Tough blow for Thai rice farmers already in debt

[webfact]

FARMING
Tough blow for rice farmers already in debt
VISARUT SANKHAM
THE NATION



If cabinet decides to block water for off-season crop 'it would hit us hard'

BANGKOK: -- IF THE Cabinet resolves tomorrow to turn off irrigated water for people seeking to grow off-season rice it would deal another serious blow to farmers already drowning in debt.

"We haven't planted any paddy three times already (for two off-season crops and one main crop), and now the government tells us not to plant any rice again. Now we have nothing," Ubolsak Bualuang-ngam, chairman of the central agricultural committee, said last week.

"Most rice farmers in Lop Buri have Bt350,000 in debt and some farmers even hung themselves on a tree to avoid debt," said Ubolsak, who also leads the Lop Buri Farmers Assembly.

This central province and the Pasak River basin have already suffered from a severe shortage of water for farming.

The idea to suspend the planting of off-season crop on 15 million rai of paddy fields will be proposed to the Cabinet by Agriculture Minister Chatchai Sarikalya because of an estimate that by the end of the wet season next month, stored water would amount to 3.6 billion cubic metres - which is not enough for farming.

"This crisis is more severe than the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry can handle alone, so we have to ask the Cabinet to set up a committee to solve it at the national level," Chatchai said.

"We also have to gather projects under various agencies to hire farmers. This is to let the farmers earn some money to replace the missed income from past rice growing sessions this year (which affected 87,000 rai) and the off-season rice growing at 15 million |rai of irrigation-zoned rice fields from November 1 to April 30," he said.

The order, to be strictly followed and enforced, would not need to be announced under Section 44 of the provisional charter, he said.

Pasak Jolasid Dam, which receives 1.23 million cubic metres of water daily, now has 73 million cu m and was releasing five cu m per second or 1.3 million cu m a day, Irrigation Office 10 director Attaporn Panyachom said.

Most dams in Lop Buri were also at less than 50 per cent of capacity, he said. The Kut Ta Phet Reservoir in Lam Sonthi district was down to 23 per cent, Sap Takhian Reservoir in the same district down to 7 per cent and Huai Hin Reservoir in Chai Badan district to 24 per cent, he said.

The government claims that it has arranged income-generating projects to help farmers, but Ong-art Suwanphong from the Farmers' School in Ang Thong's Chaiyo district said that he didn't see any such scheme being implemented. Farmers would actually prefer water supply to compensation, but if the government must stop the water supply for rice, they should make sure the compensation for farmers is sufficient, he said. "Farmers are disheartened. Many of those with five to 10 rai of paddy fields gave up.

"Last year they suffered from a rat outbreak and this year saw their hope of regaining rice-growing income shattered by the lack of water supplies - so they turned to doing odd jobs," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Tough-blow-for-rice-farmers-already-in-debt-30268732.html


-- The Nation 2015-09-14

[BSJ]

Compensation would have to be at least 2000 baht per rai as that's the profit yardstick around here. The wife has 40 rai of paddie so 80k baht would be about right.

[ezzra]

Debt is synonym to a Thai farmer, when was a Thai farmer NOT IN DEBT? year after year, decade after decade, those farmers

are always in debt, why? a million reasons why, will it be better? no, not the way the keep repeating the same mistakes

over and over again and learning nothing from it......

[thesetat2013]

Compensation would have to be at least 2000 baht per rai as that's the profit yardstick around here. The wife has 40 rai of paddie so 80k baht would be about right.

And did she plant extra crops last year trying to cash in on the rice scam? Many did and this was part of the reason why their is so little water in reserves now. Many farmers killed themselves waiting to collect their money for this reason as well. Do you not think this water shortage has anything to do with water usage last year? I am sorry if my insinuations are directed at your farm habits as I don't know for sure about that. But it is not the current govs fault about this shortage yet you want compensation from them.

[halloween]

Compensation would have to be at least 2000 baht per rai as that's the profit yardstick around here. The wife has 40 rai of paddie so 80k baht would be about right.

You seem to be suffering from a severe case of wishful thinking.

[Bluespunk]

If there isn't enough water then there isn't enough water. There's no point in planting something that will fail to grow. To do so would surely lead to more debt.

If there isn't enough water that is and I don't see why the govt would say this if it wasn't true.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Bluespunk

[ramrod711]

"We also have to gather projects under various agencies to hire farmers. This is to let the farmers earn some money to replace the missed income from past rice growing sessions this year (which affected 87,000 rai) and the off-season rice growing at 15 million |rai of irrigation-zoned rice fields from November 1 to April 30," he said.

