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Study Team. Our analysis indicates that local communities have encountered a structural crisis
including access to the resource base, ecological fluctuations, and a market economy slump

that started before the COVID pandemic. Overall, although the COVID impacts on the
agricultural sector are not as severe as other sectors (the industrial and service sectors);
however, the COVID-19 epidemic is accelerating and deepening previous on-going negative
trends affecting agricultural / rural households.

Adaptation options of villagers are limited, but importantly include household expenditure
reduction, and turning to household production and community sources for food security.
Some households do not borrow (avoiding additional debt) because they do not have realistic

options to invest. The search for additional or alternative career paths is limited because the
communities have tried many things, often without success, exacerbated by the fact that there
is no clear capital market and community knowledge and skills are limited.
Adaptation potential is largely dependent on the local assets and endowments of

communities. Resource-based communities, e.g., good farmland, community forests, have
stability and economic potential to diversify and access markets. Communities with strong
savings groups (in the case of many communities in Songkhla, and Phuket Provinces) are better

placed to consider alternative community economic strategies, primarily because community
savings group members have financial discipline. Communities with diverse economic bases
(such as production for own consumption, sales to formal agricultural markets, and revenue
from the non-agricultural economic activities) can also diversify risk.

Therefore, this Study recommends that the Government broaden the state policy to help
people in urgent need using the civil registration database system. The Government should

directly support the flow of funds to local communities to enable communities to manage

their own economic initiatives. And the Government should accelerate policy reform and laws
related to natural resources management. Immediate action should focus on: (i) Developing

a comprehensive community database system based on the current socio-economically
complex situation, categorized by different types of communities, based on their resource

bases, to accelerate appropriate adaptation measures according to the individual community

situation. (ii) Encourage skill development for workers to return home as a new generation of
farmers and rural residents, building a diverse local economy. And (iii) Support and protect

the rights of communities to access and manage natural resources on a sustainable basis.

In summary, the Covid-19 Crisis is accelerating change in rural communities, bringing both
opportunities and challenges. The upcoming "new normal" should importantly include

building the resilience of Thai society from the foundations of the rural community. Essential

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