Farmers to be asked not to plant second rice crop due to water shortage

[webfact]

Farmers to be asked not to plant second rice crop due to water shortage

 

 

Farmers in the Chao Phraya River basin may not be able to plant their second rice crop for the 2019-20 season due to insufficient water to meet the demand.

 

According to the Royal Irrigation Department, only 6 billion cubic metres (m3) of water will be available for use throughout the forthcoming dry season from the four main reservoirs, namely Bhumibol, Sirikit, Kwae Noi Bamrung Dan and Pasak Cholasit.

 

Although, the remainder of the rainy season, which lasts until the end of this month, will bring another 752 million cubic metres of rain water, the Royal Irrigation Department predicts that there will not be enough water to support a second crop. 

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/farmers-to-be-asked-not-to-plant-second-rice-crop-due-to-water-shortage/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-10-09

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[thaibeachlovers]

Sooooo, government going to compensate them for lost income? LOL.

The government has wasted too much money on stupid things and not on building dams etc.

It's their fault, not the poor farmers, that already are just surviving.

[bheard]

I'd suggest that those farmers lucky enough to have inherited land in areas where two crops can be grown are not those "poor" farmers you write about.

Sooooo, government going to compensate them for lost income? LOL.
The government has wasted too much money on stupid things and not on building dams etc.
It's their fault, not the poor farmers, that already are just surviving.

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[Oziex1]

I've been reading this for the last few years, does it happen? 

[ukrules]

This won't be popular with the local peasantry, most of them grow the food they eat.

 

What should they eat if they don't grow the food they eat?

 

[jerojero]

Hey! Now the farmers have time to get a ride in those shiny new military troop carriers, or aboard a sub, or a night at the Navy Boss's mansion. THAT will make the farmers happy while enjoying no income. Oh the true joy of being a serf, destitution. The wasted billions PM spent on military toys while dams and reservoirs needed to be built. Sad. But they are only serfs.

[RichardColeman]

 

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

This won't be popular with the local peasantry, most of them grow the food they eat. What should they eat if they don't grow the food they eat?

7/11 sell cake

[briansbiology]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

This won't be popular with the local peasantry, most of them grow the food they eat.

 

What should they eat if they don't grow the food they eat?

 

let them eat cake. 

[Geoffggi]

So how about cancelling Songkran next year.....???

[Assurancetourix]

3 hours ago, bheard said:

I'd suggest that those farmers lucky enough to have inherited land in areas where two crops can be grown are not those "poor" farmers you write about.

 

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Right ; poor farmers in Issan , surely , but not along Chao Praya river ;

if farmers can sell a significant part of their crops they aren't poor .

 

One of my brother in law has about 15 rai of rice;

it's not enough for living all the year; so he must work as a mixer truck driver sometimes ....

I buy all my rice from him at a better price than the market .

 

For a normal family 8 to 10 rai of hom mali rice ( 40 % )  and sticky rice ( 60 % ) are enough .

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

This won't be popular with the local peasantry, most of them grow the food they eat.

What should they eat if they don't grow the food they eat?

No problem, they can eat submarines, armoured personnel carriers, or helicopters the military have wasted taxpayers money on. After all they won't be used for anything useful.

 

[robblok]

Not sure why everyone is blaming the government, unless they can control the weather there is not much to be done. 

 

Besides farmers should not be able to use all the water and let others suffer for their greed. Water for normal households should come first.

[bluesofa]

14 minutes ago, robblok said:

Not sure why everyone is blaming the government, unless they can control the weather there is not much to be done. 

 

Besides farmers should not be able to use all the water and let others suffer for their greed. Water for normal households should come first.

Of course the government can control the weather. We've seen our PM kissing frogs as part of his awesome weather-controlling powers.

[wgdanson]

18 minutes ago, robblok said:

Not sure why everyone is blaming the government, unless they can control the weather there is not much to be done. 

 

Besides farmers should not be able to use all the water and let others suffer for their greed. Water for normal households should come first.

Grow 'hemp' instead, then everybody would be happy.

[Creasy]

Silly serfs.

 

No need for a second crop.

 

Live it up and go and explore Thailand with the 1000 baht the generous government is handing out.

[thequietman]

51 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

No problem, they can eat submarines, armoured personnel carriers, or helicopters the military have wasted taxpayers money on. After all they won't be used for anything useful.

 

Hey, hey, hey ! They are for national security!

 

Come on now, take it seriously.

[loong]

Is there any research to produce rice with less water.

I think that I read before that it takes 5000 litres of water to grow 1kg rice. That's a huge amount.

[Samuel Smith]

5 minutes ago, loong said:

Is there any research to produce rice with less water.

I think that I read before that it takes 5000 litres of water to grow 1kg rice. That's a huge amount.

I think that other countries have done the research, but that wont count ????

[bluesofa]

3 minutes ago, Samuel Smith said:

I think that other countries have done the research, but that wont count ????

