Rice Farming

[pnustedt]

what variety of tomato are you using (not moneymaker i hope :-)

how do you fertilise and irrigate such a large area. As we all know tomatoes really love growing in shiezer. This is well evidenced in sewage farms as the tomatoes seeds pass through the gut un harmed and find their way on to the banks of the settling ponds - reall organic farming

but seriously tomatoes do need feeding and regular watering

We are growing the normal, smallish tomatoes you find everywhere in Thailand, not sure what they are called. They are planted with loads of cattle manure (we also have about a dozen cattle). We have loads of water, too much sometimes!

They are growing in the open raised up, the soil does not seem very rich but anything seems to grow in it.

I was thinking of buying some seeds from the UK and trying to grow under shade next year.

I have empathy with your "don't take any notice of the falang" feeling - can't understand why they won't consider anything different.

Incidentally, I did buy some seeds which looked like Moneymaker tomatoes and grew them by ring culture in the garden, however, they came out as the same old tomatoes that we are growing in the field!

Edited December 4, 2006 by pnustedt

[jgarty38]

A lot depends on the part of the country you live, in Chain Mai area they can get 2 crops a year, in the Sa Gaeo area only 1. This is all down to rainfall. The north gets good relyable rain. If they get a lot of rain the rice farmer is happy, with good luck and hard work he should get a decent crop. So its not easy to say how much rice a field would yeald, if the farmer does a good job of sowing the seed and planting the shoots, then feeding the growing rice he will get a very good crop.

I recently helped the local farmers to thresh the rice, it all goes into big bags of about 80kilos a time. they paid only 600baht a bag. many farms gave only up to 50 bags, 30000baht, that has to last a year, less some kept back for food and seed for the next years crop. The Thai farmer is a poor man, I wanted to find another crop that would grow in a semi arid ground so they could have another crop to grow during the 6 to 7 months that the ground is doing nothing, I failed in that.

[Issangeorge]

In my area of Issan, my Mother-in-law's rice fields are irrigated and we have water in the dry season. The neighbours are planting tomatos and from what i gather making good money at it. I have tried to talk my wife into having her brother plant them so that his whole income is not dependent on me, but she says they use too many chemicles and she does not want her brother working with them. Issangeorge.

[robint]

hi jgarty38

interested to hear your statistics. were you then getting about 5 bags per rai?

fyi 10 tonnes/hectare = approx 20 sacks per rai (the fao tends to use the metric measure when quoting its stats) they try to aim for 10t/ha as a target yield for super rice hybrid plants which is about double the best single harvest yield

of course you also need to factor in the moneylender

in our area before Mr T famers would borrow to plant the rice and would have to pay back 2 sacks per rai (capital plus simple interest about 50%) from memory they borrow about 900 baht to cover ploughing, planting, fertiliser and harvesting costs per rai

Interesting comment about the lazy brother in law, i know what my reaction would be

[robint]

quote P nustedt

I was thinking of buying some seeds from the UK and trying to grow under shade next year.

unquote

Hi P

be aware that importing seeds or plants from outside thailand is seriously against the law in theory, even if they are just common tomatoes.

I mention this because there is always the possibility that your smiling envious neighbour my choose to inform on you and bring the wrath of the agriculture inspectors down on you. of course if you were a thai nothing would likely happen

just cos i am paranoid doesnt make me wrong btw

as a long term resident the longer you stay here the more you realise how precarious your stay can be. put one foot wrong and its seen as an opportunity for extorsion

think of it like this, a teacher in school is held with some kind of respect . if he puts one foot wrong then the kids tear into him like a pack of piranas

you would be better to seek out a proper agri shop that sells regulated seeds usually in small tins

[Issangeorge]

"Interesting comment about the lazy brother in law, " I want to clarify, my brother-in-law is not lazy, he just does not do anything on his own, if my wife tells him to do something he does it and works hard at it, it is a question of getting my wife to except that there are other things to plant than just rice, and then telling my brother-in-law to do it. Issangeorge

[chownah]

fyi 10 tonnes/hectare = approx 20 sacks per rai (the fao tends to use the metric measure when quoting its stats) they try to aim for 10t/ha as a target yield for super rice hybrid plants which is about double the best single harvest yield

Robint,

I'm wondering where you get your information about hybrid rice doubleing the best single harvest yield. When I go to FAO sites they seem to always claim that hybrid rice has a 15% to 20% advantage over best varieties grown optimally, not 100% which is what you are claiming. Other posters have suggested double or even triple yields for hybrid rice but I have never been able to find anything to substantiate this so I'm hoping you can point me to something that will.

