2011 Rice Harvest Begins

[ozzydom]

Thought I would throw in this article for members perusal,more on this method of rice growing can be found by Googling SRI ricegrowing method.

Madagascar rice trials lead to agricultural revolution:

New methods break with centuries of tradition.

John Madeley / Financial Times 23jan01

When small farmers in Madagascar employed a new way of growing rice in the late 1980s, the results were so startling that agricultural scientists could hardly believe they were possible.

Yields of about two tonnes per hectare had shot up to about 8-10 tonnes per hectare, without chemical fertilisers, pesticides or expensive seed varieties, and by breaking some of the conventional "rules" of rice management.

For years the new technique, known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), was virtually ignored. The system was developed in Madagascar by an agronomist priest, Henri de Laudani, working with a small farmers group, Association Tefy Saina.

Last week a representative of the group, Sebastin Rafaralahy, presented its work to a conference in London, "Reducing Poverty though Sustainable Agriculture", organised by the University of Essex together with the Department for International Development.

Traditionally, rice is transplanted into fields at about eight weeks, said Mr Rafaralahy, when the plant is strong and likely to survive, and three or more seedlings are planted in clumps in the hope that one will fully mature.

But with SRI, seedlings are transplanted at about six days and planted individually, enabling farmers to use less seed.

For thousands of years lowland rice has been grown under flooded conditions to ensure water supply and reduce weed problems. But while rice can survive in water, it is not an aquatic plant, Mr Rafaralahy pointed out.

Farmers in Madagascar noted that root growth was far greater if the plant was not kept continually submerged in water - "the plants receive more oxygen and nutrients from the atmosphere and derive greater benefit from the warmth of the sun", he said.

Using the SRI system the soil is only kept continually wet during the reproductive stage when the plant is producing grains. During the rest of the growth cycle the fields are irrigated in the evening and dry during the day.

Using their own seed, some 20,000 farmers have now adopted the method in Madagascar, and the yields have proved sustainable. After being evaluated by Cornell University in the US, the system has spread to other countries, including major rice growers such as Bangladesh, China and Indonesia. In China yields of 9-10.5 tonnes per hectare were achieved in the first year of the system, compared with the national average of 6 tonnes per hectare.

This initiative in Madagascar was one of a number presented to the conference, all of which are included in a database of sustainable agriculture projects built up by professor Jules Pretty of the University of Essex.

He told the conference that the database now contains information on 208 initiatives from 52 countries, which indicates that at least 9m farmers have adopted sustainable agriculture methods on 29m hectares of land - some 3 per cent of land under crops in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Sustainable agriculture makes the best use of "nature's goods and services to help with pest control, soil regeneration and nutrient cycling", said professor Pretty; "and better use of the knowledge and skills of farmers, so improving their self-reliance".

Modern agriculture, he believes, is "very successful in terms of food production but causes a lot of damage to the environment and has tended to damage the natural processes". The evidence, he said, shows that switching to sustainable agriculture "can lead to substantial increases in per hectare food production".

For non-irrigated crops, yields typically increase by 50-100 per cent "though considerably greater in a few cases. For 146,000 farmers cultivating roots - potato, sweet potato and cassava - average food production increased by 150 per cent". For irrigated crops, the gains were much smaller, 5-10 per cent, "through starting from a higher absolute yield base".

With policy and institutional support, the benefits of sustainable agriculture could spread to much larger numbers of people, believes professor Pretty, but he cautions that "even the substantial increase reported here might not be enough".

"We cannot yet say that a transition to sustainable agriculture will result in enough food to meet the needs of developing countries, but there is scope for considerable confidence," he said.

[AA1]

Ozzydom.

A very interesting read but it would appear that the main problem for Thai rice farmers would be the capital cost of setting up an irrigation system plus the initial cost of running for the first season.

If successful the 1st. year, then the future running costs will be paid for from the previous years additional profit.

If the first year unsuccessful then they will probably lose their farm!!

