Rice Yield per Rai

[cdmtdm]

so i have entered into a debate over the avg rice yield.... my wife has 22 rai , she has recently taken the land back after leasing it for years ... in a rush she decided to take 30 bags as payment for a relative to grow and harvest the crop this year ...i have been told that 2 bags for the grower and 1 for you is normal ....but to me 30 bags equates to the grower only managing to harvest less than a hundred bags ...seems very light on ... so the question is what would an avg yield be for 22 rai ?...water is no issue , good land and produces nice rice///

[whatawonderfulday]

Of course we must assume that we are talking similar bag size. That given my close relatives just harvested 2 rai solely for their own use. This year they acheived same as last years crop which was 34 bags.

Therefore to receive 30 bags in payment for growing 22 rai either means a very poor rice yield or else a gross under stated yield by the grower.

[khwaibah]

How many crops per year 1 or 2 ? What size bags?? Our bags holds 100 kilo,at 5 bags per rai for that would be 110 bags. Sorry but plenty of water and nice rice means nothing. Need to know how many kilo per rai and how many crops per year. Some areas get 800 to 1000 kilo per rai while others get only get 300 kilo per rai.

[patongphil]

Are you sure the deal was for 30 bags and not for 30%? Reason I ask is in our area the deal is called Samsip which refers to 30 percent not 30 bags.

[zeichen]

As others stated depends on how many harvests you can get in your province. But for argument sake say 2, for average soil releatively even planting lines, good season anywhere from 250kilos to 500 kilos a rai per harvest. Someone claimed 1k kilos a rai. I have never seen anyone grow that much in one harvest I don't disbelieve but that would be an incredible harvest.

If you are only get 30 100 kilo bags from leasing out 22 rai, and the harvest is 10k kilos then it is fair, but if they are pulling 20k kilos then you are getting short changed. I would do some research amongsts other farms in the area to find out the average harvest.

[slapout]

We had 15 rai of sticky rice in the Fang area. It grossed 14,000+ kilo, sold at the field. Depends on rice being grown, area, care of growing crop, etc. This area has historcially been a single rice crop area, as there are other crops that supplement their diet/market. potato, cabbage, garlic, onion, etc are winter crops, and then a third planting of choice.

The dry season government water is backed up with a well drilled on parcels of land to ensure a 3 crop potential.

[cdmtdm]

thanks for the input ... ok going back 15 years her father died ,,, the land was passed over to a relative ( i have another word better describes her) as security for payment on the fathers funeral party .... she has fought long and hard to get the land back ,,,when i came on the scene a few years back we began neg on the price to get the land papers back ... the price went up and up until one day the relative needed money in a hurry we settled and regained the farm and papers ..so for a few years she carried on the 30 bag deal ... this year we moved back close to the farm and she took a real interest ... her mother has mentioned 250 x 50kg bags was normal 15 plus years ago , one crop per year ... based on that the 2 bag / 1bag deal should see her getting around 80 plus bags ...not 30 !!! so now she is looking for a new share farmer for next years crop ....

[KBK]

Hi

My first year we did 4 Rai we made 73 bags of Jasmin rice, this is in Ubon and only 1 harvest every year.

KBK

[ericthai]

we typically get about 800-850kgs per rai (we grow jasmine. We stopped using chemical fertilizers a few years ago and stopped the slash and burn my wifes father always did and this is what increased us to 800kgs. Before we changed they were getting about 550-600kgs per rai. For fertilizer we are now using cow manure. We buy dried bags of it from my wife's uncle.

[spidermike007]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

[AYJAYDEE]

our land in sisaket gets 750 kilo per rai = 15 x 50 kilo bags per rai. you either have poor land or a crooked tenant.

[diggledunc]

So many variables but this is my scenario.

5 rai of land which does not have a high yield at best 70 24kg bags. Irrigation not good for one thing and lost quite a bit last year. Similar yields from the 5 rai plots around so not our farming alone gives low yields.

We let them farm it for 15 bags of sticky rice. Have nothing to pay just get the rice.

If you do 2 for 1 then you might have to pay towards fertiliser costs so increased receipt of rice but costs.

In 3 years we have literally been worse off by 3 bags and had no costs.

Think your figure is a bit low and in particular if the land is good.

