Price Of Rice

[Joe Walshe]

Wife's just been on the phone to her Mum in Chumphae. Bottom line is that 30 rai of sicky rice that costs in the region of 30,000 baht to grow is worth 13,000 baht if sold locally. This surprises me as I read on this forum that Thai sticky rice prices have doubled due to shortage of sticky rice in china. China, I belive, wants to buy 50,000 tons of sticky rice from Thailand. Seems to me the local farmers are being screwed - again.

Not huge issue for us as we will keep most of the rice for personal consumption. Had only intended selling some. Farmers whose main livelyhood is growing rice must be hurting.

Any views or opinions most welcome.

[chownah]

Farmer's here are getting 8.30 baht per kilogram for sticky rice and the price is slowly creeping up. 13,000 baht at 8.30 baht per kilo means that your mother in law raised 1,566 kilo of rice and if it took 30 rai to grow this then that means that the yield was about 50 kilo per rai. My yield this year was 575 kilograms per rai for sticky rice and I had extensive blow down (rice plants that fell over before the rice was mature) so I know that other farmers did better than me. It should take less than 3 rai to grow that 1,566 kilo.

Your scenerio doesn't make sense at all.....something is wrong with it.

Chownah

[C-sip-degree]

Chownah

Your figures are very close to mine per Rai, we tend to work loosely around the 500kg with husk, thou.

Question:

Do you hand plant, or throw.

Do you hand cut or machine cut.

If machine cut do you dry your rice out after this?

I’m not a virgin when it comes to rice growing, like yourself I’m sure, a simple yes or no is enough. Thanks

Joe…says

Seems to me the local farmers are being screwed - again.

Farmers whose main livelihood is growing rice must be hurting.

Joe in our rural area it’s a very consistent screw so nobody can really differentiate the depth or width of the stroke from year to year.

As fuel prices drive-up, folks are catching on one would hope?

Or maybe this is incorrect OK I’ll start again as Lao kaao prices are driven-up people are catching on.

No maybe this is not true either because as the price on Lao kaao goes up more folks are brewing and distilling there own.

So basically nothing has changed the price of rice hasn’t change much in the last 5 years, as long as there is holidays, local Rong pleng or Mar-lumm-sing, Sang-keet parties, Wedding parties and Funeral in the rural areas all’s fine take it or leave it I guess.

I am also in a dwell (like with the gnomes and fairies) about farming and find that the amount you put in is ridiculous for the amount of return. So I call it subsidized living which makes me feel better and try to achieve this and create local jobs.

You will do well with the eucalypts for sure, we have spoken before so just wait till later, or if you want too get a better idea cut one Rai yourself with some help of cause and transport and sell. You know the deal is never true until the money has transferred; talk/bullshit is always there.

I tend to feel that 13k per Rai is a bit high but then I haven’t seen the trees in question.

.

Anyway, Chownah has pointed out there is something going wrong with the 30 Rai of sticky. True?

As for Cattle prices well again,

I don’t really worry about the price these days are cattle farm breaks even every year, creates a job and keeps the farm tidy.

What more could one ask for?

Best of Luck

C-Sip.

[chownah]

Chownah

Your figures are very close to mine per Rai, we tend to work loosely around the 500kg with husk, thou.

Question:

Do you hand plant, or throw.

Do you hand cut or machine cut.

If machine cut do you dry your rice out after this?

This is the first year that I have taken total charge of a rice crop....before I always watched (and helped) while my wife was in charge. This year I planted seed in nursery and transplanted it out in 35 days (hired this work out...did a small amount myself). I hand cut (again hired most of this out but did some myself).

My yields were better than my wife's yields on the same plot the last two years. I'm not sure exactly why (sooo many variable) but the things I did differently are 1. I plowed deeper and plowed twice so that the weeds were better kept in check. 2. I controlled the water more carefully by NOT having it constantly flow through the fields but rather just kept the paddy filled to the proper amount 3. I used commercial seed and didn't get seed from last years crop. 4. I adjusted the depth of the water in the paddy to optimise development for the different growth stages (which I learned about on the internet, not from the local farmers). 5. I measured each paddy section and calculated how much fertilizer to give to it so that fertilizer would be evenly distributed. 6. I leveled the paddy sections so that the water depth was more uniform in each section.

Again, I don't know how much benefit was obtained from these things (if any) but they are all things I picked up from various sites on the internet.

