World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 59

World Food Policy

Thailand has been cognizant of the
need for policies to encourage nutritionsensitive agriculture (Tontisirin et al. 2013)
particularly in light of the government’s
aim to reduce overweight, obesity,
and
associated
non-communicable
diseases (NCDs). Despite public health
campaigns, there has been little sign of
success in preventing population weight
gain and growth of NCDs. Consequently,
in 2008, a National Food Committee
was established to strengthen food
management, efficiency, and effectiveness
across agencies to “create momentum
from agriculture to food, nutrition, and
health” (Tontisirin et al. 2013). However,
government action plans to combat
overweight, obesity, and NCDs do not
explicitly recognize or address the role
of food retail in the transition to overnutrition. The Thai Strategic Framework
for Food Management connects
agricultural production to health through
food and nutrition (Tontisirin et al. 2013)
using a food chain approach but again
food retail is not discussed. This points
to a need for the national food policy to
recognize and address food retail as a site
for intervention to safeguard Thai diets
and maintain a diverse diet.

success.

A pressure on centrally located
fresh markets derives from population
and transport systems growth. With
increasing affluence, Thai car ownership
and usage has become widespread
(Berecki-Gisoli et al. 2015). Fresh
markets, located in pedestrian accessible
locations, may be moved or removed
so that they do not obstruct the flow
of commuter traffic. As cities become
more car orientated, consumers will
choose to purchase larger quantities of
food in supermarkets with car parks on
the outskirts of cities, leading people to
higher exposure to unhealthy food in
them. Furthermore, if fresh markets are
to remain viable they need to be easily
accessible to the farmers and suppliers
who deliver produce in bulk. All these
factors demand that careful planning for
the location of fresh markets is required
to protect them into the future.

The Thai government in the early
to mid-2000s placed restrictions on the
growth of foreign retailers often at the
behest of small to middle-sized retailers
and has taken other steps more recently
but seems to have failed to curb their
spread. Government restrictions, via site
plan regulations, have limited the size of
new stores, prompting large international
retailers like Tesco to open large numbers
of smaller stores leading to vocal
opposition from local small retailers
(Endo 2013). The vigorous lobbying and
discussion about regulations concerning
issues such as store size, location, and
trading hours are testament to the
importance of these features for the
overall success of food retailing formats at
the community level and citizen disquiet
suggests that Thai government should

Regional and community level planning

There is a view that urban and
regional planning could do considerably
more to build more sustainable urban
food environments (Wiskerke 2009;
Dixon and Ballantyne-Brodie 2015). Due
to their historical role as the major source
of food for urban populations Thai fresh
markets are often easily accessible for
consumers throughout urban centers
with their location key to their continuing
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