[Jotham79]

What everyone else is doing doesn't really matter. This year you have your deal so pay attention.....are you getting 30 bags or 30%?....How big are the bags?....what kind of rice-how much per kilo at the field?... what is the standard deal in your area?....how many crops per year? Then next year you can make new arrangements. I don't recommend digging up good rice paddy land. and I going for fruit trees will take you a lot of out of pocket expenses and 5 year to get into production. I put fruit trees on about 10 rai 14 years ago and we are looking about clearing it and going back to rice. You don't care about profit margin as you are not paying any of the expenses, everything is pure profit. Good land with irrigation for multiple crops leases in my area for about 1000 Bt per rai and it soulnd like you will do considerably better and with no risk.

[khunPer]

I often hear about a split of 7:2 – the two being for the owner; if the farmer also borrowed money on the harvest another "2" may go there, leaving the farmer with 5 out of 9 – or a fee in money between 500 and 1000 baht per rai, depending on conditions and rice market price. However, slplits may be different in other areas.

[ericthai]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Right growing rice will keep you poor. That is why big companies invest in growing rice in Thailand, Vietnam, India the USA etc. You may get a better price on fruit than rice when compared to yields per sq meter. However fruits and most herbs have a short shelf life so unless you have a buyer ready to purchase your complete crop when harvested you can lose money. Many fruit trees take several years before they will bear any fruit so those years of non-production need to be taken into account. Rice grows quick 5-6 months and Rice can be stored for a long time. Plus most farmers are growing rice for their own consumption and then sell the rest. My wife does ok. They make about 180,000 - 200,000B per year selling their rice after they take what they need for the year to eat and for next years planting. That gives them about 15K per month to live on.

[hopdafru]

Last year we had 3.5 tons per hectar. Sticky rice, in Vientiane, Laos

This year we are expecting about 4 tons which is average+

A neighbour only got 2.5 tons per Ha last year but he worked pretty much alone

We grow once a year rainy season as no irrigation

1 Ha=6rai

Bag sizes vary so difficult to compare.

We have 12 Ha but not enough people so some families work part of our land and we get free bags but I can't tell what percentage of the crop.

Some people grow more by adding chemicals or natural living stuff (fungi, bacteria etc.) such as green-EM

[Issangeorge]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Can you suggest a crop that can be grown in rice paddies in the rainy season other than rice, without major alterations to the paddies?

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[teletiger]

Last year we had 3.5 tons per hectar. Sticky rice, in Vientiane, Laos This year we are expecting about 4 tons which is average+ A neighbour only got 2.5 tons per Ha last year but he worked pretty much alone We grow once a year rainy season as no irrigation 1 Ha=6rai Bag sizes vary so difficult to compare. We have 12 Ha but not enough people so some families work part of our land and we get free bags but I can't tell what percentage of the crop. Some people grow more by adding chemicals or natural living stuff (fungi, bacteria etc.) such as green-EM

Any more info on "green EM"?

Regards.

[ozzydom]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Can you suggest a crop that can be grown in rice paddies in the rainy season other than rice, without major alterations to the paddies?

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Fish.

[ozzydom]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Can you suggest a crop that can be grown in rice paddies in the rainy season other than rice, without major alterations to the paddies?

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Fish

[slapout]

The word from the government seems to indicate 'sugar cane' will be a good paddy land crop replacement. The latest government peoclaimed help for farmers is a zoneing of farm land The first venture into this is several million rai of rice land will be zoned and committed for sugar cane.

The reasoning was, the land is not suitable for rice culvitation, we have too much rice in storage and the sugar mills in the 'zoned' area are not being supplied the volume of cane they were built/designed for??? The notice in another English language paper did not specify where this is to take place, but did cite the reasoning given by the powers that are involved. In this case there does not seem to be any pretence as to any potential benifet for the farmers, but instead the mills. I think this is what we can expect as far as assistance from the government to farmers for their continued term in office. Suck it up, as bad as some farmgate prices are, it may get worse.

[Bpuumike]

We had 15 rai of sticky rice in the Fang area. It grossed 14,000+ kilo, sold at the field. Depends on rice being grown, area, care of growing crop, etc. This area has historcially been a single rice crop area, as there are other crops that supplement their diet/market. potato, cabbage, garlic, onion, etc are winter crops, and then a third planting of choice.

The dry season government water is backed up with a well drilled on parcels of land to ensure a 3 crop potential.

We (or the family)only have 1 rice crop/year so would be interested in more info or suggestions for a winter crop or not.

Water supply is not a problem.

I guess fertilizers come into the equation as you don't want to deplete the soil for next year's rice crop.

I'm no farmer, perhaps you can only expect so much out of one area that you can't rotate and leave fallow?

