“Both rice and cannabis were life-sustaining crops.” Two years after Thailand decriminalized cannabis in 2022, areas that were once called “disappearing rural areas” are once again in the spotlight. The turning point was when cannabis, the “green gold,” began to function as a new cash crop for rural farmers. For many years, rural areas in Thailand have relied on rice and sugarcane, whose prices fluctuate greatly. However, exposed to climate change and market competition, the outflow of young people to cities has not stopped, and the agricultural population has been steadily declining. Then came cannabis, which has been legalized through deregulation. Its resistance to being harvested even in the dry season, its applications in medicine, beauty, and food, and its high added value – these are attracting attention as a catalyst for rural revitalization.
"Abandoned farmland has been transformed into a green lab."
In Naan Province in northern Thailand, terraced rice paddies and fields that were abandoned over the past decade are being revived as marijuana cultivation plots. Local governments and universities are collaborating to establish a series of marijuana farms specializing in pesticide-free and organic cultivation. Local training programs to support cultivation, online distribution networks, and cooperative-led buy-back contracts are all part of what could be called a “second rice revolution” in the rural economy.
Will we be able to break free from the "cycle of exploitation"?
However, there are many challenges. There are many cases where the benefits of the “urban-led model” do not reach rural areas, such as middlemen undercutting farmers, uneven distribution of CBD extraction facilities, and lack of drying and processing processes that meet international standards such as GMP. In addition, the lack of transparency in contracts and the risk of waste in harvests are also barriers to entry for small-scale farmers. Government subsidies tend to be biased toward urban businesses, so the key to the future is to build an “independent supply chain” in rural areas. Conversely, if the process from cultivation to drying to processing to sales can be completed locally, the structure of dependency on cities can be broken and a sustainable model of local production and consumption can be realized.
The next leading roles are "women and young people"
Surprisingly, female farmers and young people who have returned to their hometowns are attracting attention amid this change. Unlike traditional agriculture, which was dominated by men, the cannabis business requires product design, SNS marketing, and processing skills. The people who are thriving in this field are female college graduates who have returned to rural areas and young people in their 20s who are adept at using Instagram. They are one after another realizing a “regional D2C (Direct to Consumer) model” that handles everything from “cultivation → processing → branding → direct sales.”
The future map of green industry lies in the village
The Thai government is currently trying to redefine its cannabis promotion project in rural areas as a pillar of “agriculture + health + tourism.” In other words, the strategy is to elevate rural areas from mere production bases to “multi-functional areas” with healing, experience, and education. With accommodation experiences at cannabis farms, agritourism with CBD spas, and collaborative research with local universities, rural areas are now in the spotlight as “seedbeds of future innovation.” “Cannabis is not a drug. It is a farm tool that cultivates the future,” say farmers, sowing the seeds of new hope in Thai rural areas. Thailand is an agricultural nation. Its future is about to begin again with the “soil.”