Locals would take a lot of convincing even if the were in a position to get such a loan.

I also wondered how easy it would be to individually plant at 6 days old but I suppose if the ground was preirrigated then okay.

Might be interesting to try it out in our vegetable garden where we grow a little rice in their season and then vegetables for much of the rest of the year irrigated before attempting on a larger scale in some rice fields BUT would have to convince the wife first and that would be the hardest part!!!!!!!!!!! I still think she would want to fertilise & weed control.

Thanks.

[ozzydom]

Ozzydom.

A very interesting read but it would appear that the main problem for Thai rice farmers would be the capital cost of setting up an irrigation system plus the initial cost of running for the first season.

If successful the 1st. year, then the future running costs will be paid for from the previous years additional profit.

If the first year unsuccessful then they will probably lose their farm!!

Locals would take a lot of convincing even if the were in a position to get such a loan.

I also wondered how easy it would be to individually plant at 6 days old but I suppose if the ground was preirrigated then okay.

Might be interesting to try it out in our vegetable garden where we grow a little rice in their season and then vegetables for much of the rest of the year irrigated before attempting on a larger scale in some rice fields BUT would have to convince the wife first and that would be the hardest part!!!!!!!!!!! I still think she would want to fertilise & weed control.

Thanks.

Valid points AA1,but as they say "no pain no gain" . On the surface this system requires a bit of pre-planning but does not appear to have any insurmountable problems.

If the system gives anything like the yields they state then it would be worthwhile having a water storeage pond at the lowest point to capture run-off after irrigation.

Irrigation could be flood irrigation via a motorised pump and multiple paddies could be irrigated in tandem before the water returns to the storeage pond.

IE. 3inch PVC with multiple outlets (T pieces ) laid along the high side of the highest paddy and fed by a 3 inch pump would suffice, alternatively a single large rotating sprinkler head gives a big coverage..

For transplanting,2 leaf stage is fairly standard practice to transplant many seedlings ,their survival and advancement rate at this size ,I have found to be superior to advanced seedlings.

Normally when rice seedlings are hand planted they are simply pushed down into the mud, this tends to leave the roots turned upwards whereas a finger hole allows the smaller seedling to be placed root down.

The thing I find interesting in the system is that it simply utilises known good practices in say veggie growing and applies them to rice.

Building up the soil with compost,limiting water to allow oxygen to increase aerobic activity

in the soils micro organisms, regular weeding by turning the weeds under where they add to the compost material etc all seem like good sense to me.

[tingtong]

Ozzydom,

Thailand indeed had some SRI trials, here and there, in Isaan even. but results came sort of mixed accourding to the sources i found.

I woudl still very much like to give it a go, but there is simple no way to buy the required manual weeder, etc, by walking into a shop like for buying a spade. i keep getting difficulties that front, and after a while it isnt too motivating.

[ozzydom]

Ozzydom,

Thailand indeed had some SRI trials, here and there, in Isaan even. but results came sort of mixed accourding to the sources i found.

I woudl still very much like to give it a go, but there is simple no way to buy the required manual weeder, etc, by walking into a shop like for buying a spade. i keep getting difficulties that front, and after a while it isnt too motivating.

If you look up Wassan Weeder Compendium you will many hand weeders that any Thai workshop could knock up for you cheaply ,its a PDF file that you can download ,it has pictures and scale drawings to help you.

[Pond Life]

Results just in, after drying & winnowing, 450 kg from 800 m2 (half Rai).

That works out at 0.56 kg per m2 or 900 kg per Rai.

Rice variety "Pathom".

Rice was transplanted SRI style, 1 month after seeding.

5 baby ducks were confined in the field for 3 months (until a dog got 4 of them).

Field was kept flooded whenever water was available, about 90 % of the time.

No chemical fertiliser, insecticide or weed killers were used.

All straw & other wastes were returned to the field after the previous crops of rice & wheat.

Cow shit was added to the field about April & left on top until Field was prepped in June.

