Farmers Are Urged To Grow Cash Crops To Gain Faster Profits

[Jai Dee]

Farmers are urged to grow cash crops to gain faster profits

Phitsanulok province encourages agriculturists to cultivate cash crops in areas affected by inundation and drought. Thus, they can harvest their crops earlier.

Mr. Surapol Jarupong, a farmer in Phitsanulok, said Agriculture officers earlier surveyed the demands of farmers in the nine provincial districts, following the recent flood crisis. They also examined the drought-affected plantations that are situated outside the irrigation system. The provincial authority has acknowledged the farmers’ demands, and has prepared seeds for them. They are expected to cultivate in the beginning next month.

Mr. Surpol also said livestock and fishery are also other alternatives that can help farmers to earn more money.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 20 November 2006

[chownah]

Yeah, I agree....they should grow cash crops.....instead of growing crops where they lose cash...I guess. What kind of advice is it to tell farmers they should grow cash crops? What other kinds of crops do farmers typically grow anyway? Maybe I'm being too harsh but this seems like just so much empty blab....or maybe I'm missing something here.

Chownah

Edited November 20, 2006 by chownah

[sbk]

Cash crops is a term used to define crops grown solely for sale, not for use by the farmer. Tobacco, coffee and cotton are examples.

[RamdomChances]

I'd love to find out what the "prepared seeds" are that will grow this time of year in areas "that are situated outside the irrigation system".

I have to agree with Chownah on this really all crops with the exception of some rice held back for consumption are cash crops. Even switching to livestock is not really an option as you cant grow anything to feed them this time of year.

[bina]

cash crops are the opposite of sustainable living crops i.e. veggies etc for self consumption... what make poor people not only poorer but subject to undernourishment etc wass the switch to cash crops in many third world countries... before the switch, people were poor, but they had food, shelter etc... with cash crops, they dotn grow food and need cash to buy food, need cash to buy seeds, thereby going into debt to large agro organizations, if the crop fails then they are literally 'dirt poor', as they loose their dirt i.e. land to banks etc... it happened in the states, mexico, jamaica, and anywhere else that people went over to plantation type farming; rubber, tabacco, cotton, cassava, wheat, corn, etc.

the difference between being a poor but sustainable farmer, and being poor in a tenemant in a city is exactly that; as a farmer u can usually grow to feed yourself, in the city, u have to buy everything.

[chownah]

Good perspective, bina, how's married life treating you?

Chownah

[bina]

enjoying married life..trying to assimilate as mucch info as possible that i accumulated over my three week visit...

trying to learn as much as possible about chanotes, farms, land, etc... wish i could read thai and help anon find good legal info in thai from the net...

and restoring my batteries for next week to speak with lawyer abut anon's visa stuff

[chownah]

I was thinking about bina's comments about subsistence farming vs. cash cropping and I agree.

What I'm wondering is are there really many subsistence farmers in Thailand? I live in the north and have not seen any real subsistence farming here. I don't get around much so there could be some and I've just missed it. People will raise a few chickens and have small garden plots (usually really small) but I would not characterize these activities as farming in that they don't take up alot of a person's time or land and they don't produce much. In the north people at least in my neighborhood don't live on or even near their farm land so this makes it less convenient to do subsistence farming and more likely that things will disappear in the night. Also, the north doesn't seem to have much hard core poverty and most people seem to get along pretty well....with the possible exception of the hill tribe people whose primary problems are legal ones.

Have other people seen subsistence type farming going on around them? Farming where people try to raise all of their food or where people have a bartering network going so they raise one crop and barter it with others as a sort of food exchange and thus providing mutual subsistence?

Chownah

[Thaddeus]

Have other people seen subsistence type farming going on around them? Farming where people try to raise all of their food or where people have a bartering network going so they raise one crop and barter it with others as a sort of food exchange and thus providing mutual subsistence?

In my surrounding area, this is the norm, not the exception.

[chownah]

Thaddeus,

About how much land does the typical person have in this situation and is it next to their house?

Chownah

[Issangeorge]

Chownah, what i call susbsistance farming is when the family grows their sticky rice crop and for all intesive purposes just grows enough to feed them for the year and they have non left to sell for cash, in my area that is just about every family. The real industrious ones will grow a second crop if they have irrigation, in my area it is usually tomatos or groundnuts, and they will get their cash from that. That's what I consider a cash crop. Issangeorge

[Rinrada]

Our 2 apple trees (only the 2)are now dropping their fruit and should keep us in cider for ...wot... the best part of a week....not really a cash...hic crop ....

Chiang Mai cider company..could catch on..