Chownah

[pnustedt]

Seems to me the local farmers are being screwed - again.

Not huge issue for us as we will keep most of the rice for personal consumption. Had only intended selling some. Farmers whose main livelyhood is growing rice must be hurting.

Any views or opinions most welcome.

The price of rice around Sisaket was at Bt9.50 at the start of the harvest, now at Bt10/kilo, assuming the rice is "good". It has been a particularly good year so most farmers have done well.

I reckon the OP should have got well over Bt100,000 worth of rice from 30 rai, assuming that it was reasonable rice land - I concur, something wrong with the op's figures.

[chownah]

The price of rice around Sisaket was at Bt9.50 at the start of the harvest, now at Bt10/kilo, assuming the rice is "good". It has been a particularly good year so most farmers have done well.

Is this the price for khou chow or khou ngiew?

Chownah

[pnustedt]

Is this the price for khou chow or khou ngiew?

Chownah

I don't know this terminology - it's the new rice harvested this year which everyone grows around here, we've just harvested over 2,000 rai of the stuff!

[chownah]

Is this the price for khou chow or khou ngiew?

Chownah

I don't know this terminology - it's the new rice harvested this year which everyone grows around here, we've just harvested over 2,000 rai of the stuff!

Sorry. Is it for sticky rice or is it for steamed rice?

Chownah

[ozzydom]

Wife's just been on the phone to her Mum in Chumphae. Bottom line is that 30 rai of sicky rice that costs in the region of 30,000 baht to grow is worth 13,000 baht if sold locally. This surprises me as I read on this forum that Thai sticky rice prices have doubled due to shortage of sticky rice in china. China, I belive, wants to buy 50,000 tons of sticky rice from Thailand. Seems to me the local farmers are being screwed - again.

Not huge issue for us as we will keep most of the rice for personal consumption. Had only intended selling some. Farmers whose main livelyhood is growing rice must be hurting.

Any views or opinions most welcome.

Not to point a finger or make aspersions Joe but some of the costs and returns as given by your family and posted on TV are extraordinary, I fear you are in for some shocks when you eventually move to Los and see how things are in reality..

[C-sip-degree]

My yields were better than my wife's yields on the same plot the last two years. I'm not sure exactly why (sooo many variable) but the things I did differently are 1. I plowed deeper and plowed twice so that the weeds were better kept in check. 2. I controlled the water more carefully by NOT having it constantly flow through the fields but rather just kept the paddy filled to the proper amount 3. I used commercial seed and didn't get seed from last years crop. 4. I adjusted the depth of the water in the paddy to optimise development for the different growth stages (which I learned about on the internet, not from the local farmers). 5. I measured each paddy section and calculated how much fertilizer to give to it so that fertilizer would be evenly distributed. 6. I leveled the paddy sections so that the water depth was more uniform in each section.

Chownah,

1 = I do the same.

2 = I try my best here

3 = ? How much do you pay for seed, I hold back last years to save cost?

4 = Again I try my best

5 = Walk through with buckets style only.

6 = I do the same but in the first plow…

We throw/dry but again it’s to save labor costs there is a technique like all things, I use small 34hp 4wd tractor set ups, so two guys per tractor can seed around 14Rai per day.

With my experience you do yield a better crop from transplant/wet but again cost is the key.

Still find hand cutting having the advantage, the contractor crew is a large group which loves to undercut the harvest machines plus you have ‘blow-down’ like you said to contend with, plus I hate to un-bag and dry-out and last is of cause the rice hay or ‘faang’ from the thrasher machine makes a nice pile for pick-up or bale.

Till next year, don’t forget to turn the khou-key on the bbq and put the Sar-toe in the field.

Best regards

C-sip

[Joe Walshe]

Apologies to all who responded. My figures are not correct. Our farm in Chumphae is 3o rai approx. But most of that is Fruit trees, large ponds, Grass for cows, House area. The area for rice is about 10 rai. 30,000 bht approx. was spent on seed, labour for all stages, feertiliser, fuel and milling. The price quoted locally for sticky rice is 13,000 bht for all our rice. Unfortunately i do not have price for specific quantities. However, it does seem that rice is not getting a good price at the moment.

[chownah]

Apologies to all who responded. My figures are not correct. Our farm in Chumphae is 3o rai approx. But most of that is Fruit trees, large ponds, Grass for cows, House area. The area for rice is about 10 rai. 30,000 bht approx. was spent on seed, labour for all stages, feertiliser, fuel and milling. The price quoted locally for sticky rice is 13,000 bht for all our rice. Unfortunately i do not have price for specific quantities. However, it does seem that rice is not getting a good price at the moment.

