Second rice crop planting ban takes toll on farmers

[trogers]

I very much doubt any of the geniuses giving out advice here to the farmers would be anywhere near the position in life they are if they too were born into a rice farmers family.

Farmers worldwide have a tough life, and the job they do is essential as it provides cheap food for the masses. I know this is explaining the obvious but it seems some here do not understand the simplest simplest thing when it comes to the economics of food production.

Telling farmers to go get a job to better themselves is about as stupid a comment as could possibly be made.

There is surplus supply of rice for mankind. If these farmers cannot survive from farming such a cheap produce, either switch to a high value crop, or sell off the farm to someone who can.

Then get a job and buy cheap rice farmed by someone else.

Nonsensical! You must be the only person in the world who thinks there is a surplus of rice in the world.

Even if it were anywhere near true, the person leaving farming would have to be replaced by someone else wouldnt they? or the amount of rice produced would go down and prices go up. Then the farmer who left his fields would also have to pay more for his rice and he would still be unhappy.

When he and his wife work and earn over 250,000 a year, why would they be unhappy even when price of rice doubles?

[Linky]

If you are a window cleaner in Bradford UK, and it rains for five days out of seven for a couple of month would or should they expect the government to give them financial assistance, would they threaten to block the M62 motorway if they do not get free money equivalent to a living wage, of course most of the shop windows they clean are owned by hi so rich Londeners and yes free money , low interest loans, and a few quid for thr bar girls should be given, get my drift ?.q

Forgive me for thinking window cleaners dont providde food for a nation.

Many countries subsidise farmers in hard times as they are the backbone of the economy when all else goes tits up.

[whaleboneman]

Dear rice farmers!!

Maybe time to get a job??...................

And then what will you eat?

[trogers]

If you are a window cleaner in Bradford UK, and it rains for five days out of seven for a couple of month would or should they expect the government to give them financial assistance, would they threaten to block the M62 motorway if they do not get free money equivalent to a living wage, of course most of the shop windows they clean are owned by hi so rich Londeners and yes free money , low interest loans, and a few quid for thr bar girls should be given, get my drift ?.q

Forgive me for thinking window cleaners dont providde food for a nation.

Many countries subsidise farmers in hard times as they are the backbone of the economy when all else goes tits up.

Oh dear, Singapore is dead. They have no farmers.

[FangFerang]

It would not be very expensive for the government to supply one thing the farmers all need -- an education in alternatives. Have a small team look at harvest yeilds and growing times compared to current market demands. Then make recommendations to different areas about what secondary crops to grow to bolster income, increase productivity, and gear for export. There are hundreds of plants to grow, just spread the recommendations out non-uniformly. For example, in one of the 27 banned second planting provinces, help the farmers obtain seeds for sorghum to sell to the pork farmers.

It really only takes two things. One, a government supervised seed bank. Two, a savvy team working together to help farmers and the country reach the desired goals. Loans are a bandage. Treat the illness, not the symptoms.

[LindaLovelace]

Start with the classifieds like most of us, or check out the Labour ministry? Provided they can read...

You're obviously NOT A THAI RICE FARMER, whose family has farmed Rice for generations!!

Please FH, don't under estimate the stupids on here who denigrate those whose farming efforts have been the backbone of the economy for generations.

trogers can probably read and perhaps even write, but how smug he must be to make such insulting and patronising comments about those whose hard and honest labour puts his rice on the table.

Some times the Fwits on TV are just too much.

Phil you have to admit the farming industry in Thailand has not not been keeping up with modern technology and practices, and the rice farmers seem to be the ones lagging behind the most. The govt of course is at fault in many ways. Instead of pushing subsidies to gain votes at election time, they should have been pushing for strains that produced higher yields, better methods, using less fertilizers, and helping to purchase machinery to lessen the burden of manual labor. As well as providing the ability to irrigate larger areas. But rice farmers themselves are equally at fault, while they were scrounging for more and more subsidies, their neighbors and the rest of the world got modern.

