So, You Want To Farm In Thailand

[Gary A]

I'll give you my experiences over the past two years with one small farm. One of the locals came to us. His father was VERY sick and unknown to his kids, the old man had a mortgage. The banker came to their door and wanted his money. The banker gave them three days to come up with the money or the house would be taken from them. Fortunately they had some land away from the house. To make that long story short we bought ten rai for 18,000 baht per rai. The old man was VERY sick because he died before he could sign the papers so it was indeed a hassle to transfer the chanote.

That land was grown up in brush and weeds. When we decided to clear the land we found out why it had not been farmed. It has large laterite deposits scattered all over the property. I'm talking some BIG sized chunks. My rotary tiller yanked basketball sized rocks out and jumped over the even bigger ones. The rotary tiller is a good one to have withstood that punishment.

Now the land is cleared and ready to do something with. WAIT, there is no water there. We contracted to have a pond dug. A half rai and three meters deep. They wanted to do it by the hour. We insisted on a set price and that was it. Fine, for 38,000 baht the job would be finished. The pond ended up only two meters deep which ended up biting us.

Next the paddies had to be formed. A lot of the laterite rocks ended up buried in the dikes. That took care of part of the rock problem. Finally we were ready to plant rice. We flooded the paddies but before they were all flooded, the TWO meter deep pond was dry. As it turns out it really didn't matter my wife had about 80 percent planted and was waiting for rain to finish up. Well guess what? She is STILL waiting for rain and all that she had planted is dead because of no rain at all for about a month. Had the pond been as deep as it should have been, she could have gotten enough water to keep it alive until it did rain. Farming sure sucks.

Prior to deciding on rice paddies, she had planted peppers, melons, corn and peanuts. They did pretty well because we were having rain at that time. I should add that she had also stocked the pond with hundreds of fish and fed them until they got bigger and accustomed to pond.

Now for her harvest. There was no harvest. As soon as the vegetables got about ready to pick they were stolen. They even dug the peanuts out of the ground. When we were flooding the paddies, she had net bags ready for the fish. There were no fish. They managed to steal them too. ALL of the fish were gone.

By contrast, the other ten rai farm that is about a kilometer away still has water and has had rain. It also has a pond and that pond has not been pumped at all, in fact, it is still full. That pond was stocked too. There was vegetation growing in the middle of that much deeper pond making it nearly impossible to net all the fish. I said NEARLY impossible. The thieving bastards did have to work though. One day we went to that pond and the water was all muddy. The vegetation was gone. I would imagine those fish are gone too. More than half of the ten rai has mango and somoh trees. How much fruit did we get? You guessed it, very little.

Are you SURE you want to farm? Had I depended on income from the two small farms, I'd be broke and starving by now.

[lannarebirth]

Admit it Gary, it's kind of fun though isn't it? I consider it part of my entertainment expense. By fun I mean the parts you can control. Thieves hovever are no fun at all.

Edited July 15, 2008 by lannarebirth

[Monkeypants]

A good warning to all there Gary A.

Although if you live on the farm and are there 24/7, or at least someone is, then it shouldn't be so bad, but with recent food price hikes I would suggest that it could be more of a growing problem.

We have currently around 4 rai chillies and around 4 rai of corn,Chillies have just started producing, and the corn won't be long, The 1 rai pond is doing fine and fish are at a near marketable size (Nin).

We also are contract farmers with Saha Farms and we house approx 12,000 birds at any one time.

So far we have not had a single theft, or anyone loitering about with intent.

But we live there, and IMO that makes all the difference.

We don't particularly need the money from the farm, but it sure stops me from digging into UK invested money.

We live off the profits and we never touch our UK invested money.

I guess the moral of the story is....

Yes it can be done but you/wife/trusted family member, MUST be there 24/7

[ThaiLife]

Gary ... Thanks for the '' real '' inside from some one who has been there , and done it - Let it be a warning

[Pierrot]

Gary, you seem to have a lot of problems with thieves. Have you been able to identify them ? Local kids? Passer by ? or more organized people ?