It costs me (last time I did the figures) ball park 2,000 baht per rai for all the expenses for raising rice. This includes hiring out alot (but not all) of the work. The 30,000 baht which was spent should have financed about 15 rai of rice. With a modest yield of 500 kilo per rai the harvest would be 7,500 kilo of rice and at today's prices that would yield over 60,000 baht.

Something is wrong with your numbers.....or your farmer....getting 13,000 baht back on a 30,000 baht investment in a rice crop does not make sense....even crop failure does better than this.

Also, the price for rice is good this year....everyone around here is really happy with it.

Chownah

[JungleBiker]

I controlled the water more carefully by NOT having it constantly flow through the fields but rather just kept the paddy filled to the proper amount

I adjusted the depth of the water in the paddy to optimise development for the different growth stages (which I learned about on the internet, not from the local farmers).

Hello Chownah, C-Sip and other Rice Farmers,

Some of you may be surprised to know that rice doesn’t really like to grow in fields full of water. It grows better without “wet feet”. The only reason why farmers do grow rice in water is to control weeds – most weeds can’t survive the controlled flooding, whereas rice can. If you want to get really high yields of rice then you need to avoid the flooding. (Perhaps this is what Chownah is already doing?)

Want to know more? Just put the words rice and SRI into Google and I expect you will find lots of info about SRI – the System of Rice Intensification. Developed mainly by experts from Cornell University (USA) and already tested in many countries including Thailand. It’s possible to get yields over 10 tons/hectare (1,600 kg/rai). In case you are wondering why most Thai farmers are not using SRI, its because it requires more care, more work and most Thai farmers are resistant to changing their old ways of doing things.

JB

[JungleBiker]

Something is wrong with your numbers.....or your farmer....getting 13,000 baht back on a 30,000 baht investment in a rice crop does not make sense....even crop failure does better than this.

Chownah is right. Around my home in Khon Kaen, if you pay someone to harvest your rice it costs 700 baht/rai by machine or 900 baht/rai by hand. Let's take 700 baht/rai. That is 21,000 baht for 30 rai. If you only got 13,000 baht for your rice then it would be better not to harvest the rice. By harvesting you'd lose more money than if you left the rice to rot in the field!

By the way, I heard in my area many farmers got their rice harvested by combine harvester (because it is cheaper). The rice was for home consumption and when they cooked it they found it couldn't be eaten because the sticky rice was mixed with non-sticky rice - seems the combines weren't properly cleaned between different fields. So the farmers have had to sell their rice and buy good rice from the market at a big loss.

JB

[C-sip-degree]

Apologies to all who responded. My figures are not correct. Our farm in Chumphae is 3o rai approx. But most of that is Fruit trees, large ponds, Grass for cows, House area. The area for rice is about 10 rai. 30,000 bht approx. was spent on seed, labour for all stages, feertiliser, fuel and milling. The price quoted locally for sticky rice is 13,000 bht for all our rice. Unfortunately i do not have price for specific quantities. However, it does seem that rice is not getting a good price at the moment.

Hi Joe,

What do you mean by milling? Quoted in your 30k cost.

Maybe there are other costs in this sequence on the 10 Rai which are missing.

Regards

C-sip

Chownah kindly has given you a ball park figure, which will help you get from the Grandstand onto the Ballpark.

[pnustedt]

Sorry. Is it for sticky rice or is it for steamed rice?

Chownah

Steamed rice. Very little sticky rice is grown around here (Sisaket).

We charged Bt550/rai to harvest (by m/c) early in the season and put the price up to Bt580 at the end but we did undercut the market a bit. It would be impractical to clean combines between fields.

[chownah]

Sorry. Is it for sticky rice or is it for steamed rice?

Chownah

Steamed rice. Very little sticky rice is grown around here (Sisaket).

We charged Bt550/rai to harvest (by m/c) early in the season and put the price up to Bt580 at the end but we did undercut the market a bit. It would be impractical to clean combines between fields.

Thanks. Your price for rice was higher than what I quoted but the difference was I was quoting for sticky rice and you were quoting for steamed rice....the steamed rice is usually higher so eveything makes sense........thanks again.

