Scheme aims to shift farmers to corn from off-season rice

By The Nation

 

 

Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach has ordered officials to proceed with a corn growing promotion scheme under the government’s San Palang Pracharat public-private partnership initiative.

 

Moving ahead now would help achieve Grisada’s goal of having rice farmers switch from off-season rice this year to instead grow corn for animal feed on two million rai of land in 33 target provinces. 

 

He aims to reduce workplace risk to rice farmers and solve the issue of sagging agricultural product prices due to an oversupply that could drive many to call for government aid.

 

For this scheme to succeed, Grisada said farmers must have information about buying and selling prices and related conditions, as well as the demand for and supply of crops before starting the farming.

 

He said the government must also provide risk-reduction measures such as finding markets and buyers for farmers, with fair price offers, ahead of the harvest; providing insurance guaranteeing a minimum income to farmers or a fair purchasing price by the private sector; providing the crop insurance; and providing supports in term of information and capital/production factors.

 

The government has prepared four incentive measures. The first is a soft loan via the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to fund production and soil preparation at Bt2,000 per rai (for up to 15 rai per head), available for only 0.01 per cent interest per year. The second has the government facilitating the private sector in buying produce at or above a minimum price set by the Commerce Ministry. The third is an insurance scheme for which a farmer would pay Bt65 per rai in order to get Bt1,500 compensation per rai if a disaster ruins the crops. Finally, a policy that requires the BAAC to give a low-interest loan (at 1 per cent per year) to agricultural institutes to gather and buy corn.

 

Grisada said the provincial governors and district chiefs in target areas were collaborating with officials in planning operations to woo farmers to grow corn. Each province also has its own “war room” centre to see the scheme through.

 

Officials will be dispatched to target areas to inform the farmers about the scheme and its benefits, he said. Other teams of officials will coordinate with private companies in the area and centrally in order to set up produce-buying points, and to draw up related criteria and conditions for purchases and for futures contracts to ensure fairness and transparency for farmers, he said.

 

The Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary and related directors-general were also assigned to follow progress of scheme operations, said Grisada. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30356798

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-20

Not a good solution from a pollution perspective, corn stubble when burned is one of the very worst air polluters.

32 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach has ordered officials to proceed with a corn growing promotion

 

Are you going to provide the water for this project.????

30 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

 

Are you going to provide the water for this project.????

Rice takes more water to grow than corn.

Asians have rice as their staple food. Always had. Takes a lot of water to grow it. Water that may become scarce.
So, Thai Farmers are encouraged to grow Corn and possibly Wheat for export. The export revenue will be used to import rice from rice producing countries with export capabilities. Brilliant! Why diden't I think of this.
Of course, the problem will be solved by the time Thais start eating french "baguettes" instead of rice and consider this as their "staple-food".

Great and watch the price of corn plummet when they switch from rice.

They recently had a similar scheme for cassava which resulting in it's price falling to rock bottom and the farmers getting next to nothing for their efforts.

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

Moving ahead now would help achieve Grisada’s goal of having rice farmers switch from off-season rice this year to instead grow corn for animal feed on two million rai of land in 33 target provinces.

An utterly corny idea. This proposal is far too full of ifs & buts, with Grisada seemingly having little idea regarding demand and likely market prices for corn and having the naivety to casually pass the sales & marketing responsibilities on to the farmer. Many farmers, as they too will admit, are the simplest of people and having to make market assessments before they can make what, for them, could be a life-shaping change to their land management, would be one big step too many.

Call me a cynic, as I often am, but I'll eat corn with a camel if as much as a quarter of the notional 2 million rai gets the corn treatment. And the double cynic in me has me rubbing my chin and wondering if the scheme could all be just another rather unsubtle bit of electioneering.

56 minutes ago, swissie said:

Rice takes more water to grow than corn.

 

Oh No ! and about which word are we speaking about ?

corn in american isn't corn in english

Have you ever seen  huge corn plantations , for example in south west of France ;

If you can read french language 

 

http://www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr/multitemp/?p=7827

43 minutes ago, edwinchester said:

Great and watch the price of corn plummet when they switch from rice.

They recently had a similar scheme for cassava which resulting in it's price falling to rock bottom and the farmers getting next to nothing for their efforts.

If only someone here would realise they could use cassava to make bio-degradable (and edible!) non-plastic bags:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXklBP53VT4

 

53 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

 

Oh No ! and about which word are we speaking about ?

corn in american isn't corn in english

Have you ever seen  huge corn plantations , for example in south west of France ;

If you can read french language 

 

http://www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr/multitemp/?p=7827

I'm glad you've explained there's a difference - I had no idea.

Which one is the agriculture minister referring to, used for animal feed. Is that maize, corn, or something else?

The photo looks like sweetcorn? Or perhaps that photo could be a journalistic error too?

