Drought-affected Thai farmers urged to try new plants

[rametindallas]

There is a fairly large wholesale market on Chakkrawat Road near National Bridge. Foreign buyers go there to secure regular shipments. There are several departments in every government that promote export products/produce. Are you one of those people who see only problems which prevents them from seeing answers?

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No, but when i mentioned this to the wife who owns over 200 rai of land her answer was ,''so who would buy the produce'' if the marketing mechanism is unknown to the farmer no one is going to change crops. I mentioned your post to her,she doesn't know about the wholesale market nor does she know about the government departments, perhaps the state should start there,making market opportunities known first before simply saying ''change crops'' these farmers know rice, they have been planting and selling it all their lives they know their customers. they are unaware of the world outside of rice.

Was she answering 'off the hip' or had she investigated by contacting her local government's agricultural agent, etc., and came to a dead end?

Is her answer, "I don't know how to grow anything but rice so I will go bankrupt waiting for a miracle"? If, because of the prolonged drought, you can't grow rice, do you just go out of the farming business or do you try to grow something less water intensive? Farming is not rocket science and ignorance is highly curable. Even Dr. Thaksin, when he was in office, installed a program for rice farmers in the dry NE to transition away from rice.

I'm hoping that dual-track fast freight/passenger service reaches the NE soon because that will bring industry and alternatives to farming. That region has terrible farming weather.

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[Thai at Heart]

Here's the link for mucuna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucuna_pruriens

It sounds ghastly. As for why they grow it for little profit. U cant eat money.

[soalbundy]

There is a fairly large wholesale market on Chakkrawat Road near National Bridge. Foreign buyers go there to secure regular shipments. There are several departments in every government that promote export products/produce. Are you one of those people who see only problems which prevents them from seeing answers?

.

No, but when i mentioned this to the wife who owns over 200 rai of land her answer was ,''so who would buy the produce'' if the marketing mechanism is unknown to the farmer no one is going to change crops. I mentioned your post to her,she doesn't know about the wholesale market nor does she know about the government departments, perhaps the state should start there,making market opportunities known first before simply saying ''change crops'' these farmers know rice, they have been planting and selling it all their lives they know their customers. they are unaware of the world outside of rice.

Was she answering 'off the hip' or had she investigated by contacting her local government's agricultural agent, etc., and came to a dead end?

Is her answer, "I don't know how to grow anything but rice so I will go bankrupt waiting for a miracle"? If, because of the prolonged drought, you can't grow rice, do you just go out of the farming business or do you try to grow something less water intensive? Farming is not rocket science and ignorance is highly curable. Even Dr. Thaksin, when he was in office, installed a program for rice farmers in the dry NE to transition away from rice.

I'm hoping that dual-track fast freight/passenger service reaches the NE soon because that will bring industry and alternatives to farming. That region has terrible farming weather.

.

Nobody here knows where a 'local government agricultural agent' could be found, there isn't much trust in local government or in government at all here, authorities are best avoided is the motto, probably due to negative experience. As for Thaksin's program,well doesn't seem to have worked, in my area around Surin all i see is rice fields and a few belated attempts at rubber tree growing. We haven't planted anything for two years now since we have't been paid for the 2013 harvest yet. In 2014 we rented out the fields for cash, not very much, this year nobody wants to rent, the amount of fields used for agriculture has been voluntarily reduced. I was thinking of fish breeding and found a government office near Surin doing experimental work with fish breeding, they were there to offer advice, large extensive grounds with fish ponds and tanks and 5 people working in the office, we were given some small pamphlets to look at and sent on our way, no advice, no discussion. I tried my hand at it but it was a waste of time and money ( told you so, said the wife ) so i am careful now about suggesting anything new. Wait for industry and sell the land, farming is a mugs game.

[rametindallas]

There is a fairly large wholesale market on Chakkrawat Road near National Bridge. Foreign buyers go there to secure regular shipments. There are several departments in every government that promote export products/produce. Are you one of those people who see only problems which prevents them from seeing answers?

.

