Abstract
In northeast Thailand the development of on-farm ponds has been promoted by Thai government aiming to shift from traditional farming which mainly depends on sugarcane and cassava to risk distributed farm management system through stabilization of rice production and farm diversification in rainfed agricultural area. In this paper, the impacts caused by the on-farm ponds on agricultural diversification are analyzed through water use survey of ponds water in the study site of Nong Saeng village which is a rainfed agricultural village in the suburb of Khon Kaen in Northeast Thailand. The findings are summarized as follows. 1) Although rainy season rice, sugarcane and cassava are still major agricultural products in Nong Saeng village, the rapid spread of fish cultivation, irrigation to vegetables and fruits have expanded. It can be said the on-farm ponds play the driving force of farm diversification in Nong Saeng village. 2) Also, the cattle raising has changed to keep cattle in the field both day and night. 3) Water of the on-farm ponds in 2010 is used for more multiple purposes than that in 2004. However, the pond water is not used fully in spite of small ponds as shown by the interview survey of the 88 ponds.
