Chinese banana plantations on Praya Menrai/Chang Kong area

[umbanda]

Last week at the local expat meeting I had the information that Chinese companies are buying and renting land and planting banana for export. In most tropical countries banana plantations needs control from local authorities to avoid environmental damage. Banana grows spontaneously invading and destroying other crops, and it is very difficult, if not impossible. to eradicate, specially when invading mountain areas.The mountain areas heading to Pushifa are becoming a nice coffee plantation community, and may be affected in the future. Already some areas are having problems with water diverted to the banana plantations. I do not know if the Chiang Rai Government is aware of the situation.

Edited June 14, 2016 by umbanda

[villagefarang]

Do you seriously think you are better informed than Thai academics and government officials after attending a meeting organized by Farangs? If you sit down and talk with educated Thais, you should not be surprised to find they know more about their country than we do. Water has been, and still is, a problem for many due to the drought this year. The problem is bigger than bananas.

In my area it can clearly be seen there is more corporate agriculture than there used to be and bananas are part of that but with the inability of small family farms around the world to make ends meet it does seem likely large corporate farms will continue to grow as they have elsewhere.

While it is interesting to speculate about the future of agriculture in Thailand I have no illusions that I can do anything but watch.

[scorpio1945]

It should be pointed out that two highly educated Thai's from Mae Fa Laung University are the one that made the presentation to the Expat's Club and are presumably much more knowledgeable as to the situation than ...

[villagefarang]

So if it was two highly educated Thais from Mae Fa Luang University who made the presentation then why the implication that the Chiang Rai Government may not be aware of the situation?

I am fairly confident the speakers are not keeping this a secret and only sharing it with aging Farangs. Thais know more about what is going on in their country than we sometimes give them credit for.

I live in the area and have seen several new banana plantations on my rides in the countryside and have relatives who have worked there. So if I know they are there and what they are doing then my assumption is that Thais have much more knowledge than I do and will take whatever action they deem appropriate, which may be to leave them alone and allow them to provide jobs for the local population.

It should also be noted that bananas are nothing new in Thailand.

Edited June 14, 2016 by villagefarang

[Garry]

Interesting topic. In my area/region, the crops are mainly rice, corn, pumpkins & chillies. I haven't noticed banana crops here Wiang Nuea/Wiang Chai area, so I gather the Phray Mengrai area may have been zoned for crops like bananas, coffee etc. I gather their must be a planning commission to regulate this.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Garry

[villagefarang]

Interesting topic. In my area/region, the crops are mainly rice, corn, pumpkins & chillies. I haven't noticed banana crops here Wiang Nuea/Wiang Chai area, so I gather the Phray Mengrai area may have been zoned for crops like bananas, coffee etc. I gather their must be a planning commission to regulate this.

I somehow doubt there is any enforced planning permission. People seem to just grow what other people are growing in the area. Some of that is follow the leader but also advice from government officials who come and speak at village meetings. The present government has been cracking down on some of the rampant encroachment in the watershed areas but it is an uphill battle.

We have the same rice, corn and pumpkin you have but we have a lot of fruit trees, lamyai and mango, as well as melons depending on elevation. Cassava has really become a major crop, partially because of low maintenance and there are many processing areas which weren’t around a few years back. Rubber has come on strong with new varieties which can grow at our higher latitude. Chang Beer planted 8000 rai on the east side of our village, next to the Ing River.

The area around one new banana plantation is a mix of cassava and fruit trees and not in the lower rice growing area. Your area is perfect for rice and the flooding river banks can be used for quick growing crops like corn and chili which can be harvested before the floods. I doubt the bananas would like being flooded out every year.

If farmers really want to strip an area and plant something new they find a way to do it, even with something as difficult to remove as bamboo or native forest.

Edited June 16, 2016 by villagefarang

[villagefarang]

So here is your run-of-the-mill banana plantation in Phayamengrai. I have pictures of the road running in both directions, the mature plants on one side of the road and the nursery and younger plants on the other side of the road.

Just down the road a bit, there is a lot of cassava and a little further along it becomes mainly Lamyai. Listening to people talk their main concerns seemed to be with the length of the rental and who it was rented to.