We weeded only once about 1 month after transplant.

If we had more ducks (10 would be right I think) we would not have needed to weed at all.

After harvest there were almost no weeds visable in the paddies.

[THAIPHUKET]

Results just in, after drying & winnowing, 450 kg from 800 m2 (half Rai).

That works out at 0.56 kg per m2 or 900 kg per Rai.

Rice variety "Pathom".

Rice was transplanted SRI style, 1 month after seeding.

5 baby ducks were confined in the field for 3 months (until a dog got 4 of them).

Field was kept flooded whenever water was available, about 90 % of the time.

No chemical fertiliser, insecticide or weed killers were used.

All straw & other wastes were returned to the field after the previous crops of rice & wheat.

Cow shit was added to the field about April & left on top until Field was prepped in June.

We weeded only once about 1 month after transplant.

If we had more ducks (10 would be right I think) we would not have needed to weed at all.

After harvest there were almost no weeds visable in the paddies.

Good yield ! Very encouraging ! May I ask which area?

[Pond Life]

Mae Hongson area, 500 m elevation, slight west facing slope.

[boerboon]

My wife has 14 rai of rice land wich was flooded for a long time.

The rice wes submerged completely for a few weeks and she thought it was lost completely and registered for compensation.

Then a dam broke 2 weeks ago and the water went down quickly.

She is busy harvesting now.

There was a meeting with goverment officials who asked everybody to sign papers about the amount of lost and harvestable rice.

They where told the could register for the guarenteed price of 25000 bath/ton, but after they signed the paper this was false.

Everybody was very upset about this and when asked why they where threatened wit law suits and the monkey house.

The free marked price is only 16000 bath/ton.

Does anyone know more about this or has similar expiriances.

Are there rules for getting the goverment guarenteed price like registering in advance.

This is in the roied/mahasarakam area.

[THAIPHUKET]

here manuals on System of Rice Intensification in English attached and a link to manual in Thai

http://ns.ist.cmu.ac.th/riseat/documents/sri.pdf

SRI ENGL.pdf

[metisdead]

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[THAIPHUKET]

Pond Life, in case you had a chance to look at the SRI manual, how close were your practical applications in your own planting?

Any observations what might and might not work in Thailand/ North Thailand?

Anyone else who can add hands on experience on the SRI system?

[Gary A]

My wife has two ten rai small farms. Both plots have a pond and nearer one has the majority of land planted with fruit trees. She has had the rice paddies demolished and other than two small paddies, the tillable land is now planted with sugar cane. Last years sugar cane crop paid all the expenses and left her with 5,000 baht net. She sold the crop standing and would naturally have done better cutting it herself. The sugar cane this year looks pretty good and she and her co-op friends are going to cut it themselves. There was very little expense this year so this should be the first year she has ever made any decent money.

She manually harvested the two small paddies and got 15 bags of Jasmine paddy rice mostly for our own use. After milling she usually gives some of the milled rice to her family members. Needless to say that she doesn't buy any rice.

The bottom line here is that she works her little butt off for very little return. I would have ulcers if I had to depend on her farming for any of our income. She pays the expenses and keeps whatever return there is. I am more than content to stay out of it.

I have posted this as a sort of warning that with all the variables involved, a farang shouldn't count on any substantial income from farm ground unless it is on a very large scale. Farming large scale requires a large investment and in my opinion, that kind of money would be better invested in other things.

I didn't mention that after stocking the ponds with fish, the locals stole all the fish from the more remote pond and also stole much of the fruit from her fruit trees in the nearer farm. The ponds are near a big road and near our home. Those ponds have done pretty well because she has thrown enough cut brush in the ponds to make it difficult to net the fish.

