Rice farmers have been asked not to plant a second crop, because there may not be enough water, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

Although no province has declared a drought yet, the ministry said that some areas are now experiencing water shortages and have advised farmers to exercise caution by avoiding second-crop cultivation and turning to crops which consume less water, if they want to continue cultivation in the dry season to make some extra income.

The ministry noted that the current main crop has already exceeded the target of about 480,000 hectares, adding that, although there is sufficient water to last through the dry season, it is intended to be used for consumption and ecological conservation until July.

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

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-03-19

 

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Good luck with that

asking to the farmers to cut their income by 50%

when most of them are already struggling with debts

what could possibly going wrong ?

1st crop sell most 2nd crop is for food in areas that are irrigated and can do 2 crops. 

1 hour ago, kingofthemountain said:

asking to the farmers to cut their income by 50%

Nope...That is not what they say.

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

advised farmers to exercise caution by avoiding second-crop cultivation

They are advising farmers that there will be a shortage of water and that crops might suffer because of it...

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

and turning to crops which consume less water, if they want to continue cultivation in the dry season to make some extra income.

... and to rather turn to crops witch uses less water could be more economically viable if they (the farmers) still want to continue farming during the dry months.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives are merely advising and cautioning, and from my perspective it is a very positive point to consider to Farmers as they still have time to change and plan their crops for the dry season.

Brilliant idea! Now, what crop should they plant in order to make up that shortfall?

1 hour ago, douglasspade said:

Nope...That is not what they say.

They are advising farmers that there will be a shortage of water and that crops might suffer because of it...

... and to rather turn to crops witch uses less water could be more economically viable if they (the farmers) still want to continue farming during the dry months.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives are merely advising and cautioning, and from my perspective it is a very positive point to consider to Farmers as they still have time to change and plan their crops for the dry season.

The shortage of water, wich is becoming the same year after year with the climate change

could be avoided building new reservoirs and maintening the existing ones

that's the job of the government, and obviously it's not done 

Now let's hope the rice farmers don't go all for the sugarcane crop

the air pollution caused by the burning fields is already at an alarming rate

18 minutes ago, djayz said:

Brilliant idea! Now, what crop should they plant in order to make up that shortfall?

Weed.

7 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

that's the job of the government, and obviously it's not done 

Around my village alone, 2 new channels was build last year and our existing channel was fixed up. That allowed water to be pumped to 2 of our dams and 4 other villages to fill up their re-excavated dams directly from the seasonal border river 'Chi' between Buriram and Surin. 

A huge dam constructed for the past 3 years on the Surin province side forest reserve has become operational in January filling up with water also from the river, The farmers on that side is farming crops there for the first time in winter.

Our district management granted us to use the new channels, pumps and management thereof at 180 Baht per Rai for 4 months starting in January to April this year. This allowed about a 1000 odd Rai to do a rice crop, fish to be stocked in ponds and many farmers also pumped water across from other underutilized ponds that allowed corn production on a larger scale as well as sun hemp, and mung bean I have never seen before in our village.

It is not hard for me to admit that the 'government' has done more than a bit around our district.

Not to mention the horrendous air pollution associated with the burn off and detriment to health implications. 

A post using a trolling image has been removed. 

8 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

that's the job of the government, and obviously it's not done 

But they continue to build roads - 2 more announced this morning despite there being congestion only in the cities.  Spending more on public transport systems would take many cars off the road.  There's obviously more commissions in roads than meets the eye.

9 hours ago, djayz said:

Brilliant idea! Now, what crop should they plant in order to make up that shortfall?

6 cannabis plants should do it?

This is brought up every year water shortages

They always seem to find money for anything to do with the Tourist industry

Maybe they should be looking at finding some for the Farmers  

In better water management practices 

 

3 hours ago, douglasspade said:

Around my village alone, 2 new channels was build last year and our existing channel was fixed up. That allowed water to be pumped to 2 of our dams and 4 other villages to fill up their re-excavated dams directly from the seasonal border river 'Chi' between Buriram and Surin. 

A huge dam constructed for the past 3 years on the Surin province side forest reserve has become operational in January filling up with water also from the river, The farmers on that side is farming crops there for the first time in winter.