I read PhilW's post in the quote above, then I went looking for it because I wanted to add a "like." But it looks like Metisdead removed it for some reason. It is easy for educated folks to denigrate those who are not educated and come from families that have never been educated. But the bar is high for those from uneducated families to simply "pull themselves out of it." For one thing, education costs money (and please do not say education is free in Thailand; it is NOT), and the uneducated seldom have much money as they reside at the bottom of the economic food chain. Folks that come from educated families have no concept of what it is like.

An uneducated farmer is not going to suddenly change and employ more modern methods. Vietnam has greatly increased its production by introducing modern farming methods, but it has been by government initiative. If the government held local seminars for farmers, and provided consultants, the new seed and machinery free of charge (instead of subsidies), Thai farmers would embrace the program. But as it is, don't blame the farmer. The countries similar to Thailand that "got modern" while Thai farmers were "scrounging for subsidies" did so ONLY because of government programs providing the tools and guidance. Thai farmers have not been offered this.

[Robby nz]

Great how those in cities think that farmers are so stupid that they have to be told that there isn't going to be enough water to grow a crop.

The rice farmers are well aware of the weather and drought conditions and will not go ahead and plant if there is not going to be enough water, they don't have to be told.

Conditions where I live on the central plain are the driest they have been in living memory, large ponds that are normally year round water sources have dried up long ago, yet as I travel round I see in other places there is still water and in those the farmers have ignored the suits and gone ahead and planted knowing full well they will have enough water for their crop.

Others have bore water which they can use and they have also planted and harvested a crop.

Great how those in cities think that farmers are so stupid that they have to be told that there isn't going to be enough water to grow a crop.

The rice farmers are well aware of the weather and drought conditions and will not go ahead and plant if there is not going to be enough water, they don't have to be told.

Maybe a tad to much credit given there.

Rice farmers in major plantation areas, especially the Central region, are ploughing ahead with a second crop, despite the threat of drought. Most say they're willing to take the chance due to attractive prices at this time.

"If I don't grow a second crop, I have no idea to grow any other plants or work in another career. My only experience is growing rice," he said. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/04/05/business/Farmers-in-central-region-planting-2nd-rice-crop-d-30126393.html

In some instances the ground is being plowed but that is as far as it goes for to take the process farther needs water and that just is not available.

It makes sense to plow now as rain should be expected next month so when water is available the second stage of preparing the ground, flooding the paddy and harrowing can begin immediately.

There is also the aspect that most farmers don't own the tractors or other machines needed but hire contractors to do the work and there are only a certain number of contractors in each area who cant plow or harrow every paddy at the one time so the work is spread out over time.

I am no rice farmer but I live in a rice farming area and get around and have seen how things are done over several seasons and crops.

[quidnunc]

Rice farmers are a very complicated bunch.

They complain when they cant grow rice and complain even more when they do.

Yes they complain when they can't grow rice and cannot earn any money to live on and complain more when they do grow rice and don't get paid and have no money to live on.

I think the common link could be no way to feed themselves or their families.

No way to feed...because they are unskilled and not willing to leave their farms to search for manual work.

The govt can easily budget up 30b baht to landscape Bangkok and other major cities to generate work that suits them.

So, they should leave their farms and go elswehere in the hopes that the government will appropriate 30B baht to provide them work? Don't get me wrong. I think a 30B baht program like this would be a great idea, but don't you think these farmers should actually wait for the govt. to do this before traipsing off?

[quidnunc]

And where is 50 year old rice farmer going to get a job ?

If all these rice paddies turned into veggie patches where would they be able to sell them and at what price ?

Start with the classifieds like most of us, or check out the Labour ministry? Provided they can read...

So in your mind apparently there are millions of jobs out there just waiting to be filled by ex-rice farmers? As anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of economics knows, if that were the case, Thailand would now be experiencing tripe digit inflation.

Edited May 10, 2015 by quidnunc

[trogers]

You need to spend a year in the shoes of a rice farmer with both government and weather working against you before you have earned the right to criticize one.

In fact, I challenge some of you keyboard experts to spend one full, hot, day working in a rice field

I have done it and I respect and sympathise with them.

I wold bet that some of you older guys would literally not survive a full day working in the hot sun on a rice farm.

So many experts, so little knowledge...

