a large and expanding domestic market for import substituting industry. Farmers purchase motor-bikes, televisions and refrigerators, which are considered the three luxury items within farm villages, and plenty of zinc sheeting for roofing the farm houses, polypropylene bags for rice and fertilizers and chemical condiments. As an increase in domestic consumption was necessary for industrialization, formers were also important consumers for this increasing private consumption in Thailand. Agricultural development has an important role as a supplier in an expanding market for domestic manufacturing industry by increasing the farmers' income as well as ensuring the food supply, which is emphasized by the argument known as the 'Ricardian trap' in the development of the national economy as a whole. It is necessary to emphasize that agricultural growth made a great contribution to domestic economic development through these processes in Thailand.
3) Reactions of each Country to the Liberalization of Trade in Agricultural Products.
Now, ASEAN countries are being pressed to tackle trade liberalization of agricultural products through joining the WTO, the formation of ASEAN free trade agreement and trade liberalization by APEC. Thus, each country's way of dealing with this will be summarized.
There are no difficult political problems that accompany agricultural trade liberalization in Thailand, which is the main agricultural exporter. However, the government adopted a policy which spent funds on subsidies for price stabilization of twelve agricultural products through the Farmer's Support Committee, as maintaining farmers income is a significant problem. At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture is going to spend 65.9 billion bahts by 2010 to institute a plan to reorganize the agricultural production system based on the cabinet decision of 28th December, 1993. This is to strengthen agricultural productivity in Thailand, by changing from crops which are less profitable in the marketplace, such as rice, cassava, coffee and pepper, to those which are
