Agriculture is the principal occupation
engaged in by over half of the
population, and half of these are rice
farmers. Likened to the "backbone of
the nation," the farmers grow rice to
feed the entire population and export
the rest to feed many more millions
around the world. Other cash crops
that make up the agricultural economy
include sugar cane, maize, cassava, and
an immense variety of fruit, and there
are many animal products.
A proverbial saying of the Thais, "In the water there are fish, in the field there is rice," paints the picture of a land teeming with
abundant food sources. Such are the optimum conditions the country has found itself in, harking back to the era of the
ancient Kingdom of Sukhothai, whence the proverb supposedly took its origin. Geographically, the most fertile area of the
country covers the Central Plains, a low-lying valley fed by an extensive network of rivers and waterways. Indeed, the Thai
people are intimately rooted in the way of the water, for the rivers and waterways form an integral part of their lives.