[PaddyThai]

Thanks for sharing that with us Gary A.

I know there is a thread here somewhere on how to stop people stealing your fish. barbed wire, I think, slightly under water. This snags there nets. As for other thefts I guess you need to be there.

I wouldn't give up just yet. every problem has a solution.

Also, it's not just Thailand. Dis honesty seems to be on the rise worldwide.

would love to hear from those with happy farming experiences.

[soidog2]

Are you SURE you want to farm? Had I depended on income from the two small farms, I'd be broke and starving by now.

It’s definitely a sinking feeling to see your hard work stolen by lazy opportunists.

We farm about 160 rais of cassava & rice with some other seasonal items.

I personally tend to some 400 mango trees.

I started working and learning about the mango trees about 5 years ago.

In the beginning by the time harvest came along many nice fruit were stolen .

I persevered, fenced the place, the thieves saw I was serious.

Today, occasionally, something disappears, not the end of the world.

I take it into consideration.

Last month some idiot took my wife’s sprayer and rubber boots !

From my observation, ethic is mostly nonexistent at village level.

The so called thieves will be your opportunistic neighbors looking for a free meal (or worse) while you’re not paying attention.

Any Thai person knows about this, we put lots of bamboo sticks in the ponds to prevent loosing our fish (it works)

Gary will be OK , needs some accumulated experience.

[Maizefarmer]

........... not withstanding Gary's experiance, do not conclude farming in Thailand is a "no-go" occupation.

Farming in Thailand is a business - which needs all the inputs that one would expect to have to contribute to any business/profession they wanted to make a success of - wherever they were in the world. There is this idea in a lot of peoples minds that running a business in Thailand is not like running a business in Europe or the USA, in the sense that one does not feel as constrained or required to conform to this or that rule or regulation, or have to pay attention to this or that detail or formality.

The idea that one can just " run a bar", or "start a guest house", or "start an IT company" ...... export company, or start a farm etc etc .............or whatever, is wrong - it could not be further from the reality of running ANYTHING in Thailand which you/your partner/your family will need to rely on for regular income and future security

Businesses here require much the same consideration(s) to be given to there viability as one has to give to running a business back in Europe or the UK.

Do you have experiance?

Do you have a business plan?

Are you sufficiently capatilised?

What is my true/real motive?

.... and all the other issues that one has to consider when committing their hard earned savings to a new venture in a new land, are just as applicable here in Thailand as they are anywhere else in the world. Answer no to any more than one of the above and its my opinion you're onto a looser in the long run.

And of all businesses that need time and capital, farming must rank up in the top 3 on any list. It will be a good few years before you will feel any sense of long term security.

Oh, and be prepeared for mistakes and fxxxups - they'll come thick and fast in first few years, but seldom will you repeat them!

MF

[mistergeorge]

Hi from Australia.

I want to help out a small village I visited south of Khon Kaen this year. I basically want to buy some cows (beef) for them, maybe 10 or 20 head. Can anyone point me in the right direction where I can buy them or at least what the cost would be.

I was told by a Thai person that I could buy 5 cows for approx 25,000 baht. I plan to visit again soon and want to get my math right before I do.

Any help would be great.

Cheers.

[Monkeypants]

Yes that sums it up right there Maize Farmer.

Time and effort is the minimum standard in any business.

I have had and still have many businesses in the UK.

The one thing that is the same regardless of what it is you are trying to make money on is time and effort, understanding trends, trying to be one step ahead of the game.

It can be hard work, but for me the hardest part about doing things here rather than the UK is the work ethic of employess and the language barriers, but all in all we do make a nice sum of money every month.

Like I said it can be done, but having business experience already, is one big + , and a pot of money that can see you through a year or so learning curve.

We make mistakes, but we learn from them and move forward, and to be honest it's the best thing that I have ever done.

It isn't for everybody, but it is for me.