I in fact has spent 2 planting/harvesting seasons (2011/2012) as both investor and worker in a field of 12 rai.

Yes, I helped in dunking, spreading fertilizers, drying paddy that were harvesterd by machine, and repacking them for transport.

I gave up from the year 2013 on the news that store houses were overflowing with old stocks.

[UTH001]

I am no expert of farming or farming techniques but a few comments I cannot resist making: If the price of a crop has been consistently low, yields are not improving, neither is the amount of water available (and with global warming, unlikely to get better?), time for a change to plant something else? Farmers are not just susidized financially in Thailand but in many parts of the world (except possibly Australia and the US) but constantly waiting for handouts from the government (tax payer) cannot be a good longterm solution (not for the farmer, nor for the country!)? And farmers all over the world get a second job during non-planting/non-harvesting season, why is that not happening in Thailand?

[BSJ]

Great how those in cities think that farmers are so stupid that they have to be told that there isn't going to be enough water to grow a crop.

The rice farmers are well aware of the weather and drought conditions and will not go ahead and plant if there is not going to be enough water, they don't have to be told.

Conditions where I live on the central plain are the driest they have been in living memory, large ponds that are normally year round water sources have dried up long ago, yet as I travel round I see in other places there is still water and in those the farmers have ignored the suits and gone ahead and planted knowing full well they will have enough water for their crop.

Others have bore water which they can use and they have also planted and harvested a crop.

Great how those in cities think that farmers are so stupid that they have to be told that there isn't going to be enough water to grow a crop.

The rice farmers are well aware of the weather and drought conditions and will not go ahead and plant if there is not going to be enough water, they don't have to be told.

Maybe a tad to much credit given there.

Rice farmers in major plantation areas, especially the Central region, are ploughing ahead with a second crop, despite the threat of drought. Most say they're willing to take the chance due to attractive prices at this time.

"If I don't grow a second crop, I have no idea to grow any other plants or work in another career. My only experience is growing rice," he said. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/04/05/business/Farmers-in-central-region-planting-2nd-rice-crop-d-30126393.html

In some instances the ground is being plowed but that is as far as it goes for to take the process farther needs water and that just is not available.

It makes sense to plow now as rain should be expected next month so when water is available the second stage of preparing the ground, flooding the paddy and harrowing can begin immediately.

There is also the aspect that most farmers don't own the tractors or other machines needed but hire contractors to do the work and there are only a certain number of contractors in each area who cant plow or harrow every paddy at the one time so the work is spread out over time.

I am no rice farmer but I live in a rice farming area and get around and have seen how things are done over several seasons and crops.

That's pretty much it Robby! All up there has been a lot of dams enlarged around here and new dams created. One of the wifes aunties paid 1500baht an hour for an excavator machine to dig out her dam and enlarge it about 50%. All up 35k + 1000 from the wife to spread a pile of dirt on her block. There are dozens of new dams in the district since xmas.

I don't do any work on the rice or corn....except take pictures and bring out food/water. I am the ideas guy, they value me for my knowledge!

But we need rain. There was a he11 of a lightning show last night with accompanying thunder and wind but little rain.

You can't grow much without a good supply of water. Just to help keep the mango trees in good condition I would like to water the mango trees in the orchard during the dry season. Each tree gets 25 litres minimum, thrice. Rounding up that's 60.000 litres plus. Watering with 2 hoses from the trailer with a 1000L tank, it's 40 trees a tank, that's 60+ trips plus pump time around 20 minutes with the 1 and 1/2" pump. Minimum of 5 days work there.

If your a rice or corn farmer like the wife who has 20 rai plowed, you will need a lot more than 60.000L.....she is depending on the rain. The dam is 20M x 12M x 7M (approx) which is at best 1.440.000L of water if it was full, which it ain't! As it's 5 years since a cleanout it has sediment in the bottom so the true value if full maybe a million litres. With 2 x 8" pumps running all day that million litres starts to disappear quick! There is no klong for her to utilise.

So, farming without water. Someone mentioned it. Maybe their farming rocks! Cos pretty much everything else needs water!

[trogers]

Great how those in cities think that farmers are so stupid that they have to be told that there isn't going to be enough water to grow a crop.