People will do what they have to in order to survive. A real plan is required, you can't say don't plant without some sort of aid to provide an income. When I say a plan, I mean either direct aid or jobs, not some half baked scheme that will be rife with corruption. The nation has thrived on the work of these families, give something back, do the right thing.

[noosard]

And did she plant extra crops last year trying to cash in on the rice scam? Many did and this was part of the reason why their is so little water in reserves now. Many farmers killed themselves waiting to collect their money for this reason as well. Do you not think this water shortage has anything to do with water usage last year? I am sorry if my insinuations are directed at your farm habits as I don't know for sure about that. But it is not the current govs fault about this shortage yet you want compensation from them.

Hope you realize that the farmers weren't involved in the rice scam

They were to busy growing and harvesting it

And the reason there is not enough water for the next plant is the monsoons have not come this year

Yes there good have been better water management

[HenryB]

Maybe Israel can teach them how to grow food with little water

[robblok]

Its quite clear compensation is needed otherwise the problems for the farmers will be real bad. How much and how has to be worked out. I am also pretty sure the farmers will always claim its not enough (farmers all over the world are like that).

I just hope they do enforce the ban.

[bangkokfrog]

This is a tough one. Thinking ahead during good seasons and planning for the bad is part of what makes a successful farmer in other parts of the world. But "thinking", let alone "thinking ahead and planning" are neither taught nor encouraged in the Thai education system. Also, governments of all persuasions feel that they have to throw money at farmers year after year to get their votes. So it is hard to blame the farmers here.

What is really needed is a government that is not worried about re-election (cue the current Prime Minister) to make some visionary long-term decisions to restructure the industry, including breaking up some supply and purchasing monopolies (I know, good luck with the last bit). As some of Thailand's neighbors have shown, small scale rice farming can be a viable and sustainable family economic model if done efficiently.

[puukao]

Don't worry farmers, I just bought a 50 lb or 22+kg bag of rice....

*Note: i am in America, but keep this post for your records!!!!

[Ace of Pop]

It's not easy here to tell a Farmer from Farm worker here.2 Chickens and they claim Farmer Status..Yet still mange to have a newish truck and scream debt.

[worgeordie]

What happened to all the extra income,when the Government was paying

the farmers well over the World market price for rice ?,

The whole system of growing rice needs a shake up,why are farmers growing

rice every year,but are getting deeper in debt,something is very wrong,maybe

the farmers have got to stand on their own feet,instead of always looking to

the Government for help,Thailand been the largest producer of Rice in the

World,why is the retail price so high,the rest of the working population has

to high prices to benefit,who ?

regards Worgeordie

[soalbundy]

Maybe Israel can teach them how to grow food with little water

you cant grow rice with ''little water'', no rice in Israel

[soalbundy]

What happened to all the extra income,when the Government was paying

the farmers well over the World market price for rice ?,

The whole system of growing rice needs a shake up,why are farmers growing

rice every year,but are getting deeper in debt,something is very wrong,maybe

the farmers have got to stand on their own feet,instead of always looking to

the Government for help,Thailand been the largest producer of Rice in the

World,why is the retail price so high,the rest of the working population has

to high prices to benefit,who ?

regards Worgeordie

If you only have say 50 rai then the extra income wasn't so great and that went to paying down debt. The farmers don't get the retail price, today they get between 11 and 14 Baht a kilo which is sold in the supermarkets for 35 Baht a kilo. Setting up co-ops without being threatened by the Chinese/Thai mill owners would be a good idea or have the government as the middle men.

[soalbundy]

It's not easy here to tell a Farmer from Farm worker here.2 Chickens and they claim Farmer Status..Yet still mange to have a newish truck and scream debt.

I don't know where you live but it aint Thailand

[SOTIRIOS]

....hopefully there is some reason to this apparent madness.....

[oneday]

Debt is synonym to a Thai farmer, when was a Thai farmer NOT IN DEBT? year after year, decade after decade, those farmers

are always in debt, why? a million reasons why, will it be better? no, not the way the keep repeating the same mistakes

over and over again and learning nothing from it......

If I get your statement correctly, you are blaming the Thai farmer. I don't think most people would disagree with the statement that in general Thai farmer's are not a rich group of people; far from it. Of course, they will try to plant an off-season crop if possible; anyone would in their shoes. Are they in debt all the time, probably and most probably due to the horrible education system in this country and complete lack of appropriate help from the government departments who are supposed to exist for the SOLE purpose of helping the farmer.

