Kiwi Jacko

21 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

Maybe Paulownia trees would suit you.  Water them for the first 2 years, add fertilizer 4 times a year for the first 2 years then annually.  For Shantong #27 thin at 5 years and harvest at 9 or 10.   They regrow from the stump and you do it all again. 

Thanks GJ, Ive heard a lot of bad stories around investment in those trees in the western world (badly managed schemes from what I gather). Do you think they are a genuine option there? Are people growing them successfully? Is there much land preparation? Any idea of the investment required per rai for the initial planting, ongoing costs, major risks, possible returns etc. Sorry to bombard you with questions.

Thanks for your responses everyone. I will take on board the advice on dealing with (or avoiding) the traps & difficulties with Thai in-laws. In terms of supporting the family the suggestions to provide some cash to help with expenses is probably the best way to go about it and we will continue doing that.

That said I’d still really like utilise our land for something productive, even as a medium term project which may become useful down the track (maybe planting trees for fruit or even for timber). Even if its not a great income I’m sure going to need a project if I’m going to spend a lot of time here in the future so maybe that’s a better way to look at it. Farm land in Thailand has some value so surely it cannot be completely useless. There must be some ideas out there on how I can put 20 Rai of land with water, electricity and road access to some use. 

Thanks for the reply Ootai. No need to apologies for being negative, you are probably spot on with what you say. I may retire there at some stage but as you say I wont be there to oversee the operation. There is only one family member running the farm now so any anything additional would probably require some extended family or hired labour. Maybe I will get a contractor in to prepare 10 Rai of our land for rice planting while I'm there and then support with some cash for fertiliser, re-planting, harvesting etc. From what I can work out 10 rai of rice will cost around B40-50,000 all up including paying for labour (whether it be family or external) and the rice sale proceeds would be about the same. Anyone else got numbers on that?

Hi, I'm new here and would love some advice. My wife and I are currently living in Sydney and we (she) has some farm land around 45 mins from Ubon Ratchathani. Currently the farm consists of around 10 Rai of rice, 10 Rai of Rubber Trees, some Bananas, Mangos and small qtys of other fruit & vege, mainly for family consumption or sale at the local market. My wife and I have around 20 Rai of unused land relatively near the farm house and water bore which a supplies good quality clear water. I'm not expecting to make any profit from the land but I want to put it to better use and help support her family if I can. They are lovely people, relatively honest and hard working so I have a fair degree of trust. I'm happy to cover the costs each year if I can break even and leave some extra money (or surplus crops) for the family. I'm heading over shortly for a few weeks and hoping to get things moving while I'm there. Satellite pic of the land as below. I'm a complete novice in terms of farming so would appreciate any help or suggestions.

p.s. I dont need cynicism or derogatory remarks about the "Thai way"...just constructive advice thanks