[cdmtdm]

ok here is the final figures

22 rai ... 20 farmed , 5 rai sticky rice , 15 rai jasmine

she received 42 bags in total ... the bags are sugar bags look to me like 50litre ( weight i guess 30kg?) ( 15 sticky ,27 jasmine)

when the guy farming was asked how many bags he pulled off the land this year ...his shifty reply was 180 ....now she supplied the land and her tak tak ... so when told next year she wanted 2 plus 1 he got a little pissed off ... i watched as she repossessed her tak tak and laid down the rules for next year , within an hour a new guy arrived with a 2 plus 1 deal and a guarantee of 70 bags .... she has two lazy younger brothers that could do it but thats another story ....

[loong]

We had 15 rai of sticky rice in the Fang area. It grossed 14,000+ kilo, sold at the field. Depends on rice being grown, area, care of growing crop, etc. This area has historcially been a single rice crop area, as there are other crops that supplement their diet/market. potato, cabbage, garlic, onion, etc are winter crops, and then a third planting of choice.

The dry season government water is backed up with a well drilled on parcels of land to ensure a 3 crop potential.

We (or the family)only have 1 rice crop/year so would be interested in more info or suggestions for a winter crop or not.

Water supply is not a problem.

I guess fertilizers come into the equation as you don't want to deplete the soil for next year's rice crop.

I'm no farmer, perhaps you can only expect so much out of one area that you can't rotate and leave fallow?

Maybe you could investigate the possibility of a bean crop that would have the added benefit of adding nitrogen to the soil?

[cooked]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Most of the land around here is land that will only support rice cultivation. Fish ponds are the only alternative, and then you have to practically sleep out there every night to prevent theft.

However we are thinking about bamboo for bamboo shoots next year, we will start on a small scale.

I will be nagging my SIL to plant some kind of nitrogen producing crop in the Spring time, not sure if I will succeed.

[MJP]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

This is absolutely correct.

I've been banging my head against this brick wall for years with mother. Grow anything but rice. Reserve just one of the many, many rai to growing rice for family requirements only, if you really must.

[thinkingofhow]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Right growing rice will keep you poor. That is why big companies invest in growing rice in Thailand, Vietnam, India the USA etc. You may get a better price on fruit than rice when compared to yields per sq meter. However fruits and most herbs have a short shelf life so unless you have a buyer ready to purchase your complete crop when harvested you can lose money. Many fruit trees take several years before they will bear any fruit so those years of non-production need to be taken into account. Rice grows quick 5-6 months and Rice can be stored for a long time. Plus most farmers are growing rice for their own consumption and then sell the rest. My wife does ok. They make about 180,000 - 200,000B per year selling their rice after they take what they need for the year to eat and for next years planting. That gives them about 15K per month to live on.

Growing rice does keep the rural Thai people poor. Even getting 600 kilo of rice (6 large 100kilo brim type bags) per Rai gives them only about 6,000Baht per Rai per year ($200 usd per Rai per year) with a single harvest. This is above average yeild for Issan area. How can the people survive on this with 5 Rai of land? or $1,000/year? (Single harvest is rain dependant land with no irrigation or nearby klong - cannal or river).

There are infinately more profitable crops out there for Thailand, and some with high yields and returns making income's higher and more available. The conversion from expensive, land salinizing chemical fertilizers just needs education and some demonstration farms for Thai's to mimic like WWOOF Thailand is doing right across the country. They have 46 organic farms and using permaculture techniques, no expensive fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, just nature and good farm design using permaculture. The WWOOF thailand mission is to create high revenue organic farms using organinc permaculture farm techniques to demonstrate to others and to bring their premium organic produce, fruit and foods to organic Farmers Markets across Thialand. "Coming to a farmers market near you" - soon. see Bangkok Farmers Markets for more and see www,wwoofthialand.com for a farm to visit near you. Also December 2-4th, 2013 take in

www.ifoam.org/en/events/asia-pacific-regional-symposium-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-organic-farming-bangkok-2

[thinkingofhow]

Growing rice does keep the rural Thai people poor. Even getting 600 kilo of rice (6 large 100kilo brim type bags gives 3.5 tones per Hectar) per Rai gives them only about 6,000Baht per Rai per year ($200 usd per Rai per year) with a single harvest. This is above average yeild for Issan area. How can the people survive on this with 5 Rai of land? or $1,000/year? (Single harvest is rain dependant land with no irrigation or nearby klong - cannal or river).

