Too Much RICE

[50baht]

Wifes family complains about Low rice prices.

Question: What else can be grown in a rice field ?

Soil does't look particuly fertile . What needs to be done to grow other crops ? Costs involved ?

Farm 11/2 hrs hour from Mukdahan

Any Farmers out there ?

.

[farmerjo]

Hi

I would not worry to much about changing crops.There all pretty relative with profit per rai.

Maybe they should look at ways to increase yield to offset price.

There is quite an outlay to level rice fields and then change the soil structure.

Labour costs will still be the same.

Tell them to hang in there.

[NOC]

In another province some fertilizer companies are having workshops on raising turkey's as an alternative crop. If you google 'raising turkeys in thailand', you'll get a thread in a different forum with good info. There's a thread on the topic on TV also. I'd consider ducks too, since you need them anyway after you harvest and burn the field.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/856281-turkey-lovers/

[Andyfez]

Peanuts in the dry season.

[maoro2013]

In some areas it is possible to pant cassava.

[whiteman]

Rats frogs anything that moves will be eaten later good little earner

[lvr181]

Interesting. My partner (a nurse in Bangkok) whose family farms rice around Chaiyaphum seemingly has never considered what else to grow. I asked her about the suggestions made here and all I get is a blank stare Not considered or "what are you talking about"?

It seems that perhaps more education among rice farmers is what is needed for a starter?

[georgemandm]

Not understand it western man come to thailand and care about Sh?t like what else can you grow on rice fields who cares just come here have fun and die if you want this place will never ever change it is thailand lots people who not think like in the modern world

[mikebell]

When Manchester United sacked David Moyes, I thought he went to Spain not a rice farm in Thailand. Look at the picture above.

[ubeturazz]

sugar cane

[Muggi1968]

Interesting. My partner (a nurse in Bangkok) whose family farms rice around Chaiyaphum seemingly has never considered what else to grow. I asked her about the suggestions made here and all I get is a blank stare Not considered or "what are you talking about"?

It seems that perhaps more education among rice farmers is what is needed for a starter?

Exactly my experience,

It is impossible for the farmers to imagine that they can grow anything else.

I am an Engineer working in Bangkok and my family and their friends upcountry

ask me all the time why I not work,,,,

Their definition of work is working in a paddy field.

If you not work in a paddy field…You not work…

You cannot change them, but it is nice to see that the young generation think different.

Only time can change this.

Most farmers are simple people, very direct when they talk but they have very big hearts.

[whatproblem]

They like rice because only have to work a little and wait long ,they don't want to work ,easier to sell a daughter

[SOTIRIOS]

...sad....

[Hairyharry]

Some farmers in Isaan do very well with different crops and animals.

I understand that CP foods do quite a good deal on pigs if you have 5 rai or more - they supply the piglets and the food (the cost of which is a major problem if you do it yourself and don't mill rice) and

pay a (for uneducated Thais) good annual income - about 30 - 35K a month. Only hearsay on my part but may be worth talking to them. Dairy farming also seems to work well but you need to know what you are doing.

As with any commodity, prices go up and down - what gets a good price this year may attract a much lower price next year and vice versa.

Last year all the Thais I know were saying sugar was the thing but next year who knows?

Price at the farm for Palm nuts in Isaan last year was 5 baht a kilo, this year it's dropped to 2 baht a kilo.

Before making a decision on any crops, look first at your water supply and drainage.

Many crops require water all year round (Palm oil and Rubber for example). Rubber hates waterlogged land (Palm too) so ideally you need to have a slight slope to improve drainage.

Look at the growth period and longevity of the crop.

There are many varieties of rice. Some have a high yield but attract a low price. Other varieties have a low yield but attract a much higher price. Much more to rice growing than most people realise.

Rubber has about an 8 year growth period before you will get income. Palm is less - about 3 years. The trees have a limited life (Rubber is very short - you have to replace approx. every 24 years, Palm is much longer).

Yield is affected by a number of factors that are not immediately obvious. Fertilizer is important but so is security. Rubber sap is easily stolen - gangs will go onto your land and simply empty the collecting pots into a bucket. A gang operated for a while in this area, stealing fish - one Australian expat had rottwielers on guard and the thieves simply poisoned them then completely emptied his ponds of water and took all his fish. Palm nuts are about the most difficult to steal because of the size and weight.

Otherwise, research, research research. It is always worth asking at the local Ministery of Agriculture for their advice - the temples round here also carry out experimental projects on a small scale to see if a new crop succeeds so always worth asking there too.

Good luck!

[fredge45]

A crop of sunn hemp (paw tuang) turned back into the soil will do wonders for the next rice crop while vastly improving the tilth of the soil.

Sorry, no immediate gratification from cash in hand but the next crop will be so much better.

paw_tuang.doc

[bil2054]

A question that has plagued farmers since the beginning of farming;" how can I increase my profitability?" The short answer is that you cannot, not on any small scale. The only really profitable farmers in the US for instance are the giant agricorps, and most of the profit in that scheme comes from governmental subsidies.
There would be an advantage in some diversification, but I would not expect much from a complete change in cropping practice. Rice farmers know how to grow rice, and at least know their families will be able to eat.
The pig raising scheme sounds good, if you happen to have a few extra rai. In the old days in US farming the farm wife's egg money might be the only source of cash between harvests. Again nobody got rich, but everybody ate well.
I would recommend as previously suggested checking with the Ag Ministry, and talk with the monasteries that do this kind of thing. Then approach it as a small scale diversification at first.

[razer]

I read an article a few years ago that Bangladeshi rice farmers are going over to potato cultivation because it was more profitable and didn't require so much water. Check it out.

