Sugar Farming Cost

[Surin13]

Hi all,

My wife an I are thinking of planting sugar on our 35 Rai in Surin and was just wonder what is the approximate cost of turning rice farming land into sugar growing land.

Hoping to get an approximate cost per rai of of converting the land, buying the sugar and planting etc.

We have no equipement eg tractors so wonder the cost involved to to get some to do it for us.

Thanks

[tingtong]

had planted some sugar this year, a first time for us.

had to convert some of the rice paddies, knock down the dikes, etc. ( we planted only about 5 rai).

total cost for 3x tractor, buying cane for planting, fertiliser, transport of cane, workers, and all came to about 5500thb or so if i recall correctly.

since not all the sugar came out nicely, now i am not so sure it was a good change, but done it is, will see in a year.

[Gary A]

We did the same about three years ago and the 5,500 baht per rai cost sounds about right. That's the tractor taking out the rice dikes, a ton and a half or so of seed cane and another 1,100 baht of fertilizer per rai. The seed cane was about 1,400 baht per ton. Then later herbicide. You'll do well to break even the first year.

[Surin13]

Thanks guys $5500 Baht per rai is what I figured from doing research, so thanks for confirming this.

Cheers

[Canada]

The 5500 per rai is in the right ballpark, but there are other factors to consider that may come up.

Water. Pest control. Weed control. Also at this time, people are still planting but for the most part, I would say that most of them are using their own sugar to plant. Most people have sold their sugarcane already and it may be very difficult to find cane to plant that is good quality. Another factor to consider is hiring out your tractor work. It seldom happens on time or how you want it done. If you are going to plant close to the rainy season start you run the risk of poor timing. Eg. tractor starts to work, you start cutting sugar and it rains. By the time the ground hardens up, your tractor is somewhere else, your cut cane that you were going to plant is no good. You try again when the stars align again. We went through this exact scenario 2 years ago. We had to replant the entire piece the following year. Then we ended up with 3 different sets of people planting on a 50 rai parcel, one planted 120 cm rows, one planted 90 cm rows and one planted by hand in a cross direction. This year we moved to our farm(s) bought a tractor and have been doing it ourselves. Following the work of the other people is difficult because none of it was well thought out. I had to cut and modify my drill fertiliser to deal with the difference in row spacing and the small spacing done by the one set of people. If you are not going to water your cane, don't plant it. Think about where the water will come from and how you will deliver to your plants and who will do that. Most people around here plant, water once or twice, abandon and hope for the best.....really. For the most part they get 10-14 tons per rai.

It can all be a real clusterfuck if you are not on top of it. I don't know what your area is like but just trying to organise simple jobs around here is difficult. Nobody uses the damn telephone. They go out in the evening to talk to people to organise work. If they cannot find that person...oh well...try again tomorrow. Never think of looking for someone else, using a telephone or looking in the next village for workers. I am serious about this part of it. If your wife is not somewhat aggressive and goal driven I would give serious thought to bailing on the idea. Foreigner owners and Thai workers do not mix well and you will need a good Thai (your wife) as your buffer between you and them for the first year or two.

5500 baht per rai is just the start of it. Trust me on this. Having said that, I think one can do well at sugar if he is serious about it. I haven't proven it yet as we just got serious about it this year. We have 100 rai of cane. I replanted 50 rai of it this year and we are waiting for 30 of that to come out of the ground. Went out and dug some of it up today to see......its coming, but slow. We planted a little deep and were slow getting the water on....but it's coming....fingers crossed.

Good luck.