Drought forces farmer to abandon rice harvest hopes

[webfact]

Drought forces farmer to abandon rice harvest hopes

By The Nation

 

 

A farmer in Nakhon Ratchasima province was forced by the severe drought to cut all the rice stalk in his 70-rai field (11.2 hectares) and turn it into livestock feed that fetches a lower price.

 

Boonlieng Phonphimai said on Sunday (August 9) that his rice was seriously affected by the drought this year and it was no longer profitable.

 

He then had to make some of the toughest choices by cutting alll the rice stalk to make it livestock feed instead of waiting for the rains to save the plantation which might not happen.

 

The farmer said he had invested Bt40,000 on this plantation so it would be better if he had something in return from selling the feed but he still hoped that the rice might grow again if he had enough luck.

 

Boonlieng was not the only farmer to suffer from the drought. Several farmers in the province had experienced the same fate and asked the government to find the solution for this long-lasting issue.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30392700

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-08-09

 

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[TooBigToFit]

One thing to know about farmer's cutting the rice stalks is that the rice stalks can grow back. I don't know exactly how it works but it's done often up in Surin because we have dry years too often. The picture above shows a farmer cutting really long stalks but usually what I see are farmers cutting shorter stalks so there may be a difference if the stalk hasn't grown too much it might still be able to grow back.

 

Anyways, the weather has been crappy for a decade with inspiring rains starting in May which the farmer usually start planting on followed by a break of usually three weeks to a month or so of drought again then followed by rains coming in from the typhoons or their remnants. This year the weather has been very dry and there hasn't been a lot of activity coming from the South China Sea area. They say the Atlantic hurricane season is going to be heavier than normal and that has yet to be seen. So, maybe Thailand's northeast will get heavy rains soon from typhoons out this way. There seems to be some polarization of the Atlantic and Pacific in the way big storms develop in my view. When they have a big one over in the Gulf of Mexico, we get something over here.

[Isaan sailor]

“Abandon ye hope, all who enter here.”

Dante—Divine Comedy

[hotchilli]

Maybe time to think about using a different variety, one which is more tolerant of dry climates, or change crops?

[Bender Rodriguez]

if your business model fails over and over, time to look for another job

 

or one of them drought resistant crops ... weed ?

[khwaibah]

4 hours ago, TooBigToFit said:

One thing to know about farmer's cutting the rice stalks is that the rice stalks can grow back. I don't know exactly how it works but it's done often up in Surin because we have dry years too often. The picture above shows a farmer cutting really long stalks but usually what I see are farmers cutting shorter stalks so there may be a difference if the stalk hasn't grown too much it might still be able to grow back.

 

Anyways, the weather has been crappy for a decade with inspiring rains starting in May which the farmer usually start planting on followed by a break of usually three weeks to a month or so of drought again then followed by rains coming in from the typhoons or their remnants. This year the weather has been very dry and there hasn't been a lot of activity coming from the South China Sea area. They say the Atlantic hurricane season is going to be heavier than normal and that has yet to be seen. So, maybe Thailand's northeast will get heavy rains soon from typhoons out this way. There seems to be some polarization of the Atlantic and Pacific in the way big storms develop in my view. When they have a big one over in the Gulf of Mexico, we get something over here.

I'm in Kap Choeng/Surin and we are doing ok for rain, not fantastic but ok. The wife cut back last year on the rice only because it was just to much for so little. She took about 18 rai and turned it into her garden with a 50 meter square pond. She sells the produce in TOPS market Surin. This year we are getting more rain. It depends on your location.

[Michael Hare]

With broadcast rice, sown in May or June, it is very common to cut the fields, especially if they are weedy, in late July-early August. This allows the rice plants to grow more quickly above the weeds, but only if decent rain falls in August and September. Years ago this cutting was never practised, because farmers always hand-planted rice later in the wet season into standing water which was normally weed-free. 

[tso310]

Getting enough rain now is not the problem, its getting enough to refill the reservoirs and the underground aquifers for the winter. Looking at the figures on Thaiwater.net for the major reservoirs, Nang Rong (Buriram province) is a disaster but Ubon looks far better.