What you have to say is extremely heartless and people like you are what's wrong with this world. No doubt you are sitting at your computer with plenty of food on your table and you've almost certainly never worked as hard as a Thai farmer.

[anto]

Could they diversify into a crop that does not need so much water .Back in my home Country ,farmers have several crops which they rotate ,around the farm .

[onni4me]

Compensation would have to be at least 2000 baht per rai as that's the profit yardstick around here. The wife has 40 rai of paddie so 80k baht would be about right.

You seem to be suffering from a severe case of wishful thinking.

One Rai produces between 400-800 kilos of rice - 600 kg being sort of average - so the loss per Rai can be 4000-10000 Baht. 2000 doesn't come even close.

Problem here is that many farmers don't own the land they cultivate which cuts the profit in half. That is the real issue here. If things go pear-shaped, they loose money and go in to debt.

I would never want to be a farmer here. Hard work with little return.

[Mosha]

They are still trying to sell rice frome the stock pile, and the Vietnamese have devalued the Dong twice. Their rice is 40 $ a tonne cheaper than the Thai equivalent. Whose rice will the markets go for?

Edited September 14, 2015 by Mosha

[Mosha]

They are still trying to sell rice frome the stock pile, and the Vietnamese have devalued the Dong twice. Their rice is 40 $ a tonne cheaper than the Thai equivalent. Whose rice will the markets go for?

[Bulldozer Dawn]

What do the elite care of the farmers as long as they have water to wash their BMWs.

[edwinchester]

What happened to all the extra income,when the Government was paying

the farmers well over the World market price for rice ?,

The whole system of growing rice needs a shake up,why are farmers growing

rice every year,but are getting deeper in debt,something is very wrong,maybe

the farmers have got to stand on their own feet,instead of always looking to

the Government for help,Thailand been the largest producer of Rice in the

World,why is the retail price so high,the rest of the working population has

to high prices to benefit,who ?

regards Worgeordie

The farmers saw very little of the extra paid by the rice scheme.

15k bht a tonne was the shouted figure but in our area the mills were paying 12-13k bht. Average production is maybe 600kg per rai with costs of about 6k bht per tonne. Giving a profit of maybe 15k bht for the average 4 rai of paddy in our village. 15,000 bht for four months rice cultivation is subsistence farming, not living the high life as many imagine.

[Ace of Pop]

It's not easy here to tell a Farmer from Farm worker here.2 Chickens and they claim Farmer Status..Yet still mange to have a newish truck and scream debt.

I don't know where you live but it aint Thailand

. Open your ears ,all the Folks who work for Farmers here refer to them self as Farmers.Shop Assistants don't run Big C.

[glasswort]

"releasing five cu m per second or 1.3 million cu m a day, Irrigation Office 10 director Attaporn Panyachom said"

5 x 60 x 60 x 24 = 432,000. Unless I am not reading this correctly or my calculations are incorrect, there is something wrong with the director's arithmetic.

[billd766]

Compensation would have to be at least 2000 baht per rai as that's the profit yardstick around here. The wife has 40 rai of paddie so 80k baht would be about right.

You seem to be suffering from a severe case of wishful thinking.

One Rai produces between 400-800 kilos of rice - 600 kg being sort of average - so the loss per Rai can be 4000-10000 Baht. 2000 doesn't come even close.

Problem here is that many farmers don't own the land they cultivate which cuts the profit in half. That is the real issue here. If things go pear-shaped, they loose money and go in to debt.

I would never want to be a farmer here. Hard work with little return.

OTOH if they don't plant the rice they won't need to borrow money before planting for fertiliser, weed killer, extra diesel for the tractors/Kubotas, labour costs etc

[chainarong]

If there isn't enough water then there isn't enough water. There's no point in planting something that will fail to grow. To do so would surely lead to more debt.

If there isn't enough water that is and I don't see why the govt would say this if it wasn't true.

There isn't enough water because successive Governments have only given lip service in this area , now it has come home to bit them big time.

[skildpadden]

I hope this committee will come up with a long term strategy and not just another scheme where money thrown at the farmers lands in the wrong pockets.

I would like to see a well thought through long term plan, where farmers are taught alternatives to rice farming in a sustainable way to make agricultural output more diverse - this could be followed by incentives to people changing from rice farming to something different.

With the ongoing climate changes this will likely not be the last time water is missing, so it would be wise to start changing some of the agri business into something less water sensitive (there are probably some farmers here on TV that can come up with ideas for crops, that would work in a tropical climate).