Sugar Farming (small Scale)

[tooninthai]

I am hoping some of you who are into farming might be able to give me some insight into this.

The girlfriend is wanting to earn a few Baht and has been offered two lots of land from a relative. 1 of 10 Rai for rice and also 5 Rai of land that has recently planted Sugar cane on it.

This is obviously not meant to be a vast money making machine and these questions relate to the 5 Rai of Sugar cane. I'll hopefully come back on the rice questions later.

I am not into farming in any way so please excuse my ignorance in these matters

She has been offered the 5 Rai of land and given me the following information (and I would like some idea if this information is realistic as I will be paying the initial outlay. Also I do not want her and myself to be wasting time, effort and money if the quoted figures are way off the mark.)

The land will be at her disposal for 3 years.

1 Rai @ 1000 per year rent = 5,000 Baht total for 5 Rai

5 Rai of baby sugar cane plants 15,000 Baht

Fertilizer @ 2,000 Baht per year for the 5 Rai

Planting by vehicle 5,000 Baht for 5 Rai

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I am led to believe the local factory buy sugar cane at 70,000 for the 5 rai, but that this may be reduced by up to 10,000 if the sugar cane is not good quality.

As these are new plants I am led to believe they will not need to be replaced in years 2 and 3.

There is no cost given for water as it is included. The reason being that the the relative is absorbing the cost of watering the plants and the 'local man' will water the plants when the relative has hers done.

The same relative has another 25 Rai of adjoining land that also has sugar cane on it and this small scale scheme is seen as a way of helping the girlfriend out financially as the family do not want me to be supporting her constantly for every little item.

Any informed insight would be welcome. Thanks.

[farmerjo]

Thats sounds about right,probably double the fertilizer cost and add for weed killing as well as harvest costs depending on how far to transport.

Nett profit at the end of it will around 4000 baht a rai

[gotlost]

You have to have a resell number with a dealer in order to sell your sugar.

[tooninthai]

farmerjo - Thanks for that. It helps to have independent confirmation. It looks like I will be letting her take over the land. Had a look at it today and it is as stated.

gotlost

As for paperwork, that is all in the hands of family which leaves no worries there.

This is a small start up. Once I am confident and happy things are running smoothly I am happy to let her take on more in the future and I can become a farmers husband LOL.

[thaidrav]

As usual, the grower gets the lowest bhat in the sugar chain for his hard work and investment risk. The smart farmer will figure a way to add value to the farm product. In Florida, USA, small cane growers produce their own on farm syrup and it is quite profitable. You need a cane mill for squeezing the juice from the cane and a large thick wok, usually 3 ft. in diameter to cook down the juice to a thick golden brown syrup. The syrup is filtered through a cloth, bottled and sold for almost the price of honey. It is very healthy as it contains all the mollassas and nutrients in the cane, as opposed to white sugar which has all the good stuff removed. Cane syrup is a great all purpose sweetener. In October we attended a workshop by the Florida Dept of Agriculture where cane syrup making was discussed and new cane varieties were given to the attendees for planting.