Our district management granted us to use the new channels, pumps and management thereof at 180 Baht per Rai for 4 months starting in January to April this year. This allowed about a 1000 odd Rai to do a rice crop, fish to be stocked in ponds and many farmers also pumped water across from other underutilized ponds that allowed corn production on a larger scale as well as sun hemp, and mung bean I have never seen before in our village.

It is not hard for me to admit that the 'government' has done more than a bit around our district.

That's exactly what i was pointing in my post

As your post proves it, it could be done and it's done in some locations (Like your)

but for some reasons it seems most of the places are left to their sad fate by the authorities

A tropical country that has monsoonal floods most years still has not done enough to catch and store this gift of nature for its farmers and urban residents...but constantly talks about building high speed trains to nowhere spends billions on SE Asia's largest train station, and waste money buying submarines.

I'm no fan of this government but I'm sure I read on here somewhere that a number of reservoirs were to be built or expanded, mainly in Issan.

I have searched for the article, but to no avail I'm afraid.

 

7 hours ago, douglasspade said:

Around my village alone, 2 new channels was build last year and our existing channel was fixed up. That allowed water to be pumped to 2 of our dams and 4 other villages to fill up their re-excavated dams directly from the seasonal border river 'Chi' between Buriram and Surin. 

A huge dam constructed for the past 3 years on the Surin province side forest reserve has become operational in January filling up with water also from the river, The farmers on that side is farming crops there for the first time in winter.

Our district management granted us to use the new channels, pumps and management thereof at 180 Baht per Rai for 4 months starting in January to April this year. This allowed about a 1000 odd Rai to do a rice crop, fish to be stocked in ponds and many farmers also pumped water across from other underutilized ponds that allowed corn production on a larger scale as well as sun hemp, and mung bean I have never seen before in our village.

It is not hard for me to admit that the 'government' has done more than a bit around our district.

And now the rest of the country

I wonder......has someone taken all the water from the Mekong?

5 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

I wonder......has someone taken all the water from the Mekong?

yeah... long before it got anywhere near the Thai/Laos sector  

Just now, tifino said:

yeah... long before it got anywhere near the Thai/Laos sector  

I understand that 'someone' was running short of electricity and needed the water for hydroelectricity???

1 hour ago, Surelynot said:

1 hour ago, tifino said:

yeah... long before it got anywhere near the Thai/Laos sector  

I understand that 'someone' was running short of electricity and needed the water for hydroelectricity???

 CCP'land already has the most number of Coal power stations on the planet and another 148 or so being built. They are once again being greedy/hoarding 'Power' in more ways than one

2 hours ago, Surelynot said:

I wonder......has someone taken all the water from the Mekong?

Looks like it , Mekong today

pay them for not growing anything

18 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

The shortage of water, wich is becoming the same year after year with the climate change

could be avoided building new reservoirs and maintening the existing ones

that's the job of the government, and obviously it's not done 

Now let's hope the rice farmers don't go all for the sugarcane crop

the air pollution caused by the burning fields is already at an alarming rate

The problem with building new reservoirs etc is not in building or maintaining them but filling them up every year. I log on to the Thai Met Department and note the weather report including rainfall.

Kamphaeng Phet province has only the one weather centre for the whole province, and I have been downloading the reports for years. 2020 was the worst year for rainfall since I restarted recording in 2016.

I can guess that this year may be better than 2020 but not by much.

 

https://www.tmd.go.th/en/province.php?id=8

https://www.tmd.go.th/programs/uploads/ReportsGenMetnet/Daily/DailyObserved7AM-en.pdf 

They used to keep a running rainfall column here R1 Jan but discontinued it a while ago as it was so dismal.

8 hours ago, shackleton said:

This is brought up every year water shortages

They always seem to find money for anything to do with the Tourist industry

Maybe they should be looking at finding some for the Farmers  

In better water management practices 

 

In parts of the US, people pay big money to go to a ranch and for 2 weeks pretend they're living the life of cowboys.

Thailand can create Cannabis farms and let tourist pretend for 2 weeks that they are cannabis farmers. Of course much product sampling will be included. There would be millions lined up wanting to participate! Might even need to convert half the country to cannabis farming to meet the demand.

4 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Looks like it , Mekong today

OMG!

Too late, they already have up here in Isaan.

1 hour ago, Andycoops said:

Too late, they already have up here in Isaan.

Yup - there is a farm behind my house. Today, rain hammered down in Ubon and so the farmers are pumping water out of the lake into their fields right now. They've been at it since 8am.