Little rain expected so save water, pleads Ministry

By The Nation

 

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is calling on people everywhere to save water as this year’s rainy season is expected to remain drier than normal.

 

“There won’t be much rain between August and September,” the ministry’s permanent secretary Anan Suwannarat said on Monday, citing information from the Meteorological Department. “Rainfall for the whole wet season this year is likely to be between five and 10 per cent lower than normal.”

 

Anan called on farmers who have not yet sown seeds to postpone their usual activities.

 

Records show that medium and large reservoirs across the country are now just 49 per cent full, holding just 13,093 million cubic metres of disposable water.

 

Nakhon Ratchasima’s Phimai district, for example, is gripped by an ongoing drought despite the fact the country is well into its usual rainy season. Locals say the ongoing drought is the worst in 50 years: the Phimai Dam was less than 10 per cent full as of press time on Monday.

 

Without the water they need to even grow enough food to feed themselves many farmers have become so desperate they have even started going to the dam to collect snails to eat.

 

The Royal Irrigation Department’s director general Dr Thongplew Kongjun said his agency was now advising rice farmers to be self-sufficient. “If possible, use rainwater,” he said.

 

Dr Surasee Kittimonton, Director-General of the Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation Department, said his agency had already carried out more than 3,300 flights for cloud seeding over 149 million rai of farmland since March 1. “This is a very high number,” he saidฃฦ

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30373011

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand  2019-07-15

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13 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The Royal Irrigation Department’s director general Dr Thongplew Kongjun said his agency was now advising rice farmers to be self-sufficient. “If possible, use rainwater,” he said.

What rainwater sir? They needn't worry about Chinese or Indian tourists, this potential drought will wipe out a lot of farmers. We are indeed fortunate to have flowing water to pump when needed, I sympathize with all who see their future dried up. 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Without the water they need to even grow enough food to feed themselves many farmers have become so desperate they have even started going to the dam to collect snails to eat.

Things around here must be desperate all the time because my mother in law is always collecting snails and has been for the 20 years I've been coming here can't get enough,she can't even spend her 500 baht a month pension if she was 25 years younger I would have married her instead of her daughter who can spend 50,000 in a day!Yes what rain water we are not far from Phi Mai but looks like we have had a bit more rain than they have.I would say it's more like 50% percent less than normal. 

So what I see is "Dr Thongplew Kongjun said his agency was now advising rice farmers to be self-sufficient. “If possible, use rainwater,” he said."

But earlier "“There won’t be much rain between August and September,” the ministry’s permanent secretary Anan Suwannarat said"

 

Bit of a problem then???

If they say there will be a drought, prepare for big flooding !!  

Tell that to the golf courses and four crop a year farmers.

I am happy I wasn't the one rigging the elections to be in charge of a country on the brink of huge disaster.

 

 

Feel sorry for the Isaan farmers. Tough year for many.

11 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Things around here must be desperate all the time because my mother in law is always collecting snails and has been for the 20 years I've been coming here can't get enough,she can't even spend her 500 baht a month pension if she was 25 years younger I would have married her instead of her daughter who can spend 50,000 in a day!Yes what rain water we are not far from Phi Mai but looks like we have had a bit more rain than they have.I would say it's more like 50% percent less than normal. 

Only 50,000 in a day. She's not trying!

Ah Crap!

 

Will have to have only one shower a day from 1 large bottle of water (not even from the shower) compared to my usual 3/4 showers a day. 

My wife will love that 

"You stink!"

 

Don't forget "If it is yellow let it mellow

If it is brown flush it down"

30 minutes ago, tominbkk said:

Tell that to the golf courses and four crop a year farmers.

What 4 crops ? 

More details please !

How many days are there between August and September?

5-10% lower than normal?! Hell, it's lagging by greater than 50% in my neck of the woods.

9 minutes ago, malathione said:

5-10% lower than normal?! Hell, it's lagging by greater than 50% in my neck of the woods.

In my neck of the woods, it is more like 100% since we have no rain... at all! 

 

I mean zero rainfall since the beginning of July, and it doesn't look like it's gonna change soon. 

 

It is gonna be a double disaster for farmers. 

 

First, they gonna lose a great deal of their rice crop, then they gonna find themselves with no water because the underground water tables are not replenished. 

 

Right now, almost nobody seems to realize the consequences of this failed rain season, but going into the last quarter, many will feel the pain... 

3 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

In my neck of the woods, it is more like 100% since we have no rain... at all! 

 

I mean zero rainfall since the beginning of July, and it doesn't look like it's gonna change soon. 

 

It is gonna be a double disaster for farmers. 

 

First, they gonna lose a great deal of their rice crop, then they gonna find themselves with no water because the underground water tables are not replenished. 