The rice farmers are well aware of the weather and drought conditions and will not go ahead and plant if there is not going to be enough water, they don't have to be told.

Conditions where I live on the central plain are the driest they have been in living memory, large ponds that are normally year round water sources have dried up long ago, yet as I travel round I see in other places there is still water and in those the farmers have ignored the suits and gone ahead and planted knowing full well they will have enough water for their crop.

Others have bore water which they can use and they have also planted and harvested a crop.

Great how those in cities think that farmers are so stupid that they have to be told that there isn't going to be enough water to grow a crop.

The rice farmers are well aware of the weather and drought conditions and will not go ahead and plant if there is not going to be enough water, they don't have to be told.

Maybe a tad to much credit given there.

Rice farmers in major plantation areas, especially the Central region, are ploughing ahead with a second crop, despite the threat of drought. Most say they're willing to take the chance due to attractive prices at this time.

"If I don't grow a second crop, I have no idea to grow any other plants or work in another career. My only experience is growing rice," he said. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/04/05/business/Farmers-in-central-region-planting-2nd-rice-crop-d-30126393.html

In some instances the ground is being plowed but that is as far as it goes for to take the process farther needs water and that just is not available.

It makes sense to plow now as rain should be expected next month so when water is available the second stage of preparing the ground, flooding the paddy and harrowing can begin immediately.

There is also the aspect that most farmers don't own the tractors or other machines needed but hire contractors to do the work and there are only a certain number of contractors in each area who cant plow or harrow every paddy at the one time so the work is spread out over time.

I am no rice farmer but I live in a rice farming area and get around and have seen how things are done over several seasons and crops.

That's pretty much it Robby! All up there has been a lot of dams enlarged around here and new dams created. One of the wifes aunties paid 1500baht an hour for an excavator machine to dig out her dam and enlarge it about 50%. All up 35k + 1000 from the wife to spread a pile of dirt on her block. There are dozens of new dams in the district since xmas.

I don't do any work on the rice or corn....except take pictures and bring out food/water. I am the ideas guy, they value me for my knowledge!

But we need rain. There was a he11 of a lightning show last night with accompanying thunder and wind but little rain.

You can't grow much without a good supply of water. Just to help keep the mango trees in good condition I would like to water the mango trees in the orchard during the dry season. Each tree gets 25 litres minimum, thrice. Rounding up that's 60.000 litres plus. Watering with 2 hoses from the trailer with a 1000L tank, it's 40 trees a tank, that's 60+ trips plus pump time around 20 minutes with the 1 and 1/2" pump. Minimum of 5 days work there.

If your a rice or corn farmer like the wife who has 20 rai plowed, you will need a lot more than 60.000L.....she is depending on the rain. The dam is 20M x 12M x 7M (approx) which is at best 1.440.000L of water if it was full, which it ain't! As it's 5 years since a cleanout it has sediment in the bottom so the true value if full maybe a million litres. With 2 x 8" pumps running all day that million litres starts to disappear quick! There is no klong for her to utilise.

So, farming without water. Someone mentioned it. Maybe their farming rocks! Cos pretty much everything else needs water!

I invested the profit from 2011 harvest to dig a pond of 1 rai, two metres deep with capacity of 1600 cu. metres.

This pond came in handy for my planting in May 2012, when the rain came a few weeks late. I employed a pump for 6 hours to cover the field of 12 rai with 6 inches of water for dunking the rice crop.

The pond was built for two reasons. First, that spot was shin deep with water during harvest time of 2011 and I had to manually reap the rice crop.

The fields have no storage of water and is totally dependant on rain.

Edited May 10, 2015 by trogers

[thaibeachlovers]

Hmmmmm. I guess they won't be eating at The Dukes anymore then .

[15Peter20]

Where has all that sympathy for farmers from the junta-lovers gone? When PT were in power the farmers deserved so much. Now, not so much, it appears.

[metisdead]

Some nonsense posts and replies have been removed.

[Lunchbob]

Start with the classifieds like most of us, or check out the Labour ministry? Provided they can read...

You're obviously NOT A THAI RICE FARMER, whose family has farmed Rice for generations!!

