I Now Control 9 Rai Of Farmland -

[chrgrims]

My parents in law gave my wife and i 9 rai of land last week. Its farmland, rice on it now. The family is using and maintaining it. But we own it, and they say we can decide what to do with it.

I will give myself a few years to understand and learn about farming and how to best use this land. My background is social scientist, so i dont know anything about farming. What are the goals i should have? what is achievable?

The questions, among others, are:

What to grow: rice, mango, rubber etc...

To what degree i should be involved. I can just let them continue with rice. but they are very poor and from what i can see from rice prices, its getting worse by the minute. I have some time available, but cant make it a full time job.

Edited November 10, 2009 by chrgrims

[trogers]

Fish farming?

[surayu]

ice skate ring?

[MrWiggle]

If you are a scientist, spend the time figuring out how to grow rice without flooding it.

[antony77]

I tried farming for several years in Thailand and we had over 50 rai. We did well on longans until the price came right down because everyone is growing them now. You would best find out the quality of your earth and then decide what to put in it. However what ever you do I think you will find it very hard to make any real money. In the end we grew all our own vegitables and fruit, raised a few fish, kept a few chickens and lived off the land. It was very satisfying. We sold what we could not eat ourselves. Much would depend on where your land is. Up north we grew our own potatoes!

good luck

[gotlost]

All the above suggestion are excellent.Find out what others are crowning in your area. Water is your key. If you were to grow rice at todays price you might make about 40K baht. Your other options are about the same. On that size of land I recommend you grow what the family can eat and then sell. Wish you luck. Oh yea you do not control or own 9 rai. A farang can not own or control land in Thailand. Your wife does but not you.

Edited November 10, 2009 by gotlost

[chrgrims]

thanks so far guys. yes, i know that i dont own it on paper, gotlost. With "control", i mean "can decide what happens to it".

I have heard that rubbertrees is a decent business now, i will look into that a bit. what we do with the 9 rai can also be done on the rest of the family's land, and thats a lot more. Not anytime soon, though.

[Rimmer]

Kyleeta trees, (Eucalyptus) grow them, cut them down and sell them, in a few years you can grow a new crop ready to cut and sell again. They are used everywhere but mostly in construction. I forget the going rate per rai but it's quite good.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

You might want to consider this tree. Sounds interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera

[gregb]

To what degree i should be involved. I can just let them continue with rice. but they are very poor and from what i can see from rice prices, its getting worse by the minute. I have some time available, but cant make it a full time job.

A word of advice. Any business, farm or otherwise, needs proper management. The reason your family is growing rice is not because they don't know anything else or they lack capital, it is because they lack the drive that pushes them to do anything else. If you want them to do something other than rice, you need to provide full time management to guide them in that direction.

If you can't make it a full time job, or nearly full time, then don't even try. Let them keep growing rice until you have the time. You can try and do something simple like Eucalyptus which is very hard to screw up, but that won't do much better than rice, and it will tend to ruin your land.

Rubber? Maybe, but only if there are other people in the village already doing it. Don't expect your family to be able to do it otherwise.

Since you say you can't do the work, look carefully at the people who can. What are they honestly capable of? Why are they only growing rice today? Answer that question first before deciding on a crop. You'll save yourself alot of headaches.

My recommendation? Until you are ready to retire and take it over full time, just let them grow rice.

BTW, you should probably move this to the farming forum. You'll get much better answers over there.

Edited November 10, 2009 by gregb

[chrgrims]

ok, thanks a lot greg. I will certainly that into consideration. I guess a mod will move the thread sooner rather than later.

My first plan is to check the earth and talk to the workers.

cheers, chr

[SNGLIFE]

ok, thanks a lot greg. I will certainly that into consideration. I guess a mod will move the thread sooner rather than later.

My first plan is to check the earth and talk to the workers.

cheers, chr

My 2 baht: Farming for sale (as opposed to subsistence) is about what prices are going to be in the FUTURE and the future looks very good for rice. Google what's been happening globally and the many rice shortages in Burma, Philippines, N. Korea, middle East, etc. What you find will be an eye-opener for you. On the other hand, there is a monopoly on domestic rice prices in Thailand - Google that, too.

Cheers!

[RickBradford]

Some suggestions for longer-term: rubber (takes 7 years for the trees to grow), palm oil (watch those biodiesel prices) or even trees suitable for turning into paper.

You need to choose your crop carefully - the tendency is for all farmers in a particular area to seize on the latest 'hot' crop, the next thing you know is there's an over-supply and the market collapses.

[thaihome]

Also need to keep in mind that it can take a good bit of earth moving to fill in rice paddies to be suitable for growing other crops.

TH

[NCFC]

Open a Homestay resort or bed and breakfast type thing. Far more money in tourism

[chrgrims]

tx guys. what i am trying now is just to make my family think about alternatives to rice. i want to find out if they want to experiment with a small part of the land for example. homestay is a no go, its far from any road, and the only attraction is an empty ricefield.

[khaowong1]

I tried farming for several years in Thailand and we had over 50 rai. We did well on longans until the price came right down because everyone is growing them now. You would best find out the quality of your earth and then decide what to put in it. However what ever you do I think you will find it very hard to make any real money. In the end we grew all our own vegitables and fruit, raised a few fish, kept a few chickens and lived off the land. It was very satisfying. We sold what we could not eat ourselves. Much would depend on where your land is. Up north we grew our own potatoes!

good luck

I like this answer... get a soil sample and have it checked out at one of the Univ. in Bangkok.. see what it can grow, and what it need in the way of supplements. Heck, if you don't need the money, raise some chickens, a veggie plot, maybe a milk cow, a few fruit trees, and a pony for the kids.

[khaowong1]

I tried farming for several years in Thailand and we had over 50 rai. We did well on longans until the price came right down because everyone is growing them now. You would best find out the quality of your earth and then decide what to put in it. However what ever you do I think you will find it very hard to make any real money. In the end we grew all our own vegitables and fruit, raised a few fish, kept a few chickens and lived off the land. It was very satisfying. We sold what we could not eat ourselves. Much would depend on where your land is. Up north we grew our own potatoes!

good luck

I like this answer... get a soil sample and have it checked out at one of the Univ. in Bangkok.. see what it can grow, and what it need in the way of supplements. Heck, if you don't need the money, raise some chickens, a veggie plot, maybe a milk cow, a few fruit trees, and a pony for the kids.

I just thought of a question for you.. what about hemp.. as in fiber for clothing, ropes, etc... not smoking..

[mauiguy90]

I have heard that rubbertrees is a decent business now, i will look into that a bit. what we do with the 9 rai can also be done on the rest of the family's land, and thats a lot more. Not anytime soon, though.

My thai girlfriend's family is also growing rubber trees on their property. They are doing a few acres of property a year and growing other crops on the rest of the land. Apparently, it requires a lot of work for planting and thereafter, requires less maintenance each succeeding year. Seems like a great idea, especially if you don't have much time for crop management.