Chownah

[macb]

All very interesting and a good idea a rice growing section:

Well my wife and I have 13 Rai and mama has 25 Rai, one side of the village is more or less Family one way or another, so we are probably looking at 250 Rai thats a guess could be more:

Well here in the Burriram area we get one crop per year, the figures for my crop this year are shown in the rice harvest topic.

We started about April with the ploughing this year I got Brother-in-law to plough ours and mama's and put money in his pocket I did this because I bought him the Tractor/Cultivator last year and wanted the family make use of it.

Normally one plough then a till the charges in our area were 250 bht per Rai this year.

Mama sowed the rice this year, we the help of another member of family he was paid 200 bht

Fertilizer we administered twice throught the growing season good quality Fertilizer costing about 560 bht per bag.

The harvester was charging 500 bht per Rai this year, I think next year it will go up in price.

Growing the rice costs on our 13 Rai this year was about 20000 bht (We harvested 58 sacks)

Now if I sell at 600 bht per sack that equates to 34800 bht minus outlay leaves profit of 14800 bht, but it was hard work enjoyable but hard work. My sister in law has lost her land she used this year and in the past bacl to the governement and she is a good lass so I amy let her grow it next year and take a percentage of the growth, it would be less than years profit but her needs are greater than mine

[chownah]

Macb,

Did you plant the seed directly out into the fields? or did you plant it into a nursery first and then transplant the small plants out into the fields when they were about one month old?

Chownah

[lannarebirth]

All very interesting and a good idea a rice growing section:

Well my wife and I have 13 Rai and mama has 25 Rai, one side of the village is more or less Family one way or another, so we are probably looking at 250 Rai thats a guess could be more:

Well here in the Burriram area we get one crop per year, the figures for my crop this year are shown in the rice harvest topic.

We started about April with the ploughing this year I got Brother-in-law to plough ours and mama's and put money in his pocket I did this because I bought him the Tractor/Cultivator last year and wanted the family make use of it.

Normally one plough then a till the charges in our area were 250 bht per Rai this year.

Mama sowed the rice this year, we the help of another member of family he was paid 200 bht

Fertilizer we administered twice throught the growing season good quality Fertilizer costing about 560 bht per bag.

The harvester was charging 500 bht per Rai this year, I think next year it will go up in price.

Growing the rice costs on our 13 Rai this year was about 20000 bht (We harvested 58 sacks)

Now if I sell at 600 bht per sack that equates to 34800 bht minus outlay leaves profit of 14800 bht, but it was hard work enjoyable but hard work. My sister in law has lost her land she used this year and in the past bacl to the governement and she is a good lass so I amy let her grow it next year and take a percentage of the growth, it would be less than years profit but her needs are greater than mine

WEll yesterday we finished the other 3 Rai this was brown rice 15 half sacks:

So in all this year 43 Jasmin and 15 say Brown rice, so off of 13 Rai total 58 sacks, then there is rice to come in from from other sources

Hi macb,

I love brown rice, for it's taste and for the additional nutritional value. It was my understanding that brown rice was simply a milling process (it is for me anyway). Is there another distinct rice seed you're growing for it? If so I may look into it amd plant some.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=f...ce&dbid=128

[robint]

hi chownan

quote

Robint,

I'm wondering where you get your information about hybrid rice doubleing the best single harvest yield. When I go to FAO sites they seem to always claim that hybrid rice has a 15% to 20% advantage over best varieties grown optimally, not 100% which is what you are claiming. Other posters have suggested double or even triple yields for hybrid rice but I have never been able to find anything to substantiate this so I'm hoping you can point me to something that will.