Please FH, don't under estimate the stupids on here who denigrate those whose farming efforts have been the backbone of the economy for generations.

trogers can probably read and perhaps even write, but how smug he must be to make such insulting and patronising comments about those whose hard and honest labour puts his rice on the table.

Some times the Fwits on TV are just too much.

Phil you have to admit the farming industry in Thailand has not not been keeping up with modern technology and practices, and the rice farmers seem to be the ones lagging behind the most. The govt of course is at fault in many ways. Instead of pushing subsidies to gain votes at election time, they should have been pushing for strains that produced higher yields, better methods, using less fertilizers, and helping to purchase machinery to lessen the burden of manual labor. As well as providing the ability to irrigate larger areas. But rice farmers themselves are equally at fault, while they were scrounging for more and more subsidies, their neighbors and the rest of the world got modern.

I read PhilW's post in the quote above, then I went looking for it because I wanted to add a "like." But it looks like Metisdead removed it for some reason. It is easy for educated folks to denigrate those who are not educated and come from families that have never been educated. But the bar is high for those from uneducated families to simply "pull themselves out of it." For one thing, education costs money (and please do not say education is free in Thailand; it is NOT), and the uneducated seldom have much money as they reside at the bottom of the economic food chain. Folks that come from educated families have no concept of what it is like.

An uneducated farmer is not going to suddenly change and employ more modern methods. Vietnam has greatly increased its production by introducing modern farming methods, but it has been by government initiative. If the government held local seminars for farmers, and provided consultants, the new seed and machinery free of charge (instead of subsidies), Thai farmers would embrace the program. But as it is, don't blame the farmer. The countries similar to Thailand that "got modern" while Thai farmers were "scrounging for subsidies" did so ONLY because of government programs providing the tools and guidance. Thai farmers have not been offered this.

Ironically, the best way for farmers to move toward a more successful model is to use less machinery or none at all, to focus on a small amount of rice, about 30 percent of their available land, simplify all of their practices, save their own seeds, make compost and fertilizer from what is readily available, dig swales and diversify from what is available and free which is a lot, focus more on what is here now. You can make oil from moringa, neem powders, many types of plants that can be used for tea, herbal pills made with honey and sunlight, fermented products that can store from rice, beans, flours from pigeon pea, cowpea, small ponds hand dug with fish, chickens, eggs, frogs, all relatively free. As to money for cars and school and computers and air conditioning there is no solution in the mainstream society.

[JOC]

The different programs for farmers serve only one purpose: To keep the people in their place!!

Keep the farmers uneducated and poor, and make sure, that the handouts are big enough to keep them off the streets.

Hence the land-allocation to landless "farmers", of course the powers are aware that the allocated lands will only keep the farmers alive (with a little help), but it will keep them quiet for a number of years, while they are fighting an unwinnable battle.

If everything else fails, you hit the farmers with the "sustainable philosophy", the perfect way to keep the poor in their place and make sure they remain poor. And as we all know, the sustainability philosophy cannot be questioned!!

No doubt the powers are aware, that the way forward are big state run farms, but it doesn't serve the political agenda of the elite.

Divide and conquer......................

[dcutman]

Start with the classifieds like most of us, or check out the Labour ministry? Provided they can read...

You're obviously NOT A THAI RICE FARMER, whose family has farmed Rice for generations!!

Please FH, don't under estimate the stupids on here who denigrate those whose farming efforts have been the backbone of the economy for generations.

trogers can probably read and perhaps even write, but how smug he must be to make such insulting and patronising comments about those whose hard and honest labour puts his rice on the table.

Some times the Fwits on TV are just too much.

Phil you have to admit the farming industry in Thailand has not not been keeping up with modern technology and practices, and the rice farmers seem to be the ones lagging behind the most. The govt of course is at fault in many ways. Instead of pushing subsidies to gain votes at election time, they should have been pushing for strains that produced higher yields, better methods, using less fertilizers, and helping to purchase machinery to lessen the burden of manual labor. As well as providing the ability to irrigate larger areas. But rice farmers themselves are equally at fault, while they were scrounging for more and more subsidies, their neighbors and the rest of the world got modern.

