Best Use of 3 Rai of Arable Land

[Pilotman]

Recommendations please on how to get the best arable return on 3 Rai of land, preferably without having to work the land as a farmer, e.g.  Eucalyptus trees, Bamboo, Sunflowers? . 

[dick turpin]

Marijuana ?

[LosLobo]

Durian!

 

The buyer will even pick the fruit for you!

[northsouthdevide]

Mango's don't need much caring for, and can grow in just about any soil, needing little water once they pass 2m in height.

[LosLobo]

5 hours ago, northsouthdevide said:

Mango's don't need much caring for, and can grow in just about any soil, needing little water once they pass 2m in height.

Annualized returns on mango is 15% , durian is 20% so why would you?

 

Source : plantationsinternational.com

Edited April 14, 2021 by LosLobo

[kickstart]

20 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Durian!

You have got to ask the OP where he is  ,Durian will not grow any where ,most are grown down south ,also Chonburi and Chantanarburi .

Mango's are  a better bet.  

[nycjoe]

We are in Isaan, about 40 K from Laos, We have 50 rai, when we built the house we planted a variety of fruit trees which took 5 years before they bore fruit. We have rice and palm on much of the land. My wife family are farmer so they do the heavy lifting. Lychee are in fruit now and we sold all fruit from first tree in one day. Mangoes are coming soon. We get our plant products from Maejo university organics department. they mail them to us. I am thinking of paying a senior at an agricultural college to come and visit and make a plan for that makes bet use of the land. My son in law also lives on the land and raises pigs. I am having a ball watching the family grow and prosper.

[arby]

hass and fuerte avocados

[PGSan]

On 4/14/2021 at 1:45 PM, kickstart said:

Durian will not grow any where ,most are grown down south ,also Chonburi and Chantanarburi .

I thought that the hugely expensive ones come from Nonthaburi?

[GreasyFingers]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:08 PM, Pilotman said:

Recommendations please on how to get the best arable return on 3 Rai of land, preferably without having to work the land as a farmer, e.g.  Eucalyptus trees, Bamboo, Sunflowers? . 

Depends on how long you want to wait for a return. the least work is durian (but slow growing) if they will grow in your area, mangoes require work (pruning etc) as do any cash crop and don't forget about weeding between the crop. Do you have water for the dry season?

Whatever you do it will not be easy as everyone would have done it already. So sorry I cannot really help as the wife's farming adventures have all resulted in a loss but keeps her busy and happy.

[Stevemercer]

Isan gets much less rainfall than the south and coastal areas and most of the crops suggested above will be hard work to establish. Whatever you grow you will need water supplied to the land (e.g. bore and electricity for the pump).

 

I would suggest Mulberry Trees. They grow surprisingly well in Isan and the fruit is surprisingly sweet and tasty. The trees will need water for the first few years, but then should be ok. Even a small tree, after 2 years, is surprisingly prolific.

 

My neighbour grows them and charges 100 Baht for people to go and pick them in a basket she supplies. 

 

If you don't want to supply water to the land, then Eucalyptus is the easiest crop. After 3 or 4 years you can sell them as poles. After 5 years you can get a bit ore selling them for pulp.

[sagra]

30 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

Isan gets much less rainfall than the south and coastal areas and most of the crops suggested above will be hard work to establish. Whatever you grow you will need water supplied to the land (e.g. bore and electricity for the pump).

 

I would suggest Mulberry Trees. They grow surprisingly well in Isan and the fruit is surprisingly sweet and tasty. The trees will need water for the first few years, but then should be ok. Even a small tree, after 2 years, is surprisingly prolific.

 

My neighbour grows them and charges 100 Baht for people to go and pick them in a basket she supplies. 

 

If you don't want to supply water to the land, then Eucalyptus is the easiest crop. After 3 or 4 years you can sell them as poles. After 5 years you can get a bit ore selling them for pulp.

For Eucalyptus, not too big of a return. My friend has 10 rai and sells them every four years and gets about 100,000 Baht for them. On the plus side, virtually no work. The buyers come and cut them down and take them. That Phanom area

Edited April 15, 2021 by sagra

[LosLobo]

On 4/14/2021 at 4:15 PM, kickstart said:

You have got to ask the OP where he is  ,Durian will not grow any where ,most are grown down south ,also Chonburi and Chantanarburi .

Mango's are  a better bet.  

Chanthaburi, Rayong and Chumpon now grow nearly 90% of Thailand’s durian.

[kickstart]

6 hours ago, nycjoe said:

We are in Isaan, about 40 K from Laos, We have 50 rai, when we built the house we planted a variety of fruit trees which took 5 years before they bore fruit. We have rice and palm on much of the land. My wife family are farmer so they do the heavy lifting. Lychee are in fruit now and we sold all fruit from first tree in one day. Mangoes are coming soon. We get our plant products from Maejo university organics department. they mail them to us. I am thinking of paying a senior at an agricultural college to come and visit and make a plan for that makes bet use of the land. My son in law also lives on the land and raises pigs. I am having a ball watching the family grow and prosper.

You have Fifty rie, a fair bit of land  here in Thailand,  you have the land, if one crop  does fail ,or the selling price has dropped ,you have got something else to fall back on,

The op only has three rie ,a completely different ball game not many options as has been said water could be a problem  .

I have a Thai friend who is planting hardwood trees Teak, Mahogany ,he will not be around for the harvest ,Teak could be an option ,a 10-year cycle ,low maintenance  once they get going , as has been said Eucalyptus ,always a market. 

[Michael Hare]

3 rai is a small area. Why not try growing grass to sell as fresh forage? You can cut every 40-45 days. If you don't want to cut yourself, some customers will give you a contract price and cut it themselves.

