Globalization makes the world smaller and affects people’s
lives in many aspects. With the fast development of information
technology (IT), our way of life has changed drastically.
IT has markedly changed our way of life, economics, society,
and policy worldwide. Every country has to prepare itself to
cope with this change. Besides IT development, the World
Trade Organization (WTO), which aims to create efficient and
fair international trade, has been established. To promote agricultural
trade, three measures, market access and tariff reduction,
domestic support reduction, and export subsidy reduction,
have been implemented since 1995. In general, it is believed
that the WTO and IT will boost the volume of agricultural
trade, which will create benefits for many people, especially
farmers.

It seems that being a WTO member
provides a good opportunity for Thai rice exports and enables
farmers to expand their production.

After being a
member of this organization, the trend of Thai rice exports has
been increasing. Some research results revealed that Thai competitiveness
in the world rice market has increased (Tawhon
2003). Moreover, the WTO is a forum for its members to negotiate
and reach agreement. Therefore, Thailand should cooperate
with this organization closely. Creating subgroup members
having the same or relevant problems should be carried
out continuously to strengthen bargaining power.

In the near future it is expected to be an
important tool in the development of rice farmers and the agricultural
sector. Therefore, Thai rice farmers should prepare
themselves to cope with this kind of technology.