I read PhilW's post in the quote above, then I went looking for it because I wanted to add a "like." But it looks like Metisdead removed it for some reason. It is easy for educated folks to denigrate those who are not educated and come from families that have never been educated. But the bar is high for those from uneducated families to simply "pull themselves out of it." For one thing, education costs money (and please do not say education is free in Thailand; it is NOT), and the uneducated seldom have much money as they reside at the bottom of the economic food chain. Folks that come from educated families have no concept of what it is like.

An uneducated farmer is not going to suddenly change and employ more modern methods. Vietnam has greatly increased its production by introducing modern farming methods, but it has been by government initiative. If the government held local seminars for farmers, and provided consultants, the new seed and machinery free of charge (instead of subsidies), Thai farmers would embrace the program. But as it is, don't blame the farmer. The countries similar to Thailand that "got modern" while Thai farmers were "scrounging for subsidies" did so ONLY because of government programs providing the tools and guidance. Thai farmers have not been offered this.

Ironically, the best way for farmers to move toward a more successful model is to use less machinery or none at all, to focus on a small amount of rice, about 30 percent of their available land, simplify all of their practices, save their own seeds, make compost and fertilizer from what is readily available, dig swales and diversify from what is available and free which is a lot, focus more on what is here now. You can make oil from moringa, neem powders, many types of plants that can be used for tea, herbal pills made with honey and sunlight, fermented products that can store from rice, beans, flours from pigeon pea, cowpea, small ponds hand dug with fish, chickens, eggs, frogs, all relatively free. As to money for cars and school and computers and air conditioning there is no solution in the mainstream society.

Sending farmers back back in time, sometime prior prior to the 19th century, is your solution to the problem?

[Dante99]

I am no expert of farming or farming techniques but a few comments I cannot resist making: If the price of a crop has been consistently low, yields are not improving, neither is the amount of water available (and with global warming, unlikely to get better?), time for a change to plant something else? Farmers are not just susidized financially in Thailand but in many parts of the world (except possibly Australia and the US) but constantly waiting for handouts from the government (tax payer) cannot be a good longterm solution (not for the farmer, nor for the country!)? And farmers all over the world get a second job during non-planting/non-harvesting season, why is that not happening in Thailand?

Why do you think it is not happening in Thailand. In the villages I have lived in for many years, almost all the rice farmers, a few exceptions for women, elderly and children, have other jobs they work when they are not planting or harvesting which means that they are working other jobs 8-10 months a year. Rice growing is their part time job and they leave their regular job for a week or two a few times a year to do it.

[trogers]

And where is 50 year old rice farmer going to get a job ?

If all these rice paddies turned into veggie patches where would they be able to sell them and at what price ?

Start with the classifieds like most of us, or check out the Labour ministry? Provided they can read...

So in your mind apparently there are millions of jobs out there just waiting to be filled by ex-rice farmers? As anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of economics knows, if that were the case, Thailand would now be experiencing tripe digit inflation.

Let me tell you the story of a farming family. The parents died 5 years ago leaving 70+ rai of farm land shared by 5 sons and the youngest, a daughter.

The eldest son past away just over a year after his father did leaving the land to his wife and kids.

The 2nd son sold his land to a nephew and moved to Bangkok.

The 3rd son sold all his land progressively using the money to live a good life and kept a mistress, who left when the money was all spent.

The 4th son worked and is still working as a security guard in Bangkok with his wife working as a cleaner. They just used cash savings to buy over 2 rais of a neighbour's farmland.

The 5th son is now a puyai baan and remains behind as a farmer.

I farmed the land of the youngest daughter.

They all know that they cannot feed themselves and their kids on 12-15 rai of land.

This is how they live their lives now.

The 2nd and 3rd sons are living at Bangplee working as labourers in CP warehouse.

The 3rd son woke up and is now saving money to clear debts on his wife's farmland, his having all been sold.

The 3 brothers in Bangkok all let their 5th brother to work their land keeping a third of the harvest as payment for his labour. This allows them to work and earn an income.

I stop planting from 2013, and the land is rented to the 5th brother to plant for 10,000 baht a year.