 

1 hour ago, Assurancetourix said:

 

Oh No ! and about which word are we speaking about ?

corn in american isn't corn in english

Have you ever seen  huge corn plantations , for example in south west of France ;

If you can read french language 

 

http://www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr/multitemp/?p=7827

The corn that I see, occasionally around Isan, is what is known in the US, Canada and other countries as maize, ie the hefty-stalked plant with the yummy kernels on top and just waiting to be boiled, buttered and scoffed. Sometimes called sweetcorn - to make it more marketable I suspect - it is still just 'maize'.

Just to add to the confusion, in many countries, including England and Scotland, 'corn' is the term used to refer to whatever grain is grown locally, eg wheat in England and oats in Scotland. So, when you recite your kid's bedtime nursery rhyme:

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
But where is the boy, who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haystack, he's fast asleep.
Will you wake him? No, not I,
For if I do, he's sure to cry.

 

just tell him/her that the cow wasn't actually in the corn, but in the wheat . . . or the oats maybe.

As regards its irrigation needs, I'm afraid I can't help there, either.????

Edited October 21, 20187 yr by Ossy
omisson

1 hour ago, bluesofa said:

I'm glad you've explained there's a difference - I had no idea.

Which one is the agriculture minister referring to, used for animal feed. Is that maize, corn, or something else?

The photo looks like sweetcorn? Or perhaps that photo could be a journalistic error too?

 

Sorry for my english, I'm from Brittany , not Great Britain 

 

Even we can speak about sweet corn or maise or corn for feeding cows; these two sort of corn need much water;

more than rice for sure.

The proposition to grow maize corn or wheat corn is stupid, as nearly all propositions coming from politic people who never worked a minute, sorry, a second  in their life.

In july/august planting rice and harvesting it in november;

and after planting corn  in dry season ? 

Corn need so much water to grow.. Where is the water ? In the empties barrages/dams ?

 

4 hours ago, swissie said:

Asians have rice as their staple food. Always had. Takes a lot of water to grow it. Water that may become scarce.
So, Thai Farmers are encouraged to grow Corn and possibly Wheat for export. The export revenue will be used to import rice from rice producing countries with export capabilities. Brilliant! Why diden't I think of this.
Of course, the problem will be solved by the time Thais start eating french "baguettes" instead of rice and consider this as their "staple-food".

Not sure if you could grow wheat here,does it not need a more temparate and less humid climate ?

And who is going to pay for all the new equipment for planting/growing/harvesting this corn ?, Let alone finding somewhere to buy it. This place gets funnier all the time.

8 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Not a good solution from a pollution perspective, corn stubble when burned is one of the very worst air polluters.

I totally agree - now the possibility of even more "smog" for Chiang Mai and other northern cities.

Short sighted idea IMO. They would be better if trying to improve the yield per area of seasonal rice (still one of the lowest in asia) and let nothing grow in dry season. Corn needs almost as much as water as rice.
I haven't seen much effort to promote upland rice (dry grown rice). This could be used locally and also imported.
Another thing is millet. Needs less water than corn. Thais don't like to eat it or at least not used to it.
In fact it is much more healthier than rice.
Anyway, you could export it or use as animal feed.

90 day crop. Also used in ethanol production.

6 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Which one is the agriculture minister referring to

Bank of Thailand refers to maize.

Market price 7.0baht/kg<14% for August 2018

Source: Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives

http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=491&amp;language=eng

I can just imagine the farmers face whilst he is being "Wooed" by this load of <deleted>

 

The government has prepared four incentive measures. The first is a soft loan via the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to fund production and soil preparation at Bt2,000 per rai (for up to 15 rai per head), available for only 0.01 per cent interest per year. The second has the government facilitating the private sector in buying produce at or above a minimum price set by the Commerce Ministry. The third is an insurance scheme for which a farmer would pay Bt65 per rai in order to get Bt1,500 compensation per rai if a disaster ruins the crops. Finally, a policy that requires the BAAC to give a low-interest loan (at 1 per cent per year) to agricultural institutes to gather and buy corn.

 

10 hours ago, rooster59 said:

solve the issue of sagging agricultural product prices due to an oversupply that could drive many to call for government aid.

I'm not sure about solving price issues.

Currently "the government continues to provide a 2,000 baht per rai (U.S. $390/hectare) direct payment (up to 15 rai per household or 30,000 baht/household (U.S. $937/household) for rice farmers participating in the Offseason CornExtension program to shift offseason production from rice to corn in MY2017/18."

So far as corn prices:

"MY2018/19 corn exports are forecast to decline to around 0.2 million metric tons, down 70 percent

from MY2017/18 as Thai corn prices will likely remain uncompetitive."

Furthermore:

While the "government is expected to maintain the import restrictions on feed wheat which require feed mills to purchase domestic corn at a guaranteed price floor prior to importing feed wheat".... the

"government still maintains a zero-tariff and quota-free corn import window from February 1–August 31, 2018 for Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar."