There are/were two separate ponds near the big road, one had pla nin and various other vegetarian fish. The other had pla duk and snake fish. With all the rain, the ponds WAY overflowed the dike between them and the fish are now all mixed. I expect the catfish to get bigger and bigger. We do have plenty of fruit and fish to eat as well as a nice spot for me to sit on the front porch of our recently built small house beside the pond, drink beer and watch the sun go down over the mountains. I do enjoy fishing and feeding the fish but can assure you that it would be indeed cheaper to buy fish from the market.

Keep in mind that it is a great life here and I am very content. Making any money from the land is not part of my life although it does give my wife her own money to do with whatever she wants with no questions from me.

I know she gives her parents money every month but not much. She also pays the local insurance policies for her parents funeral expenses when that time comes. She has four sisters and they all chip in for their parents support.

[OOTAI]

in post #28 Ozzydom said

Year after year I see surrounding paddies harvested then left to dry and compact until the next rainy season is imminent ,when they burn any remaining stubble ,wait until the soil is wet enough to work,put the discs over it and plant within days using seed held back from the last harvest .IMO a sure recipe for low yields.

Made me laugh as I have seen the same thing year after year. As I am home (here in Thailand) for a few weeks I thought that this would be a good time to do what i always wanted to do and that is to get the organic material back into the soil. Last year I spent a lot of time making larger paddies (15 become 5) so now each paddy is almost 2.4 each. At the time she said why are you spending all this money on fuel? I pointed out to her that I had increased the usable land area by 2 rai, which based on an estimated cost of B20,000 meant I had "paid" B10,000 per rai. I asked her would you buy land for that, the answer "Of course im not stupid"

Anyway as soon as harvest was done I waited a week to hopefully let the ground dry a little more and then. "Where are you going darling?" "Going down to plough the paddies".

Of course I have now been banned from leaving the house after getting bogged to the axles 3 times in 2 days. The reason because is she's embarrassed by all the village talking about her mad husband who wouldn't listen when he was told the ground is still too wet. I tried to explain that I only have a small window of opportunity to plough the straw in before someone does what they do every other year and set it on fire.

So I will persevere and hopefully overcome one day, if not when they burn me up at the Wat they can all have a laugh about the mad farang that came to town and perished but never stopped trying doing things differently.

I keep telling her that farming is not my "real"job only my hobby, mind you being bogged wasn't much fun.

I should add that this year we got a 50% increase in the amount of rice from the land compared to last year. Probably still only worked out at about 400kg per rai so progress by small steps.

[Pond Life]

Pond Life, in case you had a chance to look at the SRI manual, how close were your practical applications in your own planting?

Any observations what might and might not work in Thailand/ North Thailand?

Anyone else who can add hands on experience on the SRI system?

I read The SRI manual a few years back.

From my experience I believe that it does give higher yields.

I plant my single seedlings 30 cm apart when they are 1 month old.

However, the increased labour required for weeding does not fit in with my aim to reduce all inputs to minimum.

If I was short of water I would use this method.

However, I have plenty of water & choose to use ducks to do the weeding for me (I also get to eat duck for free).

After the rice harvest I change to "one straw revolution" style, sowing Wheat & covering with all the rice straw.

Recomended reading:

One straw revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka

Power of duck by Takao Furuno

[THAIPHUKET]

Thanks Pond Life, interesting story indeed

By LAURA MILLER, Newsletter editor

A Japanese farmer who used to watch wild ducks float on his rice paddies had no idea that a similar system would be successful on his own small farm and adopted by thousands of other farmers throughout eastern Asia.

In fact, Takao Furuno's 15 years of work to experiment with and share his method of raising ducks, rice, fish and vegetables brought him to New York's World Economic Forum in February to be honored as a "social entrepreneur." The next day, he came to Ames to share his experiences with more than 200 people at two forums hosted by the Leopold Center.

"I'm not just raising ducks, I'm raising rice and ducks at the same time in the same field," explained Furuno with the assistance of interpreter David Yoshiba. "By combining two completely different things you can come up with wonderful results. Ducks and rice are just one example."