This family grew up in the farm, helping their parents since age 7-8. They still are attached to their roots, but have to adapt to reality to survive.

Their hope is to retire back in their farms after building a house there and saving a sum of money.

[PEAP]

#1 Australia - - - One crop per year with a yield of 10MT/HA and it is seeded (planted) by plane.

#45 Thailand - - - ? crops per year with a yield of 3MT/HA Seems some modernisation is needed.

Source:- www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/commodity

[trogers]

#1 Australia - - - One crop per year with a yield of 10MT/HA and it is seeded (planted) by plane.

#45 Thailand - - - ? crops per year with a yield of 3MT/HA Seems some modernisation is needed.

Source:- www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/commodity

A farmer in Australia has more land than he can work on. This is a continent with a population less than half of Thailand.

[Thai at Heart]

Well, the least they should do is compensate them for not being allowed to grow.

As far as I know rice farming was never intended to be a social program, even though its seems like it is.

Where do you draw the line on compensating people for lost wages when natural disasters occur?

If the govt orders you not to carry out a legal action, ordinarily you get compensated, right?

These people were ordered not to grow rice without any recourse to the law. What are they meant to do? Starve?

I am all for them being paid not to grow. It's cheaper in the end than a massive stockpile and much of this second crop production is inefficient anyway.

[dcutman]

Well, the least they should do is compensate them for not being allowed to grow.

As far as I know rice farming was never intended to be a social program, even though its seems like it is.

Where do you draw the line on compensating people for lost wages when natural disasters occur?

If the govt orders you not to carry out a legal action, ordinarily you get compensated, right?

These people were ordered not to grow rice without any recourse to the law. What are they meant to do? Starve?

I am all for them being paid not to grow. It's cheaper in the end than a massive stockpile and much of this second crop production is inefficient anyway.

I do agree with your first point without question, however your second point is not factually correct. The current govt advised farmers in irrigated areas there would no extra water for a second crop. The govt did offer these farmers assistance and suggested planting alternative crops. But were warned they would receive nothing if they planted and lost their second crop.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-appeals-farmers-suspend-second-crop-farming-due-water-shortage

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/farmers-told-plant-alternative-crops

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/prayuts-plea-farmers-stop-growing-second-rice-crops

Edited May 10, 2015 by dcutman

[trogers]

Well, the least they should do is compensate them for not being allowed to grow.

As far as I know rice farming was never intended to be a social program, even though its seems like it is.

Where do you draw the line on compensating people for lost wages when natural disasters occur?

If the govt orders you not to carry out a legal action, ordinarily you get compensated, right?

These people were ordered not to grow rice without any recourse to the law. What are they meant to do? Starve?

I am all for them being paid not to grow. It's cheaper in the end than a massive stockpile and much of this second crop production is inefficient anyway.

I doubt the govt issued an order. It was an advice and notice with a warning that water would not be released for a 2nd crop.

[rocketboybkk]

The question that needs to be answered is

Are the farmers being compensated for not growing a second crop?

If so, how much?

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[apetley]

Well, the least they should do is compensate them for not being allowed to grow.

As far as I know rice farming was never intended to be a social program, even though its seems like it is.

Where do you draw the line on compensating people for lost wages when natural disasters occur?

If the govt orders you not to carry out a legal action, ordinarily you get compensated, right?

These people were ordered not to grow rice without any recourse to the law. What are they meant to do? Starve?

I am all for them being paid not to grow. It's cheaper in the end than a massive stockpile and much of this second crop production is inefficient anyway.

I doubt the govt issued an order. It was an advice and notice with a warning that water would not be released for a 2nd crop.

Where I live some farmers were physically stopped from growing a 2nd crop. Water was in the canal but they were stopped by a group of soldiers touring the area in pickups.

[dcutman]

There is a big chunk of your story missing Apetley. How did the soldiers physically stop these farmers from planting rice?

[apetley]

There is a big chunk of your story missing Apetley. How did the soldiers physically stop these farmers from planting rice?

They made the farmer switch off his water pump and told him that he would be in trouble if he resumed preparing his paddy. Edited May 10, 2015 by apetley