 

Right now, almost nobody seems to realize the consequences of this failed rain season, but going into the last quarter, many will feel the pain... 

Dang! We got three days of pretty much continuous heavy rain that flooded about half paddies earlier this month and nothing since.

 

You're right, at this rate, gonna be a lot of locals in trouble by the end of the year.

I believe the lack of rainfall and water shortage is a lot more serious

than those in power release,but they will get around to try 

and do something about it,when there's no water left !,

 

6 weeks ago I put away my pump and pipes I use to draw

water for the garden from river at rear of house,I have had

to get them out again,due to lack of rain,I have never seen

the river so low at this time of year.

regards worgeordie

 

Quote

The Royal Irrigation Department’s director general Dr Thongplew Kongjun said his agency was now advising rice farmers to be self-sufficient. “If possible, use rainwater,” he said.

 

Be self-sufficient....another way of saying the govt can't help.

 

2 hours ago, alant said:

So what I see is "Dr Thongplew Kongjun said his agency was now advising rice farmers to be self-sufficient. “If possible, use rainwater,” he said."

But earlier "“There won’t be much rain between August and September,” the ministry’s permanent secretary Anan Suwannarat said"

 

Bit of a problem then???

For starters All the houses should have Guttering and a few water storage tanks . and there should more dams so they can collect the run of from paddocks and drains.The farmers should look into other crops that don't need as much water ,,,they do all the above  in other countries ,,,

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Rainfall for the whole wet season this year is likely to be between five and 10 per cent lower than normal.

We've had 50% more than last year already!

Tough year for Isaan rice farmers, tourist industry and exporters.  Did I miss anyone?

43 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

 

Be self-sufficient....another way of saying the govt can't help.

 

Be self sufficient.  Farmers, let your daughters marry foreigners—-wait, they already did... 

Where I live we have had two months of very heavy rain but the rain has dropped back a lot in the last couple of weeks I thought we were heading for a very wet year shame the rest of the country did not get the same

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

We've had 50% more than last year already!

Lucky you, any way you can send some to Eastern Isaan? 

1 hour ago, lipflipper said:

As for the idiot farmers who simply ignored the requests Not to keep on planting second and third rich crops in year despite the ominous signs that a drought was coming I feel absolutely no sympathy with their plight now. You idiots made you own bed now go lie in it. The only ones who are going to benefit will be the hoards of loan sharks in Issan and elsewhere who will gladly give money to these Bozos and extract high interest rates in return. Rice farming in Thailand is going to be severely affected and IMO Thailand will fall behind Vietnam and the Philippines in rice production. Thus adding to the overall economic downturn going on.

Sent from my CMR-AL19 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

It is very difficult to move from rice to other crops, for a number of reason. 

 

First, rice is not grown in regular fields, but in paddyfields, that is, swimming pool like fields, which are designed to retain water... good for the rice, not good for other crops... 

 

Then, the soil quality is very poor, having been overexploited and not enriched by decades of rice monoculture. 

 

In my area, the soil looks like a mix of sand and flour... not exactly good for growing anything other than grass. 

 

Finally, it costs a lot of money to change crops. 

 

If a farmer wants to stop growing rice, he first needs to refill the paddyfields with soil, which is very costly... tens of thousands of baht for a small farm... 

 

And while other crops generally need less water than rice, they still need a lot of it... which they won't get now that Isaan is quickly becoming a one season land... and unfortunately it is the summer season, the worst of the three former seasons... 

 

3 hours ago, sniggie said:

Only 50,000 in a day. She's not trying!

I forgot to mention that's on a slow day,and she never tries god forbid if she ever did try and don't even think out suggesting that to her!

It’s hissing down in Rawai right now....Pools full.. ponds full... i best go grab some buckets!

No rain here here in central Isaan for 7 weeks. I keep asking when the wet season will start.

 

1 hour ago, digger70 said:

For starters All the houses should have Guttering and a few water storage tanks . and there should more dams so they can collect the run of from paddocks and drains.The farmers should look into other crops that don't need as much water ,,,they do all the above  in other countries ,,,

Any suggestions on what sort of crops you are talking about that would grow over here?

3 hours ago, tominbkk said:

Tell that to the golf courses and four crop a year farmers.

the golf courses use their own water supplies, not town water or river water. When I played Inthanon G C in Feb their dams were already dry. The course hadn't been watered for over 1 week. If they've had as little rain as we have where I'm living in CM Province, then I can't see the Korean management saving the course at all. It was in disgraceful condition for a course of that caliber even then. So tominbkk please don't generalize about things like that when it's obvious you have NFI.

2 hours ago, Pib said:

 

 

Be self-sufficient....another way of saying the govt can't help.

 

I think you mean will not help rather than can't help.