timber

Research varies but Jathropha gets about one/third the production of oil palm in most studies athough in the NE may do better because of the problems with growing Oil Palm. Can always do better just a matter of time, money and efford.

Ascending order

Crop kg oil/ha litres oil/ha lbs oil/acre US gal/acre

corn (maize) 145 172 129 18

cashew nut 148 176 132 19

oats 183 217 163 23

lupine 195 232 175 25

kenaf 230 273 205 29

calendula 256 305 229 33

cotton 273 325 244 35

hemp 305 363 272 39

soybean 375 446 335 48

coffee 386 59 345 49

linseed (flax) 402 478 359 51

hazelnuts 405 482 362 51

euphorbia 440 524 393 56

pumpkin seed 449 534 401 57

coriander 450 536 402 57

mustard seed 481 572 430 61

camelina 490 583 438 62

sesame 585 696 522 74

safflower 655 779 585 83

rice 696 828 622 88

tung oil tree 790 940 705 100

sunflowers 800 952 714 102

cocoa (cacao) 863 1026 771 110

peanuts 890 1059 795 113

opium poppy 978 1163 873 124

rapeseed 1000 1190 893 127

olives 1019 1212 910 129

castor beans 1188 1413 1061 151

pecan nuts 1505 1791 1344 191

jojoba 1528 1818 1365 194

jatropha 1590 1892 1420 202

macadamia nuts 1887 2246 1685 240

brazil nuts 2010 2392 1795 255

avocado 2217 2638 1980 282

coconut 2260 2689 2018 287

oil palm 5000 5950 4465 635

Udon has a point there. There are a few million hectares being groomed for jathropha. My sources indicate that Jathropha will produce about 1890 litres per hectare. Which I think would be about 300 litres per rai. there are a lot of variable with growing anything so depends on the site and management. I still think you can have jathropha hedges and still grow other crops to get the best of both worlds and have more sustained production and work for the employees or farmers.

Thanks Maizefarmer it is good to know Thailand is doing something like this. There are a lot of advantages to using Jathropha as a hedge which would normally be nonproductive ground. If you have some land a jatropha hedge could fuel your farm equipment.

I copied this from http://www.jatropha.de/Thailand/index.htm

Being in the south Jathropha isn't comparible with Palm Oil as far as productivity, but there are a lot of advantages to using it as a hedge or areas where the ground conditions aren't favorable to Palm Oil Production. Thailand is interested in it for the less productive sites in the north and east. There would be applications in the south when everyone gets more serious about bio-diesel. It doesn't take much of a hedge to grow enough fruit to fuel your car. Mind you maybe a rai or two.

facilitated by D1 and financed by DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, DTI, UNITED KINGDOM;

Executive summary of the study:

This report is the result of an integrated approach to the potentials that may be delivered from the cultivation of Jatropha Curcas L in Thailand, in support of the Kingdoms Bio Diesel fuel security policies. It has been performed at the request of the DEDE (Government of Thailand Department of Energy Efficiency) and sponsored by the Government of UK DTi (Department of Trade and Industry). D1 Oils Plc has facilitated the process of reporting with the assistance of various educational institutions, government of Thailand ministries and departments, The Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Communities, and the Thai Federation of Industry.

The opinion expressed in the report is that under well-managed circumstances the massive cultivation of Jatropha Curcas L in Thailand will have social, economic and environmental benefits for the country; contributing to both fuel and food security.

The report outlines pro poverty reduction policies that will have a positive influence upon agricultural communities, technology transfer, banking service build up in rural locations and inclusion with both middle level and executive industry/enterprise activities. Further, the report illustrates that rural communities may be viewed as major contributors to the fuel economy of the Kingdom; and that a system of agricultural extension to industry process’s should be established that embraces an end to end solution for the harvest values of Jatropha Curcas L, inclusive of the deliver of Bio Diesel and additional value added products at a sustainable level.

The North East of Thailand has been assessed as the most desirable location for a Jatropha Curcas L Agriculture to Bio Diesel and for a “value adding” industry platform. Additional areas of Thailand have been evaluated for Jatropha Curcas L Agriculture and discovered to be suitable.

