In 1952, the Royal Decree established the “Agricultural and Land Economics Division” under the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture. The division was divided into two departments: Land Use Planning and Research and Statistics.
In 1954, the Royal Decree changed the name to the “Agricultural Economics Division”. The division was divided into three departments: Production Economics Division, Agricultural Statistics Compilation Division, and Survey and Research Division.
In 1957, the Royal Decree improved the Agricultural Economics Division by establishing two more departments: Project Control Division and Agricultural Product Criticism Division.
In 1972, the Agricultural Economics Division studied, analyzed, and defined agricultural economic zones using various variables, such as soil types according to the Great Soil Group, rainfall distribution, temperature, types of crops grown, average yield per rai of rice, important economic crops, and the proportion of farmers’ income in each province. From these various variables, the country was divided into 19 zones, called agricultural economic zones. In the same year, The Revolutionary Council announced the improvement of the departments in the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture by separating the “Project Control Division” from the Agricultural Economics Division to raise the status to the “Planning Division”, along with the determination of the division of agricultural economic zones of Thailand into 19 zones.
In 1973, the Cabinet resolved to establish the “Agricultural Statistics Center” in the Agricultural Economics Division to collect all types of agricultural data.
In 1977, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives issued an order dividing the work and quoting civil servants and employees in the Agricultural Economics Division into 4 divisions: the Agricultural Economics Coordination Division, the Agricultural Policy and Planning Division, the Agricultural Economics Research Division, and the Agricultural Statistics Center.
On March 24, 1979, the Agricultural Economics Act was issued to raise the status of the Agricultural Economics to the “Office of Agricultural Economics” under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and a royal decree was issued to divide the Agricultural Economics Office into 6 divisions: the Office of the Secretary, the Agricultural Policy and Planning Division, the Evaluation Division, the Planning Division, the Agricultural Economics Research Division, and the Agricultural Statistics Center.
The term “agricultural economic zone” according to the Agricultural Economics Act of 1979 means an agricultural production zone, including animal husbandry. and the reforestation that is determined to be appropriate for the market situation and agricultural economy of Thailand, taking into account the similar conditions of the main factors such as soil, sky, weather, water sources, crops, livestock, types of agriculture, and farmers’ main income.
Later in 1983, the Office of Agricultural Economics improved the work of the new agricultural economic zones by sending officers to work in all 19 zones and placing the zones under the command of the Secretary-General of the Office of Agricultural Economics. The purpose of sending officers to each zone, according to the concept of the executives at that time, was to save the budget for sending officers from the central office to work in the regions and to be representatives of the Office in the regions by trying to model the work model of the Office for the zones to work in the regions.
In 1987, the Cabinet acknowledged the division of agricultural economic zones into 24 zones. This was because some agricultural economic zones had large areas. Dividing the area into 24 zones would be convenient for work.
In 1996, there was a royal decree dividing the Office of Agricultural Economics into 2 divisions and 3 offices: the Office of the Secretary, the Evaluation Division, the Agricultural Information Center, and the Office of Agricultural Policy and Development Planning. and Agricultural Economics Research Office
In 2013, the area was divided into 3 more areas as Agricultural Economics Offices Zones 1-12
In 2014, the area was divided into 18 new areas according to the inspection area as Agricultural Economics Offices Zones 1-18, with the opening ceremony on July 1, 2014 and full operation on October 1, 2014
In 2015, the name was changed to Agricultural Economics Office 2, with the same powers and duties
In October 2016, the area was divided into Agricultural Economics Offices 1-12
Currently, Agricultural Economics Office 2 is responsible for the areas of Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Tak, Uttaradit, Phrae, Nan, with the main office located in Phitsanulok Province