I want to have a go at farming rubber trees.

The land is in That Panom. The far, far NE. Do you think there would be any weather worries? It gets firkin cold up there. I have 10 Rai. What kind of tree/area do y'recon i should be looking at? It seems the Thais have them too close together to me. I have reliable family to take care of them for me on that side of things. Its a "future for my child" thing. How many years till there's a regular crop? Im only 35, so i've got a while to make it work....

Any thoughts welcomed.

Plant at 3m x7m. Start milking 7th year. Sell the timber 21st year. I know nothing about your area though.

I want to have a go at farming rubber trees.

The land is in That Panom. The far, far NE. Do you think there would be any weather worries? It gets firkin cold up there. I have 10 Rai. What kind of tree/area do y'recon i should be looking at? It seems the Thais have them too close together to me. I have reliable family to take care of them for me on that side of things. Its a "future for my child" thing. How many years till there's a regular crop? Im only 35, so i've got a while to make it work....

Any thoughts welcomed.

Justaphase

Why rubber - what else have you considered, why - and what is it that makes you feel that such a long term (and it will be a good few years before you get a return as opposed to a lot of things that could start generating a return within a few months) project is the way to go?

Your motive (return for kids) is very honourable - congrats. It was one of my motives 20 years ago with respect to building up the land asset base I have - and has just started to pay off over the last few years. Looking back, I'm glad it wasn't in rubber plantations, and with great respect I do not believe 10rai of rubber would be/is going to be viable in the sense you are looking at it. I would think considerably more would be needed.

If you have 10 rai and the kids future is the prime motive - get planning permission, build on at least part of it (to set the precedent) - then sit back and wait. In 20 years time land with PP in Thailand will quadtriple in base value. I'm getting off topic now - this may not be an option in your case - so, back to the original question: what attracts you to rubber.

MF

Hi Maizefarmer.

I dont look at it as all my daughter will have. I just want something low maitainance, with a high demand that i can fall back on.

Sure i want to build on there too. I intend working (and saving) for 10 years yet, at least. My wifes family up there are really cool and i look at it as helping them too.

Rubber will always be needed, bird flu has screwed the chuck farmers, crops can fail...

mai loo muan gan.

I disagree with MF about investing into Rubber as compared to shorter season crops. When making a budget for example pumpkin , sweet corn, potato etc there is a break even point with the crop that you must reach before you make a return i.e seed, fert, chemical, irrigation expenses, and labour. Depending on which crop you grow you will require certain amount of product per rai to recoperate these costs. Then after this you require your profit. I am not saying rubber is any different to this but what I do believe that the chances of crop failure are less. And unless you are willing to work in the field day in day out I do not recommend annual cropping to anyone.

When you closely look at the figures of Rubber you have a large intial land purchasing cost, development planting maintenance and then a wait of 5-7 years before you recieve income. If you are able to afford this; and wait this time out with your money you are likley to make a good return overtime, with less risk than annual cropping.

After this waiting time of 5-7 years if you look just at direct inputs of fert, pruning, weeding, harvesting compared to income on annual bases it is about 40% ROI annually. IMPORTANT this is not calculating the intial investment (for 50 rai 3-4MB) for the first 5-7 years. But of course after approx 10-12 yrs the timber value will be approx 2MB and you will still have the initial land value that in principle should have doubled, in this time.

So after 5-7 years you would be looking at making a clear income of more than 30,000 baht a month from your 50 rai. Even if the rubber price drops to its lows of seven yrs ago and you have average yielding rubber you will still be breaking even on your inputs compared to outputs; and it is very hard to find any agricultural product offering this kind of return. The key is to have the money and be able to sit on it for 5-7 years.

If anyone questions these figures above please send me a PM so I can forward to you my calculations. These calculations are very much on the safe side.

I recommend approx 50 rai as being a good sized block that will add as a very nice top up, and if rubber prices stay strong a liveable pension.

SAP

SAP, the op said he only had 10rai, not 50 as your post calculates on, Also MF said that he didnt believe 10rai was enough, that he would need considerably more to be viable!

Justathought Justaphase, as MF suggested, get planning permission {if needed} outline where you want to build plus outbuildings ect, cultivate ground plant rubber trees and inter-crop with Makua, chillies, ect, this will give the family something to do while you are away grafting!

Good Luck with whatever you do mate, Lickey..

Thanx Lickey - yes, justaphase was referring to a 10rai size, not 50.

In any event, it was an option & opinion I was expressing, as opposed to a catogorical statement: no more or less valid than SAP's - whose comments are valid.

Though, as he notes himself one of the keys to his idea is the willingness to accept an idle time of 5 - 7 years befoe any return is generated.

Was there a typo error SAP - was the Baht30 000 for 50rai correct? If so, then that would equate to Baht 6 000 per 10 rai, or Baht 600 p/rai - which is a useless return by any standard. You did mean Baht30K for 10rai p/month did you not - which would mean Baht 3000 per rai p/month - far better (?).

I know little about rubber other than the barest of figures - and that in most cases it can be bettered. It's like maize, the larger the plantation the better the scale of economies.

MF

I have to admit I have vested interest in this business as our company is sub-dividing 1200 rai to sell to investors for rubber / palm oil plantations and then provide all requirements for planting, pruning, weeding, fertilizing etc.

I am sorry I mis-read

I have 10 Rai. What kind of tree/area do y'recon i should be looking at?

To mean" What kind of area do y'recon I should be l

I have to admit I have vested interest in this business as our company is sub-dividing 1200 rai to sell to investors for rubber / palm oil plantations and then provide all requirements for planting, pruning, weeding, fertilizing etc.

I am sorry I mis-read

I have 10 Rai. What kind of tree/area do y'recon i should be looking at?

To mean" What kind of area do y'recon I should be looking at?

SORRY-----but still I think that if you really want to get a good return from rubber 50 rai is a good ecnonmy to scale.

But back to some of those figures, I am trying to sell this concept and the last thing I want to do is "Promise the sun and deliver the moon"

The figure I quoted was profit for 50 rai (after deducting 1 yr of maintenance, fertilizer, and harvesting costs).

30,000 bt/mth

or

360,000 bt/yr

which is

7,200 bt/rai/yr

Which is based on the Thai national average of 288kg/rai/yr at current price 65 bt/kg

In Reality I believe a well maintained block should easily achieve rubber of 400 kg/rai/yr which would equate

close to

50,000 bt/mth

or

600,000 bt/yr

which is

12,000 bt/rai

Rememebr these returns are over inflated as it is not calculating the 5-7 year investment money and down time. But like I have said before if you have the cash and can sit and wait it out, I still think this is an attractive investment.

SAP