Furuno's method is called Aigamo, named after the small breed of duck he uses, a cross between a mallard drake and a domesticated species. Soon after rice is transplanted in flooded fields in June, two-week-old ducklings are added in fenced pens at a rate of about 100 ducklings per acre. The ducks eat weeds, weed seeds, insects, and other pests. Duck droppings provide plant nutrients, and their swimming activity increases rice growth.

"It's a very interesting phenomenon," he said, describing what he calls the "stimulation effect" of duck activity around the young plants that leads to stockier stems. "The ducks actually change the way the rice grows."

After rice is harvested, Furuno adds compost and plants wheat as a cover crop. He raises a variety of vegetables on each plot in the two succeeding years. He delivers vegetables, rice, duck meat, and other items, such as duck eggs and fish as they are available, to 100 families for about $25 a week.

Furuno's farm is only three hectares (about six acres) in size. He rotates crops so that in any given year, two hectares are planted in rice, and one hectare in assorted vegetables. His rice yields are nearly twice those of farmers using conventional production methods in his region of southern Japan.

Furuno has conducted more than 10 years of experiments to analyze what's been going on at his farm. With the help of local extension personnel, he measures yield, surveys insect populations so that the ducks can be introduced at the optimum time, and tests possible additions or changes. For example, before adding loaches, a small type of fish, to the paddies, he raised loaches in a tub to see if they would be eaten by the ducks. He found that the ducks, although they liked the fish, tended to ignore them in murky water.

"It's very important to look at your own work from an impartial standpoint," he said. "I use what I learn to determine my plan for the next year."

An estimated 10,000 farmers use his system in Japan, and it is being adopted in many rice-growing areas including China, India and the Philippines. During a 1994 trip to Vietnam, he saw a woman weeding a rice paddy by hand. "I knew then how important this technology would be for people in countries where much of the work still is done by hand."

Since then, he has traveled to a number of other countries to share his methods. He also has worked closely with Bill Mollison, founding director of the Permaculture Institute, to publish a book about his methods.

Furuno has farmed for 24 years, but is especially interested in learning from other farmers. Although he had never visited Iowa, he said he grew up learning about the state's agricultural productivity.

"Some of the things I'm doing have been done in Japan for 500 years," he said, adding that Iowans need to remember their history, too. "It's important for Iowans to look at how crops used to be grown in this state to see what worked."

"Modern agriculture looks at single answers to specific problems, a very analytical approach," he said. "But this can destroy the parts of the ecosystem that have weeds and insects, the beginning of the process of a field returning to nature. Humans see their job as stopping this process."

Furuno ended his presentation with slides of an African savannah, taken before and after the land was cultivated for commodity production. The wildlife in the area dropped significantly.

"Nature is able to live with itself. These animals can live in harmony and nature gives animals the power to interact and live with one another," he said. "That principle needs to be brought back into agriculture."

The duck's power seems to be a rarity,

65$ at Amazone http://goo.gl/0aTBm

You are saying it's worth it, will order together with the Straw revolution at only 10$ http://goo.gl/fNgej.

Details here

http://www.onestrawrevolution.net/

Edited November 23, 2011 by THAIPHUKET

[Pinnfinola]

Hi

We harvested 5600 kg from 5,5 Rai

Around 1000 kg per / rai

Best harvest in years

Just outside Aranyaphratet

[AA1]

Fascinated by the mixing of rice, ducks, vegetables, fish, etc.

Before reading your threads (Pond Life & Thaiphuket), I was talking to friends this afternoon about getting more use out of rice land up here.

In Surin, we can get very little more than 1 crop of rice per year. Very small ammount of irrigation done so after 1 harvest the land stands idle till the next planting.

How can it earn more (or lose less!!)?

I said what about growing a crop of Cassava in between one rice harvest and the next planting?

I am sure that if it was possible it would have already be done!!

I understand that Cassave likes dry soil rather than wet

So

After the rice harvest, plough and then ridge the land when the soil is still wet or damp.

put in the Cassava sticks,

keep reasonably weeded (with ducks if you want!!),

harvest and sell.

plough and harrow the land flat again and you are ready for rice again.