Chownah

[Joe Walshe]

From reading the above psots, I can only assume there has been a mis-communication somewhere. My wife will discuss with her Mum to clarify. I don't think I'll be filing for divorce just yet.

The info. on growing rice without the need to flood fields in very interesting. I hope it will benefit the local Thai farmers. I find Thais are slow to change habits of generations, if advised to do so, but may copy others if they can see some new method works.

[chownah]

I controlled the water more carefully by NOT having it constantly flow through the fields but rather just kept the paddy filled to the proper amount

I adjusted the depth of the water in the paddy to optimise development for the different growth stages (which I learned about on the internet, not from the local farmers).

Hello Chownah, C-Sip and other Rice Farmers,

Some of you may be surprised to know that rice doesn’t really like to grow in fields full of water. It grows better without “wet feet”. The only reason why farmers do grow rice in water is to control weeds – most weeds can’t survive the controlled flooding, whereas rice can. If you want to get really high yields of rice then you need to avoid the flooding. (Perhaps this is what Chownah is already doing?)

Want to know more? Just put the words rice and SRI into Google and I expect you will find lots of info about SRI – the System of Rice Intensification. Developed mainly by experts from Cornell University (USA) and already tested in many countries including Thailand. It’s possible to get yields over 10 tons/hectare (1,600 kg/rai). In case you are wondering why most Thai farmers are not using SRI, its because it requires more care, more work and most Thai farmers are resistant to changing their old ways of doing things.

JB

The main SRI website indicated that SRI was tried in Thailand and for those trials it didn't work here. Some people thought it might be do to some nematode which is supressed in submerged fields but active in drier fields.

There is alot of controversy about SRI and about the claims that have been made by those using it. Many of the things they suggest were already known and used by rice growers to a certain degree. It is well known that rice need not be submerged to grow but it is a good strategy for keeping weeds down and rodents out. Rice is well adapted for growing in standing water as it has a hollow stem allowing air to reach the submerged roots.

I intend to give SRI a try but not sure if it will happen next year or after. I'm presently gearing up to do a bigger percentage of organic growing. This year I did a small plot without chemical fertilizers and without any pesticides. I wasn't really prepared even for that small plot so I didn't really get a chance to carry out all the plans I have for doing it right....and even my half way attempt worked but the yield was smaller...I haven't calculated the yield yet but my guess is that it yielded about 60 to 70 percent of my nonorganic rice.....anyway going organic is my first goal and is also part of the SRI regimen so I'll try to get there first and then experiment with the other aspects of SRI.

Chownah

[Macx]

How many crops do you get per year in your area? If more than one, which crop/season is the most productive?

Also, are there any area in LOS where farmers could plant 3 rice crops per year? And do they?

Thanks!

Not a farmer, just curious

[Gary A]

How many crops do you get per year in your area? If more than one, which crop/season is the most productive?

Also, are there any area in LOS where farmers could plant 3 rice crops per year? And do they?

Thanks!

Not a farmer, just curious

It all depends on the water supply. You can grow rice year round if you have enough water.

We have several small paddies, I'd guess maybe a rai and a half. We got about a ton of rice off it. Twenty one bags.

[klikster]

I controlled the water more carefully by NOT having it constantly flow through the fields but rather just kept the paddy filled to the proper amount

I adjusted the depth of the water in the paddy to optimise development for the different growth stages (which I learned about on the internet, not from the local farmers).

Hello Chownah, C-Sip and other Rice Farmers,

Some of you may be surprised to know that rice doesn’t really like to grow in fields full of water. It grows better without “wet feet”. The only reason why farmers do grow rice in water is to control weeds – most weeds can’t survive the controlled flooding,

This is interesting to read. I was in the Central Highlands (Montenyard country) in Vietnam in '64 .. on the edge if the Iadrang Valley. We patrolled a lot of hills and a few mountain areas toward the Cambodian border. I never saw a rice paddy. The Montenyards grew rice all over the hills .. on hillsides, etc. When I mention this to people they tell me I have DSS .. or worse.

I have no idea about their yields.

[thaiwholesale]

Not a farmer, just curious.

Can you make about 500 KG 3 times a year per rai?

if so that will be about 13500B (9B per kg) minus cost, what will it cost total to make 1 rai?

[chownah]

Not a farmer, just curious.

Can you make about 500 KG 3 times a year per rai?

if so that will be about 13500B (9B per kg) minus cost, what will it cost total to make 1 rai?

In the north it seems that 2 crops per year is maximum.