 

[Eric Loh]

I suggest you grow bamboo. Fast growing, less labour intensive than other cash crops. Anywhere from 200 to 1,000 plants can be ciltivated per 1 acre. However you need to talk to the foresty experts to select specie/s suitable to your soil. 

[IsaanAussie]

3 hours ago, Michael Hare said:

3 rai is a small area. Why not try growing grass to sell as fresh forage? You can cut every 40-45 days. If you don't want to cut yourself, some customers will give you a contract price and cut it themselves.

 

Excellent idea. I have a similar size block of Mulato II for this wet season. Locals will buy, cut and carry as needed to feed their cattle during the rice season. You can also charge to run it through a chaff cutter.

[rumak]

20 hours ago, Stevemercer said:

After 3 or 4 years you can sell them as poles.

 

I tried selling mine as poles ........ but they were so tall and skinny everyone insisted they must be danes

[rumak]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:08 PM, Pilotman said:

Recommendations please on how to get the best arable return on 3 Rai of land, preferably without having to work the land as a farmer, e.g.  Eucalyptus trees, Bamboo, Sunflowers? . 

 

I agree with GFingers that you probably are not going to get rich being a farmer.  I planted 6 rai of mangoes..... wasn't that much work to take care but we had a water system which required only flicking a switch which activated the deep water pump .  This was in Lamphun province,  good dirt and good underground water.

After 5 years we had nice mangos,  and we also had a veg garden, assorted fruit trees.

Wife did most of the work   LOL    All the farms around there are mostly lomyai or mango orchards.   Only a few make much money,   though most make a little.   The prices for mangos have been pathetic,  like 6 to 10 baht a kilo .  This year i am not sure.

 

We did it for "fun".   for learning,   and to enjoy making the land look nice.  Sold the farm last year.   You could of had a nice place !   Land in that area is around 3 to 4 thousand a rai.

Edited April 16, 2021 by rumak

[adexbe]

On 4/13/2021 at 3:18 PM, dick turpin said:

Marijuana ?

 

the only good choice !

 

[kickstart]

On 4/16/2021 at 7:22 AM, Michael Hare said:

3 rai is a small area. Why not try growing grass to sell as fresh forage? You can cut every 40-45 days. If you don't want to cut yourself, some customers will give you a contract price and cut it themselves.

 

A good idea ,but the OP has not said what the land was originally growing ,if it was rice fields ,he will have to do some work in getting rid of the water Multo II will not grow in old rice fields as soon as the rains come ,it sits in water it will die ,it does not like wet land , the same could be said about young trees  Paspalum Atratum will grow on wet land.but has a palatability problem .

Also are they cattle in his area, and will the farmers come and cut the grass, some will say ,I can cut it from the roadside for free ,some will think good quality grass will make the cattle grow faster worth the cost .

He will have to use some urea fertilizer ,and how will he cost it out ,so he can make some money. 

[Pilotman]

30 minutes ago, kickstart said:

A good idea ,but the OP has not said what the land was originally growing ,if it was rice fields ,he will have to do some work in getting rid of the water Multo II will not grow in old rice fields as soon as the rains come ,it sits in water it will die ,it does not like wet land , the same could be said about young trees  Paspalum Atratum will grow on wet land.but has a palatability problem .

Also are they cattle in his area, and will the farmers come and cut the grass, some will say ,I can cut it from the roadside for free ,some will think good quality grass will make the cattle grow faster worth the cost .

He will have to use some urea fertilizer ,and how will he cost it out ,so he can make some money. 

The 3 Rai is for Mrs P to play with, nothing serious on our part and I expect it to cost us some money, rather than make any, but I would like to keep any loss to a minimum  and I do want her to treat it seriously, if only as a hobby. It is actually 10 Rai , split between 2 other siblings . so they do need to coordinate their efforts to make the most of it. The land has been left to nature for many, many years. probably generations, and as far as we can can tell, it has never been farmed. 

[kickstart]

13 hours ago, Pilotman said:

The 3 Rai is for Mrs P to play with, nothing serious on our part and I expect it to cost us some money, rather than make any, but I would like to keep any loss to a minimum  and I do want her to treat it seriously, if only as a hobby. It is actually 10 Rai , split between 2 other siblings . so they do need to coordinate their efforts to make the most of it. The land has been left to nature for many, many years. probably generations, and as far as we can can tell, it has never been farmed. 

If that land was in my area left for many years ,it would be full of trees and bushes ,that would need some serious work/money  to get it cleared.

If your land has nothing growing on it for all that time I would have a good look at the fertility  of the land.

By what you say the odds of just ploughing it up and growing something that makes money seems remote. ......but I could be wrong .

[farmerjo]

14 hours ago, Pilotman said:

It is actually 10 Rai , split between 2 other siblings

What do the others think.

[1FinickyOne]

open a mini mart... 

[Pilotman]

3 hours ago, kickstart said:

If that land was in my area left for many years ,it would be full of trees and bushes ,that would need some serious work/money  to get it cleared.

If your land has nothing growing on it for all that time I would have a good look at the fertility  of the land.

By what you say the odds of just ploughing it up and growing something that makes money seems remote. ......but I could be wrong .

it is indeed covered  with some trees, bushes and grasses. 

[Pilotman]

2 hours ago, farmerjo said:

What do the others think.

Haven't asked, don't care,  they can sort it out between them.   I never get involved in their family 'discussions'.

[Alex2554]

On 4/16/2021 at 2:40 PM, rumak said:

Land in that area is around 3 to 4 thousand a rai.

What currency? Here in Buriram 300000-400000 Bht

[rumak]

Just now, Alex2554 said:

What currency? Here in Buriram 300000-400000 Bht

ooops   sorry .    Yes,  sam sen to sii sen baht     300k-400k      thanks for catching that

[2009]

Cashew trees