On the news today. Villagers around Chiang Mai complaining about getting 6 Baht per kilo for their best Lychee.

Last year I remember paying 30/40 baht at those roadside stalls.

A lot of my neighbours (and ourselves)didn't sell their mango this year. 2 Baht for green mango, 4/6 Baht for the best yellow ones. Another neighbour ploughed in 5 rai white cabbage. 2 baht per kilo for tomatoes. Cane farmers waiting months for payment. I'm just waiting for the corn price in July. Could be a riot.

Regards.

Then someones making a fortune between there and here.. GF was complaining at 120 baht lychee at the market stall.. tho it may have come down a little since then as I am guessing those were the early ones.

Therein lies the problem LiLOS. At our local Tesco (Pak Chong) our green mangos go for 19 Baht. Tomatoes 12/15 Baht. White cabbage 11/12 Baht. (The guy who ploughed his in was offered 1.60 Baht, cleaned and boxed!) Yellow mango in Bangkok go for 40/50/60 Baht.

Government should be encouraging co-operatives. Subsidising their early years. Regulating middle men. Hang on. For a moment there I forgot I was in Thailand. Just a wiff of "subsidy" will have more than a few snouts twitching.

The Aussies are good at this. A few of their earlier co-operatives are now international food companies.

Dream on Tigs.

Regards.

Farming Co-ops? mm family fueds come to mind here, Can you believe that 1 family would not stitch the other family up?even if if it wasnt true!

The only middle man we use is for bananas, we get 5 bht a hand, buyer collects and supplies labour, The day before buyer comes to farm, i look at all the 1600 clumps of plants, now some have between 12/18 fruits on 1 hand, [5bht yeah,right!!] i harvest these, gas them for 36 hours and get 30bht a hand, and the buyer gets the best of the rest on farm,

We go to the market weekly to check prices, we always undercut by a few bht, here are a few examples,

Lychee, Market 22bht kilo, us 15bht

Kanoon, Market 26bht kilo, us 15bht [prepared]

Makua Market 8bht, us 6bht,

Mango Market, 5bht 1 green fruit, us, 6bht 2 green fruits,

These are the fruits of the season, once it starts to rain, will have Bamboo shoots for sale, more Papaya than than the local shop needs [20kilo a week, 60bht] and bananas by the triple score,

Except for all of the Bananas, these are front door sales, and with the 3month Tamarind harvest, we are on the 50,000 bht mark in 4.5 months, and that is almost all profit, as i do most of the picking myself, and dont use ferts or cides on the farm, so no overheads,

You can plant a thai national crop like cassava,rice,sugarcane,rubber trees, plant the whole farm with them, and wait a long time for the money, dont get me wrong, i have thought about this, but having experinced cassava, and lost a lot of money, no thanks to any of these crops,

When the 40rai farm was planted 22 years ago, mrs mum & dad had the foresight to plant fruit trees that would fruit at different times of the year, therefore giving the family a regular income and food, and it still goes on to this day and always will,

Diversfy is the answer, It takes 6/7 years for rubber trees to produce, same for any fruit tree,grow many different fruit trees and have year round fruit, people have to eat before they need a truck, [perhaps]

Lickey..