Is that won't count or can't count?

 

Googling "produce rice with less water" shows lots of results.

They probably won't like this one, it will cause a loss of face:

"With a focus on India – a country which faces a major water crisis, yet has the world’s largest rice cultivated area – the study found that the system of rice intensification (SRI) method has helped increase yields by over 30% — four to five tonnes per hectare instead of three tonnes per hectare, while using 40% less water than conventional methods."

source:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071014202450.htm 

[Samuel Smith]

1 minute ago, bluesofa said:

Is that won't count or can't count?

 

Googling "produce rice with less water" shows lots of results.

They probably won't like this one, it will cause a loss of face:

"With a focus on India – a country which faces a major water crisis, yet has the world’s largest rice cultivated area – the study found that the system of rice intensification (SRI) method has helped increase yields by over 30% — four to five tonnes per hectare instead of three tonnes per hectare, while using 40% less water than conventional methods."

source:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071014202450.htm 

I meant exactly as you have illustrated, but Thai's will have to ignore that from foreigners & start their research from scratch.

 

Maybe they have done the research & ignored it.

[seajae]

problem is farmers are too fixed in their ways and refuse to listen to anyone else or try something different. Every year we see the govt ask them not to plant a second crop but they still do it and then whinge and ask for help when it fails due to lack of water, they just refuse to listen. This has happened under other govts  so its nothing new, farmers need to change the way they do things but many simply refuse to do so, it is not good for them but they can change it if they really want to, problem is they dont want to change or listen to anyone else

[bluesofa]

12 minutes ago, seajae said:

problem is farmers are too fixed in their ways and refuse to listen to anyone else or try something different. Every year we see the govt ask them not to plant a second crop but they still do it and then whinge and ask for help when it fails due to lack of water, they just refuse to listen. This has happened under other govts  so its nothing new, farmers need to change the way they do things but many simply refuse to do so, it is not good for them but they can change it if they really want to, problem is they dont want to change or listen to anyone else

I take your point.

As has been said already about other countries successfully using less water and improved methods, perhaps it needs a rice farm doing this in Thailand to be publicised to other farmers?

Then it will not only be seen to work in Thailand, but will show it's relevant here, as well as increasing rice yield (as per the link I posted regarding India doing this).

 

I have absolutely no experience in farming, but posting in the hope something might be done. A big 'might' I know.

 

[alan grice]

The fact that the overvalued Bht and its not exporting is purely coincidental.!.[emoji85]


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[IraqRon]

If I am a Thai rice farmer I would go ahead and plant, maybe using 50 or 70 pc less seed, no fertilizer, no spraying pesticide or other chems, wait for the inevitable buy out during the drought by the govt. and claim full comp. as if I had planted and cultivated as usual, thus finally turning a profit.  Also then obtain easy loans from the farmers bank which I will never repay.

 

This is the american way done for Thailand.

[CGW]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The government has wasted too much money on stupid things and not on building dams etc.

Not a lot of point building dams if there is no water to fill them, the largest reservoir in the NE Udonrat is close to empty, they need to change the crops they are growing, but that aint easy without huge investment as not a lot else grows in rice paddies!

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, robblok said:

Not sure why everyone is blaming the government, unless they can control the weather there is not much to be done. 

 

Besides farmers should not be able to use all the water and let others suffer for their greed. Water for normal households should come first.

Plenty of rain in the rainy season, but most is lost. Build lots of small dams to retain the water.

[thaibeachlovers]

58 minutes ago, CGW said:

Not a lot of point building dams if there is no water to fill them, the largest reservoir in the NE Udonrat is close to empty, they need to change the crops they are growing, but that aint easy without huge investment as not a lot else grows in rice paddies!

Perhaps the largest reservoir is in the wrong place to catch the rain water that does fall.

For the cost of one submarine they could probably build a network of canals to move rain water from where it falls to where it doesn't.

[thaibeachlovers]

7 hours ago, bheard said:

I'd suggest that those farmers lucky enough to have inherited land in areas where two crops can be grown are not those "poor" farmers you write about.

 

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I'd suggest that those farmers will become poor if they can't grow two crops.

[FarFlungFalang]

4 minutes ago, Mansinthe said:

Couldnt they plant potatos or something else instead?

 

Isnt the rice market oversaturated anyway with huge stock piles of the stuff?

 

They could grow cannabis instead and kick off the industry then the farmers could get income or is that income reserved for the elite?

[loong]

3 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Is that won't count or can't count?

 

Googling "produce rice with less water" shows lots of results.

They probably won't like this one, it will cause a loss of face:

"With a focus on India – a country which faces a major water crisis, yet has the world’s largest rice cultivated area – the study found that the system of rice intensification (SRI) method has helped increase yields by over 30% — four to five tonnes per hectare instead of three tonnes per hectare, while using 40% less water than conventional methods."

source:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071014202450.htm 

Thanks for the link Bluesofa.

Very interesting.