Thailand - Grain and Feed Annual 2018

https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent GAIN Publications/Grain and Feed Annual_Bangkok_Thailand_3-15-2018.pdf

If the government wants to force domestic prices higher, that's on the Thai People's satang.

Might as well just give rice farmers bigger subsidies.

 

A free, open, and competitive markets. 

Without manipulative interference and forced upon propositions. 

Allow the farmers to figure out their lives themselves.

 

 

Astounding [not really] that most miss the boat regarding said subject matter.

Consider the source.

25 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

A free, open, and competitive markets. 

Without manipulative interference and forced upon propositions.

A couple of big companies here wouldnt like that idea.

12 hours ago, swissie said:

Asians have rice as their staple food. Always had. Takes a lot of water to grow it. Water that may become scarce.
So, Thai Farmers are encouraged to grow Corn and possibly Wheat for export. The export revenue will be used to import rice from rice producing countries with export capabilities. Brilliant! Why animal I think of this.
Of course, the problem will be solved by the time Thais start eating french "baguettes" instead of rice and consider this as their "staple-food".

2

Thailand in facts imports a lot of corn(Maize ) CPF and Betagrow both import corn, for livestock feed, last year it was even imported from Cambodia, at less than Thai farmers could grow it , and reducing the local price of corn .

It will never be exported all, is used for animal feed.

Thailand can not grow Wheat as has been said climate not right, and apparently length of daylight not right, and If they could  grow wheat what would it be used for, not enough protein in the grain for bread, it would have to be for livestock feed, and they is no way they would be competitive  enough on the world market, just a no go. 

"Finding a market, and A fair  price offer  ahead of harvest", that will not work, all the years I have been in Thailand, most farmers are harvesting they crop, and then they do not know how much they are 

getting let alone, say a month before harvest and who will buy the corn local buyers will not pay above market price for certain ,will it have to be shipped around the county to find buyer ,normally local buyer buy the corn from the farmers ,and they sell it on to you're private sector  ie CPF ,and Betagrow,  and they will not pay above market price for certain they will just find another supplier, probably by importing more .

 

 

Can not see it working, some middlemen will make some money and in the end, it will be the farmers that lose out. 

As for equipment needed, all that is needed are seed drills, and fertilizer drills, ploughs are already used, and rice harvesters can be used to harvest maize.

5 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Bank of Thailand refers to maize.

Market price 7.0baht/kg<14% for August 2018

Source: Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives

http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=491&amp;language=eng

That is BS 14 % refers to the moisture of the crop, it has to be 14-15% moisture for safe storage, any higher the whole heap/ silo will heat up and spoil. 

 

A lot of farmers will harvest the crop at 20 -30%  weather will dictate moisture, the buyer will check the moisture before buying the crop if it is too high he will get a price reduction, the buyer is responsible  for drying the crop 

If a farmer did sell his crop at 14% moisture he would lose out the crop would be to dry to make any money.

As for 7baht /kg around here in August farmers where selling they crop at 5-5,50 baht/kg, depending on moisture.

I would say that 7baht/ kg, 14% moisture would be the price the farmer's buyer, middleman sells on the corn to the big feed companies, more BS from the government. 

So how many rai on these corn farms?  I've seen corn farms in North America and they are huge, hundreds of rai and very expensive to plant/harvest. Growing corn in  a couple rai of rice patties may not work so well.

12 hours ago, kickstart said:

As for equipment needed, all that is needed are seed drills, and fertilizer drills, ploughs are already used, and rice harvesters can be used to harvest maize.

Maybe you have this equipment up in the north but none here in the ne. The only thing around here are disc ploughs worthless for corn growing, I have tried to find a furrow plough and they dont even know what they are showing them a picture. And again who is going to pay for it ?

13 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

hundreds of rai and very expensive to plant/harvest.

Where my home in the us is if you are not farming >2000 acres its not worth it, small farms just wont make money. Sad fact/reality you are not going to feed 7-8 billion people small scale farming anymore.

Just off the cuff speaking with no farming experience; wouldn't soya a better off-season crop for rice? Rice for wet season and soya rather than corn during the dry season. Rice and corn prices are very fluid but soya seem more price resilient due to its export potential to Japan and China. With the current USA-China trade war and its effect on USA soya, does seem a much better proposition to grow soya.  

I think what many people miss out on any crop production is transportation and storage, both sorely lacking here in thailand, You can grow all the corn, soya, rice you want but if you cant get it in a timely manner to its buyer its going to waste. Kickstart makes a good point about farmers here not having a clue about what their yields will be on their land let alone their costs to produce, so how can you plan anything ? The big guys and middlemen control it all and it aint gonna change.

More pollution from burning the corn after harvest...

 

Price of corn will drop, CP Charoen 7/11 boss will be happy and make even more profit as the pork feed corn will be cheaper...

Big $$ talk for sure but not for the farmers...