Nipatporn
Pengkhaw
The physical condition of Thon Buri in 1767 when it was established as the new administrative center after the fall of Ayutthaya was deteriorated, deserted and scarcely inhabited. Its outer fringe was a wilderness. However, due to a problem of high-priced rice and starvation among people, king Taksin ordered farmers and royal officials to grow rice on the outer fringe areas along both banks of the Chao Phraya river, especially on the Thon Buri (western) side in order to solve the problem.
The revival of rice paddies went well. When the famine was gone, the outer fringe area of Thon Buri was abandoned. A century later, in the reign of King Mongkut Rama IV, Siam signed the Bowring Treaty with British Government in 1855. The Siamese government changed its policy and exported more rice to foreign countries. This resulted in more rice cultivation.
The government also supported cultivation by digging many canals such as Phasi Charoen, Maha Sawat and Thawi Watthana. This importantly changed the situation of the outer fringe area of Thon Buri and eventually resulted in a rapid increase of the rice trade in the reign of King Chulalongkorn Rama V. With the efforts of pioneer peasants who were Siamese commoners who emigrated from Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Songkhram provinces so as to avoid the corvee recruitment, the outer fringe areas of Thon Buri became vast rice paddies, surrounding plots of orchards and covering the neighborhoods of Thung Khru, Bang Bon, Nong Khaem, Thawi Watthana.
The situation has not changed much until around 1965 when a modern approach to agriculture was introduced with an emphasis on the improvement of rice species, the use of chemical fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide. This leads to many problems the soil becomes hard and lacks of organic fertilizer; pesticide, chemical fertilizer, and herbicide are drained into natural water resources and cause death to aquatic animals
Within a decade, rice in many rice fields are contaminated and diseased. Finally, farmers gradually stopped growing rice and turned to grow oranges, mangoes, bananas and coconuts but only in a limited area. Later, many roads were built through agricultural areas in the outer fringe of Thon Buri. This has brought to here many housing projects, commercial buildings, an industry zone, and big orchid farms.
Bang Khun Thian area, which is a part of Thon Buri adjacent to the sea, used to be a source of Avicennia, coastline fishery, salt farms, giant perch or sea bass farms, and prawn farms, especially giant tiger prawn. But when mangrove forests decreased and the environment became polluted, these activities were gone.
At present, the most serious problems of the people on the outer fringe area of Thon Buri are water pollution, floods, a lack of consuming and drinking water and a problem due to the salt water. Many main canals become a large drainage pipe. The sluggishness of the pipes also cause drainage floods. Facilities and utilities are not adequate.
Later, in late 1980s, the land price rose to the highest point in the history, many investors purchased many large plots of land to speculate on price. Factories, housing projects were built but within a decade, they became deserted. Today, there are many deserted lands and properties that no one want to buy nor rent.