Chownah

unquote

its more a combination of proper seedling planting/irrigation/fertiliser/hybrid rice that, if its under optimum conditions the target is 10t/ha. nobody ever approaches that, best yield would be half that

weve just hervested our 30 rai, it averaged 5 sacks per rai 2.5t/ha so there is a lot of room for improvement. btw we got 7baht/kg for jasmine variety. the rice was scatter planted and the land is not particularly fertile, typical laterite red mud and sand, goes rock hard when dry

profit is about 1000 baht per rai. pthatically small. under mr t intervention scheme of 10 baht/rai we were getting 3000 baht per rai, respectable. but i doubt we will see that again

[chownah]

hi chownan

quote

Robint,

I'm wondering where you get your information about hybrid rice doubleing the best single harvest yield. When I go to FAO sites they seem to always claim that hybrid rice has a 15% to 20% advantage over best varieties grown optimally, not 100% which is what you are claiming. Other posters have suggested double or even triple yields for hybrid rice but I have never been able to find anything to substantiate this so I'm hoping you can point me to something that will.

Chownah

unquote

its more a combination of proper seedling planting/irrigation/fertiliser/hybrid rice that, if its under optimum conditions the target is 10t/ha. nobody ever approaches that, best yield would be half that

Still you are claiming that hybrid rice gives a 100% improvement over non-hybrids....if you claim that "best yield" would be half of what a hybrid yields then the improvement is 100%. Where do you get this information. The FAO always seem to claim that hybrids will give a 15% to 20% improvement over non-hybrids and I'm still wondering where you get the information that hybrids give a 100% increase in yield....I can't find it anywhere and would like to find out if you are correct or not...so far I have found nothing to support your assertion that hybrids give a 100% improvement on yield and some links that disagree.

Also, you should be advised that there are many countries where hybrid rice is rarely or never grown whose AVERAGE yield for the entire country is well over 5 tonnes per hectare which means that the best yield for that country would be well above the average reported.

The facts I find on the internet seem to consistently disagree with your assertions....that's why I'm asking you if you have a source that supports your assertions and if you can find a link on the internet that agrees with what you are saying.

Chownah

[macb]

Macb,

Did you plant the seed directly out into the fields? or did you plant it into a nursery first and then transplant the small plants out into the fields when they were about one month old?

Chownah

hand sewn straight onto the tilled rice field, having picked which is the best rice from the previous years harvest ready for sowing

[chownah]

Macb,

Did you plant the seed directly out into the fields? or did you plant it into a nursery first and then transplant the small plants out into the fields when they were about one month old?

Chownah

hand sewn straight onto the tilled rice field, having picked which is the best rice from the previous years harvest ready for sowing

Is that how everyone around you do it too? Around here seed is sown very densely in a nursery and the plants are then transplanted anywhere from 30 to 50 days of age out into the fields...some people even transplant twice! For the double transplanting I'm not sure how old the plants are when transplanted.

The transplanting gives a better yield because you are assured of proper spacing and a transplanted plant will outgrow the weeds better. When the plants in the nursery are about 40 days old you pull them up (YES!! PULL THEM UP...I was shocked the first time I saw how roughly the plants are treated) and tie them into bundles and distribute the bundles to all of the sections of the field....seems like this costs about 200 to 300 baht per rai if you hire it done....then a crew of people plant them and they charge 350 baht per rai. Of course any work volunteered by family members will help to reduce the costs.

They say that the expense and effort to do the tranplanting is easily covered by the increased yield but since I have never done the direct seeding (like you do) I can not verify this. I have read that with proper techniques that direct seeding can perform almost as well as transplanted rice but I have not found any details or hard data to support this either.

Chownah

[macb]

Macb,

Did you plant the seed directly out into the fields? or did you plant it into a nursery first and then transplant the small plants out into the fields when they were about one month old?