In order to achieve the goals of the Government of Thailand for the production of Bio Diesel there is a need for the systematic and scientific propagation of Jatropha Curcas L for an extended period. This agricultural extension should be carried out on public land under the supervision of a variety of interlinked government and international departments. Cultivators and cultivation areas will need to be registered and linked into forward bank planning activities that embrace the Kyoto Protocols Clean Development Mechanism, as this will give rise to the acquisition of Carbon Credits when fuel substitution is established.

The report illustrates that there is a comprehensive need for collaborative development policy that embraces decentralised agricultural extension and decentralised Bio Diesel production to market. The complete solution requires the establishing of partnership between the National Agricultural Extension Services, Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Communities, The National Petroleum Marketing Group PTT and an end to end commercial development solutions provider for JCL Agriculture to Industry, possessed of the ability to promote agricultural extension, decentralised Bio Diesel production to market, and to accommodate new value adding industry for the processing of JCL biological residues.

It is anticipated that the report may be used to form a template for the ASEAN regions desire to promote fuel security programs from the cultivation of Jatropha Curcas. It is observed that the policies that have been adopted by Thailand are frequently complimented within the ASEAN community; the process of research has illustrated that there is a high degree of policy synergy between the neighbouring countries of Thailand. This synergy is reflected most within the over arching policies of the GMS (Greater Mekong Sub region) as related to the promotion of economic corridors linking Thailand with Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and the Southern provinces of the PRC.

Various parties to establish policy initiatives and support collaborative business planning strategies that will lead to comprehensive decentralised JCL Agriculture to Industry programs throughout the ASEAN region 2006-2012; designed to meet and exceed the bio diesel targets of the national governments, may use the report.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thaiverypoorfarmer,

When you say contact biodiesel centre at ku. kampengsean campus how do you mean that? Go and see directly or do they have a website? hmmm... probably in English. Do you have any good web sites in English to recommend? In a couple of years hope to do some work with bio-diesel. Have read a lot and my wife has some oil palm down south. Hope to move their in a couple of years. Some good information. Thanks. It sounds like they are making some breakthroughs on the use of bio-mass for ethenol. This may change things a bit if they get a good handle on it. Coming from a heavy equipment background I think bio-diesel is the best solution in the short term.

UPDATE: 5 dead, dozens hurt in Hat Yai bombs

Hat Yai

Six bombs exploded off in southernl Hat Yai town of Songkhla at about 9.15 pm Saturday

Police said the bombing wave killed at least 3 persons and wounded 79. Reports from the scene said five were dead including a Western tourist. The wounded included Malaysians, visiting their favourite foreign destination.

Most of the victims were Thai and Malaysian night shoppers. Police said the blasts went off at busy shopping spots near Odean shopping centre, Lee Gardens Hotel, Big C Supercenter and a restaurant in the business district.

Of the two killed, one is a Canadian, who could only be indentified as Mr Daniel and the other is a woman, whose name could not yet be identified.

The Fourth Army refused to say who were responsible for the attacks, or whether it was linked to the muslim militants. It said its bomb disposal units were assisting the local police in clearing the scenes and would only offer comments when more evidence was gathered.

Earlier, Thai Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin had ordered military personnel in the deep South to be on high alert from Saturday through Wednesday, after reports of possible attacks by the Gerakan Mujahidin Islam Pattani (GMIP), an offshoot of the southern militant group Gerakan Mujahidin Pattani (GMP), to mark its anniversary.

Update

Five dead

79 injured

Most of the injured thai and Malaysian night shoppers

There is a write up in the bangkokpost bangkokpost.com

http://www.flyfishingthailand.com/

This is a good site on fresh water fishing too which I haven't heard a lot about

Teletiger has some good points on costs. You sink a well or use a pond and do a drip system that you can also fertilize with. A little bit every day is better than a bunch once in a while. Water weights a lot and when you try to haul very much by truck it can result in high maintenance costs to the truck. If the workers don't secure the tank good enough to the truck or you get the water slopping around you can not only get damage but it can be a problem with safety. Had a lot of experience hauling water during forest fires and their can be a lot of problems.

