Abstract
The purposes of this study are to clarify the process of paddy plots' alteration and evaluate its influence on rice production in Don Daeng Village, one of the traditional villages in Northeast Thailand. In this study, shapes of paddy plots for 1981, 1992 and 2005 were determined by using aerial photos, satellite images and field surveys. Due to the integration of each paddy plots, the numbers of paddy plots for each corresponding years have decreased by 8, 401, 7, 312 and 2, 885, respectively. Within the period of 23 years (1982 to 2005) the average plots' size have extended three times. In addition, impacts of paddy plots' alteration on rice productivity was also analyzed by performing leveling surveys on “Nong(concavity landforms) ” and rice crop performances. The results indicated that the rice productivity has increased at high-land of “Nong” due to the reclamation of water condition, where paddy plots were previously smaller and rice production was lower. Contrary to that rice productivity has decreased at low-lands due to the flooding, where rice productivity was previously higher.