Never having grown any Cassava I do not know anything about it other than 2 crops a year are grown behind us.

Don't know much more about growing rice as the dear wife tells me to stay out of the way!

Would this idea work as I haven't a clue but may give you a chance to say why not and show up my total ignorance and stupidity even suggecting !!

[THAIPHUKET]

Hi

We harvested 5600 kg from 5,5 Rai

Around 1000 kg per / rai

Best harvest in years

Just outside Aranyaphratet

I guess you are up for a price. Ducks or any other witch work?

I will donate one box of beer/ 5L bottle of wine,

shipped or delivered in person to the winner's place.

Anyone better than 1000kg/rai?

BTW by naming the location, it's just a click to see where the land actually is.Perfect way to learn about Thailand.

[Pond Life]

Hi

We harvested 5600 kg from 5,5 Rai

Around 1000 kg per / rai

Best harvest in years

Just outside Aranyaphratet

Excellant yield, what growing method & fertilisers were used ?

[ozzydom]

Fascinated by the mixing of rice, ducks, vegetables, fish, etc.

Before reading your threads (Pond Life & Thaiphuket), I was talking to friends this afternoon about getting more use out of rice land up here.

In Surin, we can get very little more than 1 crop of rice per year. Very small ammount of irrigation done so after 1 harvest the land stands idle till the next planting.

How can it earn more (or lose less!!)?

I said what about growing a crop of Cassava in between one rice harvest and the next planting?

I am sure that if it was possible it would have already be done!!

I understand that Cassave likes dry soil rather than wet

So

After the rice harvest, plough and then ridge the land when the soil is still wet or damp.

put in the Cassava sticks,

keep reasonably weeded (with ducks if you want!!),

harvest and sell.

plough and harrow the land flat again and you are ready for rice again.

Never having grown any Cassava I do not know anything about it other than 2 crops a year are grown behind us.

Don't know much more about growing rice as the dear wife tells me to stay out of the way!

Would this idea work as I haven't a clue but may give you a chance to say why not and show up my total ignorance and stupidity even suggecting !!

Pretty sure they are not growing 2 crops of Cassava a year.

Cassava is a 1-2 year crop

[THAIPHUKET]

I had to look up Cassava and , not to sidetrack on the issue: what are the rice crop results,

I just want to show this to cassava farmers

Cassava is the third-most important food source in tropical countries, but it has one major problem: The roots and leaves of poorly processed cassava plants contain a substance that, when eaten, can trigger the production of cyanide. That's a serious problem for the 500 million people who rely on cassava as their main source of calories

http://goo.gl/LlXGD

Edited November 25, 2011 by THAIPHUKET

[AA1]

Pretty sure they are not growing 2 crops of Cassava a year.

Cassava is a 1-2 year crop

Many thanks ozzydom,

I should have checked the facts BEFORE making a serious suggestion!

I too have Googled Cassava now (better late than never) and found:_

"Cassava is a tropical root crop, requiring at least 8 months of warm weather to produce a crop. It is traditionally grown in a savanna climate, but can be grown in extremes of rainfall. In moist areas it does not tolerate flooding. In drouthy areas it looses its leaves to conserve moisture, producing new leaves when rains resume. It takes 18 or more months to produce a crop under adverse conditions such as cool or dry weather. Cassava does not tolerate freezing conditions. It tolerates a wide range of soil pH 4.0 to 8.0 and is most productive in full sun."

so if the time period is at least 8 months then my idea goes straight out of the window.

We need say 6 months for rice & 6 months for a hot weather crop.

Time seems to pass so fast that it's hard to believe that it was over 6 months that the crop was put in the ground behind our house to when it was harvested!!

Anybody else got any other ideas of what we could grow in Isaan during the 'dry' season, roughly from December to June, before palnting rice again?