[Gary A]

Gary, you seem to have a lot of problems with thieves. Have you been able to identify them ? Local kids? Passer by ? or more organized people ?

It's anyone's guess who is stealing. The local cops don't go out in the country at all and they blame most of the thievery on dope and kids.

The fish won't be a problem again because no way will I put anymore in the pond. The major reason we decided to grow rice is because it is hard to steal. That said, one more lost crop from lack of rain and the whole thing will be planted with eucalyptus trees. I have enough water supply for trees.

[Pierrot]

Before making any investments, people should definitively read Thai forums. I found English forums more "technical" but for a lot of general issue, Thai forums give more practical answers.

Most people assume, wrongly, that because they come from a more developed country, they should know more about almost everything than Thai people. A lot of well educated Thai people are actually moving to Isaan for a more fulfilling life and Thai web sites are full of tips on how to survive and make money there. People will surely benefit by reading these sites. Unfortunately, as their names suggest, most of these sites are in Thai. But as moving to Thai countryside without speaking Thai or having a good translator is not really an option, it's going to be one of the first test if you can survive there or not

[Rinrada]

์Never lost or had stolen a single banana....very nice neighbours..

[PaddyThai]

Before making any investments, people should definitively read Thai forums. I found English forums more "technical" but for a lot of general issue, Thai forums give more practical answers.

Most people assume, wrongly, that because they come from a more developed country, they should know more about almost everything than Thai people. A lot of well educated Thai people are actually moving to Isaan for a more fulfilling life and Thai web sites are full of tips on how to survive and make money there. People will surely benefit by reading these sites. Unfortunately, as their names suggest, most of these sites are in Thai. But as moving to Thai countryside without speaking Thai or having a good translator is not really an option, it's going to be one of the first test if you can survive there or not

pierrot,

I am keen to know the name of these Thai web sites. My dear wife can take a look.

Thanks.

[Pierrot]

Before making any investments, people should definitively read Thai forums. I found English forums more "technical" but for a lot of general issue, Thai forums give more practical answers.

Most people assume, wrongly, that because they come from a more developed country, they should know more about almost everything than Thai people. A lot of well educated Thai people are actually moving to Isaan for a more fulfilling life and Thai web sites are full of tips on how to survive and make money there. People will surely benefit by reading these sites. Unfortunately, as their names suggest, most of these sites are in Thai. But as moving to Thai countryside without speaking Thai or having a good translator is not really an option, it's going to be one of the first test if you can survive there or not

pierrot,

I am keen to know the name of these Thai web sites. My dear wife can take a look.

Thanks.

Pantip, for sure, www.pantip.com

Then there is a couple of others. But some are just gossip web site, like Manager, but my wife loves them but IMHO they are of little interest. Also she always find a lot of specific web site when we are talking about such or such subject, I'll have to ask her how she finds them , but I'll have to wait for her to wake up to get the exact list

[Beardog]

Gary so sorry to hear about the thieving! I know how hard work is doing farm work & trying to squeeze out a nickel at that.

When i first got on the farming forum I was glad my illusions were burst that 4 rai were going to make me self sufficient! LOL!

Just utilizing 1 rai & having to maintain the other 3 1/2 rai keep me busy. I can only imagine the anguish of getting everything ripped off. in the U.S. an occasional melon or two. and for all the trees we have growing in Bang Sare the water situation you talk about is a definite consideration as trees & veggies need water regardless of natures whims.

I salute the brave & dedicated people working the fields, as it really isn't for the weak or lazy. But it is a lot more satisfaction than getting wasted at a local pub & draining your years away & doing nothing. If nothing else Thailand has given me a real perspective of farming in Thailand. The upside is we don't need to buy many veggies & grow some fruit. Have 500 farang bananas (the first set) ready to pop. We are fortunate where I live Trees are very common & everyone grows or picks veggies from the woods, but you can be sure if i grew some fish-if they were not safeguarded & watched they would most assuredly grow wings. Our neighbors got clipped 1 year ago. She put barb wire in the pond to end the netting.