[Volvodream]

Try growing hemp. It reconditions the soil,fixes nitrogen...and leaves the soil in better condition after every crop. Its uses very little water and can be "neglected",but will get more seed yield if you look after it. Its legal to grow. Has a 100 day growing cycle. For a country that might need to have more healthy food,hemp seed is a super food. "sun hemp" is not the same as the hemp Im talking about.

[mankondang]

I've always been told that "If you want meat you should talk to the butcher and not the block". So talking this in, why not go to amd ask and observe rural Thai farmers, instead of wasting your good time by posting this question to a farang short or long term visitors website. The rural Thais are very helpful and even more so if you speak their language. Best of luck

[asdecas]

Historically, "pla ra" trees have done very nicely in rice paddy.

[lvr181]

Historically, "pla ra" trees have done very nicely in rice paddy.

For the uninitiated, what are "pla ra trees" (in English or pictures)? Pla Ra sounds like stink fish?

[Mudcrab]

sugar cane

Not a hope.

[impulse]

http://www.cajuncrawfish.com/how-we-grow-crawfish.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/us/in-louisiana-farmers-use-rice-fields-as-crayfish-ponds.html?_r=0

[farangmick]

Historically, "pla ra" trees have done very nicely in rice paddy.

For the uninitiated, what are "pla ra trees" (in English or pictures)? Pla Ra sounds like stink fish?

Maybe it was a joke. Pla ra is indeed that nasty rotting fish that is fermented in the stuff that comes out of your bum the morning after ten bottles of Leo and a dodgy curry. The best is always sold from old paint tubs and adds a subtle fragrance to every market. Don't actually eat it myself.

[lvr181]

Historically, "pla ra" trees have done very nicely in rice paddy.

For the uninitiated, what are "pla ra trees" (in English or pictures)? Pla Ra sounds like stink fish?

Maybe it was a joke. Pla ra is indeed that nasty rotting fish that is fermented in the stuff that comes out of your bum the morning after ten bottles of Leo and a dodgy curry. The best is always sold from old paint tubs and adds a subtle fragrance to every market. Don't actually eat it myself.

You got me, damn you

[lvr181]

Some farmers in Isaan do very well with different crops and animals.

I understand that CP foods do quite a good deal on pigs if you have 5 rai or more - they supply the piglets and the food (the cost of which is a major problem if you do it yourself and don't mill rice) and

pay a (for uneducated Thais) good annual income - about 30 - 35K a month. Only hearsay on my part but may be worth talking to them. Dairy farming also seems to work well but you need to know what you are doing.

As with any commodity, prices go up and down - what gets a good price this year may attract a much lower price next year and vice versa.

Last year all the Thais I know were saying sugar was the thing but next year who knows?

Price at the farm for Palm nuts in Isaan last year was 5 baht a kilo, this year it's dropped to 2 baht a kilo.

Before making a decision on any crops, look first at your water supply and drainage.

Many crops require water all year round (Palm oil and Rubber for example). Rubber hates waterlogged land (Palm too) so ideally you need to have a slight slope to improve drainage.

Look at the growth period and longevity of the crop.

There are many varieties of rice. Some have a high yield but attract a low price. Other varieties have a low yield but attract a much higher price. Much more to rice growing than most people realise.

Rubber has about an 8 year growth period before you will get income. Palm is less - about 3 years. The trees have a limited life (Rubber is very short - you have to replace approx. every 24 years, Palm is much longer).

Yield is affected by a number of factors that are not immediately obvious. Fertilizer is important but so is security. Rubber sap is easily stolen - gangs will go onto your land and simply empty the collecting pots into a bucket. A gang operated for a while in this area, stealing fish - one Australian expat had rottwielers on guard and the thieves simply poisoned them then completely emptied his ponds of water and took all his fish. Palm nuts are about the most difficult to steal because of the size and weight.

Otherwise, research, research research. It is always worth asking at the local Ministery of Agriculture for their advice - the temples round here also carry out experimental projects on a small scale to see if a new crop succeeds so always worth asking there too.

Good luck!

Pigs sounds like a very well paid alternative. BUT do the pigs need to be sheltered/housed? Surely an expensive exercise for a poor rice farmer. Fencing I can understand.

[KonaRain]

Keep checking.. Thailand is the same latitude as Hawaii..Do pineapple like Sandy clay soil?

Aloha

[50baht]

http://www.cajuncrawfish.com/how-we-grow-crawfish.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/us/in-louisiana-farmers-use-rice-fields-as-crayfish-ponds.html?_r=0

Thought about Crawfish but the buggers can climb out of ponds and travel into other ponds ,rivers might get

big problems being not a natrural Thai species.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLQBJugaoog Traveling Crawfish vide0

[KonaRain]

Plant 50 mangoe trees, and get a bunch of duxks, chickens.

I got one hundred pounds of Mangoes per tree in 5 years?

[cooked]

Plenty of slightly insulting remarks about Thai farmers here. In our part of Isaan, it's one crop a year, rice. There is no water available after the rainy season so other crops are out of the question. Even if there were, the pump would get stolen. The soil turns into concrete. Ducks, chickens etc, are you joking? Fence it all in and have a guardian to prevent theft out there day and night? Son in law had all his shading net stolen plus most of his vegetables from a small plot. He has tried melons, tobacco, all sorts of crops. The cost of fertiliser and pesticides put paid to that little revolution.

Cows: we have four and it gets difficult to get them sufficient fodder in the dry season. Zucchihi was good for us last year, this year everyone is growing them and nobody wants to buy.

It depends where you are, we aren't all in the central plains. There is generally a good reason why people only grow rice, or cassava or maize or sugar.