Rural roads in Thailand

This report focuses on the impact of ARD on Thais who experienced for the first time a wide range of opportunities within and away from their home community. ARD"s institutional objective was to increase the capability of provincial governments to respond to rural needs by delegating to local governors the responsibilities of planning, designing, building, and maintaining rural roads, water facilities, and other public works. Although the degree of decentralization sought by A.I.D. has not been sustained, the existing ARD system does encourage local initiative. The roads have generally impacted favorably on those in formerly isolated areas. Continued education beyond the primary grades has been introduced to rural people, along with educational programs in health care and nutrition; and there have been increases in job opportunities both within and away from villages and in access to food, agricultural credit, inputs, and technical assistance. The land under cultivation and the intensity of land use increased dramatically wherever roads provided access to markets. Availability of water and better transportation increased rice production and encouraged crop diversification, especially of corn, soybeans, and peanuts in the North and of cassava and kenaf in the Northeast. The most serious negative impact of the roads has been rapid deforestation and soil erosion due to increased demands, stemming from population and income growth, for food and agricultural products. Also, the social benefits of roads have been somewhat offset by a spread of various epidemic and contagious diseases in areas from which it had previously disappeared. ARD has created a strong national institutional capacity to sustain the rural development effort, with most of the AID-funded equipment still in use in the project"s original 31 provinces. Future ARD activities -- which will focus on maintaining existing roads -- will be constrained mainly by budget limitations. Appendices include a 17-item bibliography (1966-80).