Abstract
This paper delineates the potential geographical range of vegetable production in Thailand's northern highlands and demonstrates the utility of marketing distance-decay analysis in rural studies. Hill tribes grow vegetables in northern Thailand as replacement cash crops for illegal opium. They produce more vegetables than local markets consume and the surplus is transported to a developing market in Bangkok. The distance-decay rate ofthis new market is treated as a function of transport costs. Isoline maps are used to analyze resulting marketing gradients of important vegetable cash crops. It appears that distance-decay does not inevitably prohibit marketing surplus vegetables in Bangkok. The findings provide a basis for follow-up spatial studies of highland vegetable production in the region. They also demonstrate the importance and utility of marketing distance-decay analysis in less developed rural areas.
Recommended Citation
Crooker, Richard A. and Martin, Robert N.
(1996)
"Marketing Distance-Decay and Highland Vegetable Production in Northern Thailand,"
The Geographical Bulletin: Vol. 38:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/thegeographicalbulletin/vol38/iss2/3
