Cabinet to be asked to completely ban second-crop farming for 2015-16 season

[MaeJoMTB]

And you are complaining about the Army taking over and being illegal.

Well, there is nothing more to say after that.

Unlike you, I don't care all that much because,

I wasn't silly enough to give all my money to a woman living in a banana republic.

I can just leave and set up somewhere else.

[sugarcane24]

So we have floods alternating with droughts. Isn't there a way of storing the water when there are floods to use for irrigation when there is a drought?

[menzies233]

So all the farmers will have to starve?

Or lose their farms when they can't repay their loans?

Probably both points are true.......just indicates the level of care elitists in the government, military etc, have for the 40 odd million rural people

Be careful, you could be accused of spouting UNPEACE! - despite it being true, but as is the case in a lot of things when it comes to law, the TRUTH IS NO DEFENCE!

[casualbiker]

So all the farmers will have to starve?

Or lose their farms when they can't repay their loans?

Probably both points are true.......just indicates the level of care elitists in the government, military etc, have for the 40 odd million rural people

Where do YOU suggest they get the water from?

[MobileContent]

We have rainy season now and more than enough within two months....

Well I don't know because I left my crystal ball at home, but I think you're probably wrong based on what people who know more and better than me have said. Which also accords with observation. Rivers low, ponds empty yet we've had a few good downpours in the past 2 weeks.

It seems the water is re-balancing the water content of the earth, not running off into rivers and dams.

Nam Um Dam in Sakon Nakhon is very much full and my FIL already said that he will plant again in November. I just told him its not permitted for the 2nd planting season and he told me they can <SNIP> them-self in Bangkok.He even told me those f..ks in Bangkok are gone in the next election so let them enjoy them-self and clean up the coffers as long it last.

Edited September 12, 2015 by MobileContent

[casualbiker]

So we have floods alternating with droughts. Isn't there a way of storing the water when there are floods to use for irrigation when there is a drought?

Yes. And the Army engineers have been busy digging ponds etc all over Thailand. What it really needs is a proper country wide water salvage system where the rain water flows into reservoirs rather than being lost to the sea!

Amazingly a lot of the water released is actually to stop the sea encroaching to far into the rivers, because a fair few water treatment plants and agribusiness (factories) were built to close to the sea estuary openings!

[taony]

Hope the cabinet votes to give up half their income too.

Due to the very serious lack of rain this season, farmers are being requested / told / ordered not to plant rice due to the large volumes of water required to cultivate this crop.

What has serious water shortage got to do with cabinet members or for that matter taxi drivers, factory workers or go-go dancers?

The government has said it will find ways to assist the farmers who are in true need of help. Not the wealthy landowners from whom the farmers sometimes rent land.

How about we take half their income and use it to start building serious water management systems. Its raining somewhere all the time in the country and Thailand is not the size if Russia.

[casualbiker]

Hope the cabinet votes to give up half their income too.

Due to the very serious lack of rain this season, farmers are being requested / told / ordered not to plant rice due to the large volumes of water required to cultivate this crop.

What has serious water shortage got to do with cabinet members or for that matter taxi drivers, factory workers or go-go dancers?

The government has said it will find ways to assist the farmers who are in true need of help. Not the wealthy landowners from whom the farmers sometimes rent land.

How about we take half their income and use it to start building serious water management systems. Its raining somewhere all the time in the country and Thailand is not the size if Russia.

How about all Thai people ACTUALLY pay income tax. I'm pretty sure it's not raining somewhere in Thailand ALL the time!

[Dario]

Much better ban the annoying Songkran "Festival," and leave the farmers their livelihood. What a nonsense idea again.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Dario

[casualbiker]

Much better ban the annoying Songkran "Festival," and leave the farmers their livelihood. What a nonsense idea again.

Much better to put a nationwide water saving scheme in place. Start making people realise the problem and try and ensure that they (the people) do something for themselves!

[sandyf]

We have rainy season now and more than enough within two months....

Well I don't know because I left my crystal ball at home, but I think you're probably wrong based on what people who know more and better than me have said. Which also accords with observation. Rivers low, ponds empty yet we've had a few good downpours in the past 2 weeks.

It seems the water is re-balancing the water content of the earth, not running off into rivers and dams.

I don't need a crystal ball. I have 2 wells and in each there is a water mark where the the water level would normally be at the end of the rainy season. At the moment the actual water level is about 4 metres below the water mark. There isn't a hope in hell that the water table will rise that amount in the next few weeks, it has only risen about 300mm since May.