Chownah

hand sewn straight onto the tilled rice field, having picked which is the best rice from the previous years harvest ready for sowing

Is that how everyone around you do it too? Around here seed is sown very densely in a nursery and the plants are then transplanted anywhere from 30 to 50 days of age out into the fields...some people even transplant twice! For the double transplanting I'm not sure how old the plants are when transplanted.

The transplanting gives a better yield because you are assured of proper spacing and a transplanted plant will outgrow the weeds better. When the plants in the nursery are about 40 days old you pull them up (YES!! PULL THEM UP...I was shocked the first time I saw how roughly the plants are treated) and tie them into bundles and distribute the bundles to all of the sections of the field....seems like this costs about 200 to 300 baht per rai if you hire it done....then a crew of people plant them and they charge 350 baht per rai. Of course any work volunteered by family members will help to reduce the costs.

They say that the expense and effort to do the tranplanting is easily covered by the increased yield but since I have never done the direct seeding (like you do) I can not verify this. I have read that with proper techniques that direct seeding can perform almost as well as transplanted rice but I have not found any details or hard data to support this either.

Chownah

Yes she had another person helping but basically she had a bucket with last years chosen rice and walked around the field casting the seed by hand, the only comment my wife made was that her mum sowed the seeds to thick apparently but then I thought the yield was good

[DINKYDI]

Greetings to all,

I am a newbie, both in Thailand (9 months) and certainly in the rice farming (not started yet).

My partner and I are soon to be getting around 10 Rai with which to continue farming rice.

I have NO idea about this and my partner has been out of the farming and in the factories for so long that she has forgotten costs, profits etc etc.

Any advice, guidance etc would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me as well. I would appreciate some e-friend/acquaintances as my move to Thailand has NOT been without culture shock etc.

By the way, the land in is Phai-Sali, in the Nakonsawan region and has been farmed over the years by the brother-in-law. However the Mamma has indicated that it's time my wife got her part of 'the deal'.

On top of this, my wife has had cattle for a number of years and in her absence, working like a dog in the factories in Sriracha, many have been sold and or mysteriously died from snake bites.

I have respectfully indicated that this is not acceptable and we should ascertain the number that actually belong to my wife, brand/tag them and take more control of the situation.

The parents-in-law are in total agreement and seem rather p**ed off that my partner has had her cattle sold and no money has been forthcoming.

Some people sure do know how to take and not give a ###### about family.

Anyway, enough of my drivel and I look forward to any input.

Cheers for now.

[lannarebirth]

Greetings to all,

I am a newbie, both in Thailand (9 months) and certainly in the rice farming (not started yet).

My partner and I are soon to be getting around 10 Rai with which to continue farming rice.

I have NO idea about this and my partner has been out of the farming and in the factories for so long that she has forgotten costs, profits etc etc.

Any advice, guidance etc would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to email me as well. I would appreciate some e-friend/acquaintances as my move to Thailand has NOT been without culture shock etc.

By the way, the land in is Phai-Sali, in the Nakonsawan region and has been farmed over the years by the brother-in-law. However the Mamma has indicated that it's time my wife got her part of 'the deal'.

On top of this, my wife has had cattle for a number of years and in her absence, working like a dog in the factories in Sriracha, many have been sold and or mysteriously died from snake bites.

I have respectfully indicated that this is not acceptable and we should ascertain the number that actually belong to my wife, brand/tag them and take more control of the situation.

The parents-in-law are in total agreement and seem rather p**ed off that my partner has had her cattle sold and no money has been forthcoming.

Some people sure do know how to take and not give a ###### about family.

Anyway, enough of my drivel and I look forward to any input.

Cheers for now.

Hi DINKYDI,

If our partner and/or you don't take a "hands on" approach to the rice growing/cattle rearing, you will likely make very little money and someone may in fact send you a bill for expenses greater than the income. This is susbsistance farming where labor cost is not even calculated. If you have to have others do the work there's really no money in it. Best of luck. On the other hand, if you want to move there and make it your home, it can be a very enjoyable life. still, not much of an earner however.

Edited December 8, 2006 by lannarebirth