[Saiyan]

What Maizefarmer has said is true. I would like to add that farming is a science and an intimate knowledge of crops, soil, and seasons are of great help. Unfortunately too many arrive here and are under the impression that farming is easy especially when you look at the average Thai farmer struggling to make a living, one is quickly led into a false sense of “I can do better than them with the few extra Bhat I have” The way they operate and the equipment they use, on first impression, is seen as backward and primitive. It’s only when you step into the business and have had a few hard bumps that you find out he is cash strapped and your respect for the poor Thai farmer is confirmed and it does not take long for you to request advice from them. (This is directed at the new farmer and not those with experience elsewhere) Added to that in most cases are the language barrier, availability of market, and the market prices which complicate this industry even further.

However one looks at it, uncontrolled pilferage will cripple any business if allowed to get out of hand. You can have all the knowledge and all the luck with crops but this is something that has to be prevented at all costs.

Finding a way around this problem in some areas could be a real challenge.

Wish you all the luck Gary. Remember Gary Player once said “The more I practice the luckier I get” Unfortunately farming can be expensive to practice though.

[JerryPara]

Gary, you seem to have a lot of problems with thieves. Have you been able to identify them ? Local kids? Passer by ? or more organized people ?

It's anyone's guess who is stealing. The local cops don't go out in the country at all and they blame most of the thievery on dope and kids.

The fish won't be a problem again because no way will I put anymore in the pond. The major reason we decided to grow rice is because it is hard to steal. That said, one more lost crop from lack of rain and the whole thing will be planted with eucalyptus trees. I have enough water supply for trees.

Gary, We are having the same problem. They stole our UKA before we cut it all out and now bamboo. It's only a year on now so we have just started having sprouts large enought to steal. They come in and cut the young bamboo sprouts to eat. I can only make it to the farm 1 week a month. So we have hired people to stay on the farm. They watch it and do some work we ask. We've had a few turnovers of people especially now when there is so much work else where. Anyway,they were the first to warn us other people were stealing from us. I don't care if they take it and allow them to grow whatever, where we are not. We went and had a long talk with the village master and that seemed to help. We have had no more freshly cut shoots since then ... this may change, so far so good.

• We put a barb wire fence all the way around, only 3 wires now and plan to go to 6 later.
  
• We have a metal gate and lock where you enter.
  
• When we cleared the land I saved the bamboo which was the Barbed kind(nam). It was very hard to cut though with a knife so I thought it make a good wall. We planted it along the border as a second fence. I figure it will take years to make a good wall, but it's a start.
  
• I have tilled the boundary road so I can see where their tracks are
  
• I go to check the fence every visit to see if the wires are moved and repair them. There are guys that come around shoot rats at night. We mean to keep them out also.
  
• We planted what I call sacrificial plants along the edge of the property. Just inside the barb wire ...a few bananas, bamboo, papaya along the fence. I am hoping they may be statisfied with these and not cross over the boundary road in the real crops.
  
• I am looking into a GSM camera that is triggered by a motion sensor and MMS's(send you a picture via GSM) hoping to catch them. These cost about $500 and even have solar panels to power them.
  
• We had a local guy as sort of manager helping us for a while. He is a Village master also, but at another village. We found out from the people watching the property he was coming in 2-3 times a week and steeling the sprouts also. I still have to deal with this.
  

Sounds like you got hit particularly hard. Hang in there. I think it's a slow but winning battle. I'll have to try the barb wire under the water idea.

[Gonsalviz]

Gary, you seem to have a lot of problems with thieves. Have you been able to identify them ? Local kids? Passer by ? or more organized people ?

It's anyone's guess who is stealing. The local cops don't go out in the country at all and they blame most of the thievery on dope and kids.

The fish won't be a problem again because no way will I put anymore in the pond. The major reason we decided to grow rice is because it is hard to steal. That said, one more lost crop from lack of rain and the whole thing will be planted with eucalyptus trees. I have enough water supply for trees.