No question that it is longer term. I think China wants this in a lot of both imports and exports. I just get excited about projects like this.

I think there are still a lot of questions to be answered. There is new track to be laid to make connections with China. One of the big questions on existing tracks would be the change in rail guage. With the potential for freight to the Adaman Sea and speed of mass delivery I think that they have to take a look at the gauge of the track. I come from Canada where the country is very dependent on rail. They have a bigger gauge on their track and the amount of feight that is shipped by rail is staggering. If material is going to places like Singapore and Malaysia then there is a balance between speed and cost. The food stuffs that could be shipped from Thailand to China and visa versa would make big changes also. A lot of variables but for sure would cause some changes. Things like bio-diesel may be more profitable to send to China. Thailand doesn't seem to know what to do with it.

Bud,

I would go to the farming section in the main forum and ask. There are knowledgeble people from around that area that can better answer that question. There should be some agricaltural agency that can help you. I have found that there will be some guy in the basement that is ignored by most that will be more than happy to give you all the information you want. Best of luck.

Do you know any good lab in Roi-Et or Maha Sarakham area ?

Thanks again.

Bud

China Backs AMBDC Council, Railway Line

China feels that the ASEAN- Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) council should be retained to accelerate the construction of the proposed US$1.8 billion Singapore-Kunming Rail Link project. Director General of Yunan Provincial Lanchang-Mekong River of Economic Cooperation Office, Wang Minzheng, said that the AMBDC council could ensure the succesful implementation of the 8,000 kilometres pan-Asian railway project. He said that China was also prepared to part finance the Trans Asia railway line which will pass through Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. "It is regretted if the mechanism has to stop. The main task of this mechanism is to establish the rail link," he told Bernama after attending the AMBDC meeting here Saturday. He said that although critics might say that the AMBDC council has been ineffective, it should not mean that the council should be dissolved because measures could be taken to improve its efficiency. "We want the council (to stay) but work towards efficiency," he said. He said that the rail project was important to connect people and help to boost economic prosperity and the tourism sector. "We want our neighbours to become better and better, richer and richer," he said, adding that the China government viewed the project as important. "Our minister has clearly expressed, we would think seriously on this project. We are prepared to support it financially," he said. On Aug 23, Asean Economic Ministers (AEM), who gathered here for their 38th meeting, announced that the AMBDC council is to be dissolved and its functions will return to the AEM agenda. In making the announcement Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Rafidah Aziz said that the council failed to play its role effectively due to administrative and financial constraints.

I would think that you may have two problems to look into. One is too much water and the other is not enough Rubber likes lots of water but well drained sites. Look at the drainage layout. You may need a soil test. Being old rice fields they my need a nutrient booser, but then if you are planting need to apply anyhow. Just nice to know what should be applied in way of fertilizer.

BambinA- I am amazed at the amount of subjects that you contructively contribute to. You are a good example, I would think, of what Thaivisa should be all about. You have some tastety looking food too.

I guess catching fish in a net is very productive. Being from Canada there having a fish on the end of a line being good for working out the heart muscles. In the ponds in Bangkok they use bread balls with a little milk mixed in to hold it together. I told some guys to put some cream of corn in the mix and their catch rate went up about 1000 percent. Its illegal in Canada. Must be a reason.

It sounds pretty good. Good prices as long as there is water. But no one knows the land as well as you. If you get a chance get the soil tested. There may be a local agricultural unit that will test it. They should be able to tell you what is lacking in the soil and then you can buy the right fertilizer, just putting in fertilizer doesn't do the job. You may be able to plant something between the trees as the rubber is growing to have some income for the relatives. Maybe more yams. A little common sense goes a long ways. A lot of pinapple is mixed in with coconut trees down south. Get an understanding on drip systems for the delivery of water and fertilizer.

There is lot of information on growing rubber and oil palm on different forums or just do a search. I agree with not using pesticides. If you have young children or babies never too sure where it will go on the food chain. My wife's father used pesticides on her planation and then her and her sister picked some chilli off it a few months later and I told her that there can be unforseen problems with the chilli. For 9 rai that is not a lot of money and then when it closes in not a problem.

