Northeastern drought stacks up Bt3 billion in damages

By The Nation

 

 

Damage from drought has reached an estimated Bt3 billion in the Northeast, according to report of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), while more than 800,000 rai (128,000 hectares) of farmland countrywide are thoroughly uncultivable and 10 million rai of crops will be dead standing.

 

Tassanee Muangkaew, the OAE assistant secretary-general revealed that based on Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives’ statistics as of August 15, the office has estimated the economic and agricultural damages from drought in northeastern region at approximately Bt3 billion.

 

“The most affected crop is rice, with 226,452 tonnes in 600,000 rai damaged, equivalent to Bt1.9 billion,” she said. “Corn for animal feed is in second place, with 104,353 tonnes in 130,000 rai affected, valued at Bt763 million. Meanwhile, damage to tapioca and sugarcane are estimated at Bt269 million and Bt130 million respectively.”

 

Tassanee added that of all the nation’s farmlands, OAE estimates that 10.87 million rai will suffer from a serious water shortage that leaves crops dead standing. Most of these areas are in the northeastern region, including Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Maha Sarakham, Phetchabun and Chaiyaphum.

 

OAE also reported that agricultural GDP in the first half of 2019 expanded at only 0.4 per cent compared to the same period of last year, and that the 2.5-3.5 per cent target set by the Agriculture Ministry is probably impossible to achieve.

 

“The reason behind this year’s severe drought is the El Niño phenomenon, which affected the climate change and increased average temperatures, as well as reduced rain quantity throughout the country,” said Tassanee.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30374878

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-16

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No sweat. The Thai Airways budget will cover it.......

And drought damage intensified by our ChiCom friends, who have dammed up the Mekong.  Chuck communist Fina.

On 8/17/2019 at 11:00 AM, Isaan sailor said:

And drought damage intensified by our ChiCom friends, who have dammed up the Mekong.  Chuck communist Fina.

The Mekong is just fine ... and he does not provide the missing rain anyway ... <deleted>, have people no clue about what they are talking?

Drought in the south of Issan, I guess ..
Because in our northern provinces of Issan , Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Nakon Phanom, Mukdahan, it's really the opposite; the floods are not far away.
In Sawang Daen Din, it has been raining almost continuously for more than 18 hours and it is not about to stop

30 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

Drought in the south of Issan, I guess ..
Because in our northern provinces of Issan , Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Nakon Phanom, Mukdahan, it's really the opposite; the floods are not far away.
In Sawang Daen Din, it has been raining almost continuously for more than 18 hours and it is not about to stop

In this area of Issan, we had no rain for 3 weeks until saturday, 2 days with intermittent rain, nothing much at all.

 

59 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

Drought in the south of Issan, I guess ..
Because in our northern provinces of Issan , Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Nakon Phanom, Mukdahan, it's really the opposite; the floods are not far away.
In Sawang Daen Din, it has been raining almost continuously for more than 18 hours and it is not about to stop

Here in Udon for the last week, it hasn't done much else, apart from rain. ????️

 

Although there have a few hot & sunny hours????, where I was able to 'wash my smalls'.

 

????

5 minutes ago, faraday said:

Here in Udon for the last week, it hasn't done much else, apart from rain. ????️

 

Although there have a few hot & sunny hours????, where I was able to 'wash my smalls'.

 

????

So you finally got round to washing your smalls..... Wow first time this year.????

Much more of this bad news and the generals will have to bring some money back????

Not much rain around ChokChai. Our water storage is just about gone. Need proper rain this week.

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

In this area of Issan, we had no rain for 3 weeks until saturday, 2 days with intermittent rain, nothing much at all.

 

That's why your province is listed in the article in the OP.

 

6 minutes ago, sherwood said:

Not much rain around ChokChai. Our water storage is just about gone. Need proper rain this week.

And yours.

 

38 minutes ago, faraday said:

Here in Udon for the last week, it hasn't done much else, apart from rain. ????️

 

Although there have a few hot & sunny hours????, where I was able to 'wash my smalls'.

 

????

Just about right and most of the rain falls overnight which makes for cooler and fresher mornings. We managed to catch about 3 and half hours sunshine between heavy showers yesterday lunchtime so the kids had a grand time the local beach.

I think someone needs to truly evaluate the viability of these so-called "monkey cheeks", the Royal Irrigation Department and all the sycophants that hang out there.

It is hard to imagine what sort of dent this loss of of rice is going to make to the already dismal export figures. At least they have the lack of rain to blame rather than the usual US/China trade conflict. 

One thing is certain, they wont blame themselves for their lack of initiative for water storage and preservation measures. 

 

39 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

It is hard to imagine what sort of dent this loss of of rice is going to make to the already dismal export figures. At least they have the lack of rain to blame rather than the usual US/China trade conflict. 

One thing is certain, they wont blame themselves for their lack of initiative for water storage and preservation measures. 

 

Queue the 2020 Thailand rice imports subsidy scam.