There are infinately more profitable crops out there for Thailand, and some with high yields and returns making income's higher and more available. The conversion from expensive, land salinizing chemical fertilizers just needs education and some demonstration farms for Thai's to mimic like WWOOF Thailand is doing right across the country. They have 46 organic farms and using permaculture techniques, no expensive fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, just nature and good farm design using permaculture. The WWOOF thailand mission is to create high revenue organic farms using organinc permaculture farm techniques to demonstrate to others and to bring their premium organic produce, fruit and foods to organic Farmers Markets across Thialand. "Coming to a farmers market near you" - soon. see Bangkok Farmers Markets for more and see www,wwoofthialand.com for a farm to visit near you. Also December 2-4th, 2013 vist Bangkok and take in

www.ifoam.org/en/events/asia-pacific-regional-symposium-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-organic-farming-bangkok-2

[ericthai]

Growing rice does keep the rural Thai people poor. Even getting 600 kilo of rice (6 large 100kilo brim type bags gives 3.5 tones per Hectar) per Rai gives them only about 6,000Baht per Rai per year ($200 usd per Rai per year) with a single harvest. This is above average yeild for Issan area. How can the people survive on this with 5 Rai of land? or $1,000/year? (Single harvest is rain dependant land with no irrigation or nearby klong - cannal or river).

There are infinately more profitable crops out there for Thailand, and some with high yields and returns making income's higher and more available. The conversion from expensive, land salinizing chemical fertilizers just needs education and some demonstration farms for Thai's to mimic like WWOOF Thailand is doing right across the country. They have 46 organic farms and using permaculture techniques, no expensive fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, just nature and good farm design using permaculture. The WWOOF thailand mission is to create high revenue organic farms using organinc permaculture farm techniques to demonstrate to others and to bring their premium organic produce, fruit and foods to organic Farmers Markets across Thialand. "Coming to a farmers market near you" - soon. see Bangkok Farmers Markets for more and see www,wwoofthialand.com for a farm to visit near you. Also December 2-4th, 2013 vist Bangkok and take in

www.ifoam.org/en/events/asia-pacific-regional-symposium-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-organic-farming-bangkok-2

Dude there are already "farmers markets" all over Thailand. In Thailand they are called "Fresh markets".

You are now taking about fertilizer and pesticides etc. so Organic growing, totally different from what you first comment was as, this has nothing to do with changing crops.

Just to let you know my wife does not use any chemical fertilizers, we use cow manure. We get 800-900kgs per rai.

As for a Thai farmer living on 1000 USD per year it can be done. (also your figures are off a little at say 500kgs per rai they would end up with about $1,200 USD) It's not a good life and most of the time at least one person works either a full or part time job so it's not just farming alone.

I think you have no idea how things are in Thailand. I have lived in Thailand for 20 years and in a rural village for more than 5 years.

All of our neighbors are farmers growing rice. Most have 4-7 rai. They grow enough rice for themselves and to live plus as i said someone in the family usually works too. I know as a fact that none of my neighbors pay not one baht for electric. If your bill is I believe under 250B you don't have to pay and none of my neighbors exceed this amount. All of them have well water so no cost for water. All own their houses so no loans. So they only need to have money for food. Which most of chickens for eggs and to eat. So it could be done as they would have about 2,500B per month to live. For you and or myself this is impossible, but for a Thai it can be done.

Now back to changing crops. You did not answer my question, what crop do you feel should be grown? I can tell you two years ago one of our neighbors thought she would make allot of money. She grew cucumbers. She ended up loosing money as she didn't have enough buyers when she harvested them. She even setup a stand at the fresh market but still ended up with allot of rotten cucumbers. she gave us two big bags for free. As I said telling a farmer to change crops so they can make more money is not a solid statement. They need to have things in place, have buyers ready, know the markets and most importantly know how to grow the new crop. Just because you know how to grow rice does not mean you know how to grow potatoes. Speaking of potatoes I would like to see you try and grow potatoes where they grow rice. Could not happen as the fields are flooded. As I stated rice has a long shelf life. The rice a farmer grows they can use for themselves and seeds for next year and sell the difference. I'm not saying farmers should not try and grow other products maybe taking 1-2 rai for something else and then use the rest for rice, but your comment that they should grow something else as growing rice is keeping them poor is an absurd comment as most farmers inThailand have between 3-7 rai on average and it does not matter what they grow they are not going to make much money and if they try and grow something they

have now idea how to grow they will lose money.

[David48]

Do not even consider growing rice on your land. It is a technique the elite uses to keep people poor. It is one of the lowest profit per rai crops on the planet. Consider exotic fruit, herbs, or anything other than rice. It will keep you poor. It is grown out of habit, and the profit margin is horrendous.

Can you suggest a crop that can be grown in rice paddies in the rainy season other than rice, without major alterations to the paddies?

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Fish

... or Prawns ...