The earth is so dry that any rain is just being absorbed into the soil and not passing through to the water table.

[LawrenceN]

So all the farmers will have to starve?

Or lose their farms when they can't repay their loans?

Probably both points are true.......just indicates the level of care elitists in the government, military etc, have for the 40 odd million rural people

My next door neighbor is the retired director of the Agriculture department for Phayao Province. I told him I was concerned about everyone having enough tap water because of the low level of water in the Mae Kuang Dam, which I have been watching closely.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/840743-water-level-at-mae-kuang-dam/

My neighbor told me that tap water is the top priority and that he has confidence in the engineers managing the water supply in the dams. Good for him; I'm not so sure. I don't understand why the irrigation canals are running full force a week at a time here in the heart of the rainy season when I know the farmers have already been told that they will have to rely on rain water this season.

Sure, I'm sympathetic to the farmers' plight, too, but if everyone in Chiang Mai (including farmers) runs out of tap water, that would be an even bigger problem don't you think? I'm betting that the government will come up with a loan forgiveness or extension program if farmers can't grow that second crop.

[LawrenceN]

I wonder if the Agriculture Department might consider promotion of alternative crops that don't need so much water? There is a lot of unirrigated corn here in Chiang Mai. Much of the rice is exported. Can't they export rye, barley, wheat as well? Growing more corn would help pork producers and cattle farmers, especially dairy.

[casualbiker]

I wonder if the Agriculture Department might consider promotion of alternative crops that don't need so much water? There is a lot of unirrigated corn here in Chiang Mai. Much of the rice is exported. Can't they export rye, barley, wheat as well? Growing more corn would help pork producers and cattle farmers, especially dairy.

Every year the Agricultural dept do road shows and such trying to convince the farmers that there ARE alternative crops. Some change over profitably, some don't because they don't do enough research. Of course rice pledging schemes don't help either. I knew a farmer from Ratchaburi who changed to organic vegetables, extremely profitable. He services the high class hotels and exports.

[maoro2013]

We have plenty of water where we are, are we to be banned too?

[Fat Haggis]

Plenty of water to keep the Army owned and run Golf course lush though eh? ... Fore!!!!!!

[Fat Haggis]

So all the farmers will have to starve?

Or lose their farms when they can't repay their loans?

Probably both points are true.......just indicates the level of care elitists in the government, military etc, have for the 40 odd million rural people

Where do YOU suggest they get the water from?

Closing down all their Golf courses would be a pretty good start...

[loong]

The rainy season may have been a bit late starting here this year, but apart from that it has been normal. It surprises me that some areas are still suffering from drought.

Some years back are the severe flooding, I believe that 100s of billions of baht was allocated for flood control. Was anything actually done? Surely those plans included additional water storage dams. I am sure that intelligent people with the proper knowledge could formulate a single plan to deal with floods that also help with drought situations?

[BSJ]

So all the farmers will have to starve?

Or lose their farms when they can't repay their loans?

The elite carpetbaggers are waiting in the wings to descend and buy up their land at a fraction of its value. This drought will now increase the 1% control of over 50% of the country enjoyed by the rich. This drought was bad for farmers but a godsend for the rich. Just another squeeze play.

I don't consider myself to be an "elite carpetbagger", but if the opportunity arose that I could help my wife acquire more land....why not? More land helps her with economy of scale.

[otherstuff1957]

^^ we are finally getting some rain, but the annual rainfall is still 20 - 30% under normal. In addition, dams were kept at lower than normal levels for a couple of years after the flooding for fear of another flood, so the national reserves simply don't exist.

Different parts of the country are located in different watersheds, so conditions in Issan or in Chiang Rai or the south will not have any impact on the situation in the central Chao Phraya river basin, which is the area worst affected by the current drought.

[DP25]

Won't this have a catastrophic effect on GDP, with all sorts of socioeconomic knock-on effects? Have they thought this through at all?

Rice makes up about 3% of Thailand's exports. It is politically important because there are a few million rice farmers, but financially it is not a very valuable crop. Thailand's GDP would be higher if there were fewer rice farmers and some of them went to work in factories.

Ideally the rice farmers would go get a temporary job during the second crop phase. They would have more money instead of going into debt buying seed and fertilizer and then having the crop die due to lack of water.

[billd766]

And you are complaining about the Army taking over and being illegal.