No, but when i mentioned this to the wife who owns over 200 rai of land her answer was ,''so who would buy the produce'' if the marketing mechanism is unknown to the farmer no one is going to change crops. I mentioned your post to her,she doesn't know about the wholesale market nor does she know about the government departments, perhaps the state should start there,making market opportunities known first before simply saying ''change crops'' these farmers know rice, they have been planting and selling it all their lives they know their customers. they are unaware of the world outside of rice.

Was she answering 'off the hip' or had she investigated by contacting her local government's agricultural agent, etc., and came to a dead end?

Is her answer, "I don't know how to grow anything but rice so I will go bankrupt waiting for a miracle"? If, because of the prolonged drought, you can't grow rice, do you just go out of the farming business or do you try to grow something less water intensive? Farming is not rocket science and ignorance is highly curable. Even Dr. Thaksin, when he was in office, installed a program for rice farmers in the dry NE to transition away from rice.

I'm hoping that dual-track fast freight/passenger service reaches the NE soon because that will bring industry and alternatives to farming. That region has terrible farming weather.

.

Nobody here knows where a 'local government agricultural agent' could be found, there isn't much trust in local government or in government at all here, authorities are best avoided is the motto, probably due to negative experience. As for Thaksin's program,well doesn't seem to have worked, in my area around Surin all i see is rice fields and a few belated attempts at rubber tree growing. We haven't planted anything for two years now since we have't been paid for the 2013 harvest yet. In 2014 we rented out the fields for cash, not very much, this year nobody wants to rent, the amount of fields used for agriculture has been voluntarily reduced. I was thinking of fish breeding and found a government office near Surin doing experimental work with fish breeding, they were there to offer advice, large extensive grounds with fish ponds and tanks and 5 people working in the office, we were given some small pamphlets to look at and sent on our way, no advice, no discussion. I tried my hand at it but it was a waste of time and money ( told you so, said the wife ) so i am careful now about suggesting anything new. Wait for industry and sell the land, farming is a mugs game.

I, myself, was thinking of starting a mushroom farm south of Hua Hin where it doesn't rain much. If you dig the buildings into the ground, line the inside walls with cinder blocks, put curved, corrugated steel roofs on them, and use the dirt you dug out to cover the roof (earth berm construction), the growing room would stay relatively cool and dark; you could use liter-bottles for skylights. According to many articles I've read (loads of videos on You Tube; the INTERNET has more information than any agricultural agent, anyway) on mushroom farming, you can use rice husks as growing media (in Louisiana we used composted horse manure and straw from the local horse farm stalls; it was free). You need several buildings as every so often you need to take one out of production, sterilize the growing media, and start again. You could do that one building at a time in rotation. Mushrooms are easy to grow, easy to harvest, and use little water; especially when they aren't exposed to evaporation in the open air. There is a ready market with so many restaurants using mushrooms and there a large variety to choose from. Because they are grown in enclosed buildings, it is easier to guard them against thieves. If you have the right number of buildings, you can send in a delivery to Bangkok, or other big city, two, four, or seven times a week.

In the US, tomatoes have the highest profit margin for area under cultivation but since tomatoes don't like direct sunlight in the afternoon, you would need lath houses that block the direct sun in the afternoon. Lath houses are cheap to build. You would also have to invest in a good fence to cut down on theft. I hope you find a way to make the land pay. I grew up on a farm and my dad changed crops/livestock several times. It's a good life when it works though you will never get rich on a small farm like we had (80 acres/200 Rai); it did support our family of eight and put three of us through university.

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[soalbundy]

Nice post Ramatindallas. I wanted to do a mixed crop on 100 rai of lemons, durian, beans etc but the wife although agreeing it was a good idea brought me back to earth with the cost of starting this up, we would need at least 200k to build a fence around the land and even then you would have to guard it at night, especially with durian, then there is the initial start up costs, a reason many farmers wont change crops,they aren't stupid but they are already up to their eyes in debt. The planting and harvesting of the 2013 rice caused me to have a minus of 5000 Euro's on my German bank account and because the government wont or cant pay for the 50 tons of jasmin rice that we delivered to them that minus is still there. I am lucky i have a good German pension, the farmers have mai pen rai. If i was Greek i could get money for free, but no hope here.