[ludditeman]

32 sacks of sticky rice just harvested from our 5 rai. (20kg a sack?)

As it's sharecropped, we received 16 sacks, which I'm guessing should produce about 160kg when milled.

Does that estimate sound about right?

Edited November 27, 2011 by ludditeman

[oldestswinger]

Some years we grow sesame.

[RedBullHorn]

32 sacks of sticky rice just harvested from our 5 rai. (20kg a sack?)

As it's sharecropped, we received 16 sacks, which I'm guessing should produce about 160kg when milled.

Does that estimate sound about right?

I reckon it is 20kg/sack, paddies are usually stored into a 40-50kg sack, Thai called it "khasop khao see pip or har pip" 1 pip is refer to the metal biscuit bin/container in the past which weight 11kg/pip, so 4 pip sack weight 44kg...but now they'd refer 1 pip as 10kg for easy reference, so 4 pip sack becomes 40kg and 5 pip sack is 50kg. "Hi-Gro" brand fertilizer sack are 50kg type sack. Commercial fish pellet sacks are 20kg and resell at 2-3 Baht/sack, cheaper then "Hi-gro"sack which resell at 6-8 Baht/sack. The fact that fish pellet sack is cheaper, a small percentage of farmer do use fish pellet sack because they'd empty out the sacks of paddies into their paddies storage hut.(a practice to deter/discourage theft by sack)

Edited November 27, 2011 by RedBullHorn

[ludditeman]

32 sacks of sticky rice just harvested from our 5 rai. (20kg a sack?)

As it's sharecropped, we received 16 sacks, which I'm guessing should produce about 160kg when milled.

Does that estimate sound about right?

I reckon it is 20kg/sack, paddies are usually stored into a 40-50kg sack, Thai called it "khasop khao see pip or har pip" 1 pip is refer to the metal biscuit bin/container in the past which weight 11kg/pip, so 4 pip sack weight 44kg...but now they'd refer 1 pip as 10kg for easy reference, so 4 pip sack becomes 40kg and 5 pip sack is 50kg. "Hi-Gro" brand fertilizer sack are 50kg type sack. Commercial fish pellet sacks are 20kg and resell at 2-3 Baht/sack, cheaper then "Hi-gro"sack which resell at 6-8 Baht/sack. The fact that fish pellet sack is cheaper, a small percentage of farmer do use fish pellet sack because they'd empty out the sacks of paddies into their paddies storage hut.(a practice to deter/discourage theft by sack)

Apparently ours are "khasop khao har pip", which means our share from the 5 rai is 800-900kg of unmilled sticky rice

Thanks for the info RBH, any idea what the milled weight would be?

[Pond Life]

My guesstimate is that you lose 2/3 of the volume & 1/3 of the weight during milling.

[euca]

AA1 wrote:

Anybody else got any other ideas of what we could grow in Isaan during the 'dry' season, roughly from December to June, before palnting rice again?

Sesame, as stated above. Peanuts. Think I've seen a ref to cowpeas, too. Believe they all fix nitrogen but willing to stand corrected.

As to this matter of selling wet or dry, we sell wet mostly these days as the work of drying, the chance of getting rained on, double transport costs, weight & volume loss seems not to be worth it. Also they appear to be keener to find fault & give a lower price on dry paddy. As for Bt20/kg, I'll believe it when I have it in my hand. I think it's a load of Moon Sat. And the Rong Sii have more reasons for cutting their price than a dog has fleas.

This about ducks and SRI is interesting. So the ducks do the weeding & don"t eat your seedlings? Promise? If so then the next problem is dogs hunting ducks.

Edited November 27, 2011 by euca

[Pinnfinola]

Hi

We harvested 5600 kg from 5,5 Rai

Around 1000 kg per / rai

Best harvest in years

Just outside Aranyaphratet

Excellant yield, what growing method & fertilisers were used ?

Rice was planted in a traditonal way´.

We used 46-0-0 and "ke moo"

Most of all the rains where perfect.