Well, there is nothing more to say after that.

Unlike you, I don't care all that much because,

I wasn't silly enough to give all my money to a woman living in a banana republic.

I can just leave and set up somewhere else.

As usual if you don't like the post, then you attack and insult the person who wrote it and fail to answer.

I care because my family that I love live here and so do I.

Out of curiousity will you answer this question?

quote

MaeJoMTB, on 12 September 2015 - 1911, said:

"I can just leave and set up somewhere else."

Why don't you?

[LawrenceN]

^^

Different parts of the country are located in different watersheds, so conditions in Issan or in Chiang Rai or the south will not have any impact on the situation in the central Chao Phraya river basin, which is the area worst affected by the current drought.

Point of geographic fact: the Ping, Nan, and Yom Rivers (among others) drain the North, eventually contributing to the Chao Phraya. Our dams in Chiang Mai were filled to overflowing in 2011 in an (unsuccessful) effort to mitigate the Central region's flooding.

[MaeJoMTB]

So all the farmers will have to starve?

Or lose their farms when they can't repay their loans?

Probably both points are true.......just indicates the level of care elitists in the government, military etc, have for the 40 odd million rural people

Where do YOU suggest they get the water from?

Pay me the PMs wage (OK, I'll settle for Cabinet post), plus all the graft I can manage, and I'll start working on the problem right away.

Else not my problem!

Edited September 13, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[onelasttime]

After WW2, S. Korea (as we know it now) and Thailand were similar in many ways. S. Korea chose to go down the path of industrialisation, infrastructure, technological advancement etc whilst Thailand chose to go down the path of sustainable farming. We now have the chickens coming home to roost. The average Somchai in the field has been led by the nose to increase production through fertilizers etc etc and is deeper in debt (to whom I wonder?) now than ever before. He is held hostage partly by his cultural past and also by the machinations of the power brokers irrespective of which colour they were and the current government is so far out of its depth that I can't see any good news on the horizon.

[Singharh]

Just give them the rice which has been stockpiled in the warehouses....

[warriorbangkok]

The way I see it, this decision may produce multi-faceted problems in a few months time. Think about the following:

1. Both the agriculture minister and the Head of the District 12 Irrigation Office have come out and said that water levels in Thailand's dams are dangerously low right now.

2. A lot of farmers went through sheer hell when Yingluck went ahead with her ridiculous rice-pledging scheme. If I was a farmer right now, I probably wouldn't be listening to the government, and be trying to make as much money as I could (or even just trying to make ends meet, as many farmers are).

3. This is an El Niño year, so rainfall in the coming months is not expected to be sustained and significant

If the tap water runs dry, then what are people going to do?

If people will trample over each other in America just to get a few dollars off a TV set, then think what people will do when water runs out.

[edwinchester]

The farmers will take not a jot of notice about banning a 2 nd crop

of rice, they will plant,the seedlings will die through lack of water,

then the farmers will plead to the Government for financial help.

regards Worgeordie

Not in our village as it is serviced by a network of canals very firmly controlled by local officials. This year's crop was planted between 13 and 14 months since the last one, a huge drop in income for a community used to 3 crops a year.

I know there is a drought and a genuine shortage of water but enough of this 'farmers will ignore a ban' please as the vast majority have no option but to comply. Only those next to a major waterway have the opportunity to 'poach' water for a second crop and believe me the army are soon onto those that try that trick.

Edited September 13, 2015 by edwinchester

[chrisrazz]

'Tap water' is a luxury in Thailand. If the farmers need to make sacrifices for city folks to have water on tap, then, the country is in serious trouble. Most rural people collect rain water off the roof for drinking. Thai farmers need to gain control their own destiny, sustain only themselves, stop growing anything for the market and watch how the precious ones that make their 'money' off the farmers back enjoy the taste of 1000 baht notes.

[robblok]

'Tap water' is a luxury in Thailand. If the farmers need to make sacrifices for city folks to have water on tap, then, the country is in serious trouble. Most rural people collect rain water off the roof for drinking. Thai farmers need to gain control their own destiny, sustain only themselves, stop growing anything for the market and watch how the precious ones that make their 'money' off the farmers back enjoy the taste of 1000 baht notes.

Guess you have no idea that all the poor people get their drinking water from machines on the street that are connected to tap water. Without it those poor people would have to pay loads of money for something they have a right too.

Farmers just use too much water