Gary, We are having the same problem. They stole our UKA before we cut it all out and now bamboo. It's only a year on now so we have just started having sprouts large enought to steal. They come in and cut the young bamboo sprouts to eat. I can only make it to the farm 1 week a month. So we have hired people to stay on the farm. They watch it and do some work we ask. We've had a few turnovers of people especially now when there is so much work else where. Anyway,they were the first to warn us other people were stealing from us. I don't care if they take it and allow them to grow whatever, where we are not. We went and had a long talk with the village master and that seemed to help. We have had no more freshly cut shoots since then ... this may change, so far so good.

• We put a barb wire fence all the way around, only 3 wires now and plan to go to 6 later.
  
• We have a metal gate and lock where you enter.
  
• When we cleared the land I saved the bamboo which was the Barbed kind(nam). It was very hard to cut though with a knife so I thought it make a good wall. We planted it along the border as a second fence. I figure it will take years to make a good wall, but it's a start.
  
• I have tilled the boundary road so I can see where their tracks are
  
• I go to check the fence every visit to see if the wires are moved and repair them. There are guys that come around shoot rats at night. We mean to keep them out also.
  
• We planted what I call sacrificial plants along the edge of the property. Just inside the barb wire ...a few bananas, bamboo, papaya along the fence. I am hoping they may be statisfied with these and not cross over the boundary road in the real crops.
  
• I am looking into a GSM camera that is triggered by a motion sensor and MMS's(send you a picture via GSM) hoping to catch them. These cost about $500 and even have solar panels to power them.
  
• We had a local guy as sort of manager helping us for a while. He is a Village master also, but at another village. We found out from the people watching the property he was coming in 2-3 times a week and steeling the sprouts also. I still have to deal with this.
  

Sounds like you got hit particularly hard. Hang in there. I think it's a slow but winning battle. I'll have to try the barb wire under the water idea.

Careful, they'll steal the camera.

I heard an ethnic joke a few years that implied that a radio could be stolen and the music left behind.

[daver]

4mths ago i got the best pay back for thieves,we have 3yr old UKA growing an one morning a call came that a guy sleeping on another farm had followed thieves to the local selling station for UKA and that we could lock them,turned out they stolen 8 uka trees worth about 800 baht an as it turned out it was my wifes nephew who did it haha.we took 40,000 baht of his father an mum with the greatest of pleasure.his family lost a great deal of face around as i didnt hold back telling everyone i seen.the thieves father sells ford tractors on the main road from sangkha to prasat an hes so tight his ass whistles as he walks.the sons excuse for stealing the uka was he wanted to go boom boom an had no money haha

[farmerjo]

Gary,

Had a problem when i first came,my wood i spent hours cutting up was disappearing very quickly.I then decided to set up a barb wire across my track.The next day i went to my land and saw a shirt shredded on it.A trip to the local hospital and i found my neighbour getting 87 stiches around the midrift.Probably wasnt the right thing to do but the word got around pretty quick not to take from the farang.

Only other things taken were 2 fishing rods and a rotweiler pup so am happy with that in 4 years.

f/j

[Mosha]

A couple of years ago I was talking to a guy I saw infrequently. He was growing water melons. One morning he went to tend his crop to find it all gone. The only evidence were some tyre tracks. He called the police, who immediately blamed the Burmese. Bill just pointed at the tyre marks and said "How many Burmese are allowed to drive around here?" The policeman just shrugged as though case closed.

[himachal]

Gary,

Had a problem when i first came,my wood i spent hours cutting up was disappearing very quickly.I then decided to set up a barb wire across my track.The next day i went to my land and saw a shirt shredded on it.A trip to the local hospital and i found my neighbour getting 87 stiches around the midrift.Probably wasnt the right thing to do but the word got around pretty quick not to take from the farang.

Only other things taken were 2 fishing rods and a rotweiler pup so am happy with that in 4 years.

f/j

Shoulda set the wire a bit higher???