Thanks sbk for the reply. I wish I had seen the article. Once in a while there is some good stuff. Where are you from sbk? I would like to have some space in the southern sector as in a few years I would like to see some coop's going and some interchange is needed in the south. There hasn't been much activity on the southern forum regarding that type of thing so maybe just have to go global.

Rubberwood

If you look for furniture or other wooden items at large retail outlets, chances are good that you have seen rubberwood. Despite the fact that rubberwood is an extremely common component of imported goods in the United States, it is generally not available at lumber yards and very few people are familiar with it.

Rubberwood is the product of the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), which is grown as a source for natural rubber. When the trunks of rubber trees are cut, they exude a milky liquid – latex – that is collected and processed to make rubber. After the trees reach about 30 year of age, latex production declines. At that point the trees are harvested and the plantations are replanted. Rubberwood trees are native to South America but are now cultivated on some 9 million acres around the world, mostly in Southeast Asia .

Wild rubberwood trees can grow to over 100' but cultivated trees are shorter, with tapered trunks about 20 inches in diameter. The wood is a light-colored, diffuse-porous hardwood with narrow rays. Large vessels (pores) result in a somewhat coarse grain. Rubberwood is not rubbery; in fact it is moderately hard and stiff, with about the same density as ash or maple (SG = 0.5). It dries and machines rather easily and shrinkage is moderate. Rubberwood has low natural durability and must be treated with preservatives for outdoor use. Small pieces of rubberwood are often finger-jointed and edge-glued to make panels, which are then used for table tops, trays, chair seats, etc. Rubberwood is also called parawood, white teak or Malaysian oak, although its appearance and properties are different than teak or oak.

In the past, rubberwood was used only locally, primarily as a fuel. However, over the past 20 years, industrial processing and exporting of rubberwood lumber has developed rapidly. Rubberwood logs and lumber are now major exports for countries such as Malaysia and Thailand . Manufacturers in China use large volumes of rubberwood for furniture and wooden parts of household items which are exported throughout the world. Because rubberwood is an agricultural byproduct and is grown in plantations, it is sometimes promoted as an environmentally-friendly product.

Hardwood trees that grow in Tennessee continue to be important sources of lumber and manufactured wood products for the United States ' market. However, as the global market for forest products expands, more exotic woods – such as rubberwood - will appear in local stores.

FORESTRY

Thailand's forested area declined from 53% of the nation's land area in 1961 to only 28% by 2000, mainly as a result of the continued use of slash-and-burn practices by farmers. Of Thailand's 14.8 million ha (36.3 million acres) of forest, about 56% lies in the north, where teak and pine predominate. Rubber trees, planted mostly in the south, make up 10% of the forest area. The remainder consists of yang (keruing) plantations and rosewood, other species used as fuel, and smaller mangrove forests and conifers. Teak, once a major export, has declined in importance, largely because of government restrictions on cutting and past depletion of the forests through excessive harvesting and inadequate replanting. Yang, pradu, takien, krabak, and krabok are other traditional hardwoods that have suffered severe production declines. Thailand imposed a ban on logging government-owned timber in 1989. Lac, a resinous insect substance found on trees, has always had value for the Thai, but its derivatives—seedlac, sticklac, and shellac—have also found a ready international market. Other important forestry products include charcoal, gums and resins, and kapok fiber and seed.

In 2001 production of roundwood was estimated at 41.3 million cu m (1.46 billion cu ft). Production of tropical hardwood products in 2000 included (in cubic meters): sawn wood, 294,000; wood pulp, 764,000; veneer, 89,000; and plywood, 91,000. Thailand is a negligible exporter of tropical logs and lumber. However, Thailand now exports primarily value-added wood products (mostly furniture, picture frames, utensils, and other items). Exports of wood products in 2000 totaled $805.9 million. Imports of logs, timber, and wood products in 2000 were valued at $1,323 million.

How much area do you need to farm fish?

I would like to find some good web sites for different timber types that can be grown on the permeter of plantations. A lot of the time valuable species can be grown on the north side of the plantations without effecting the plantation its self and then in 15 or 20 years you have some value in them.