Rice Barn Storage Scheme

[IsaanAussie]

Does anyone know of the governments new scheme for storage of new season rice? No specifics given in the recent media on how this scheme is to be implemented. However at 13 baht per kg it is worth a look.

[cooked]

The son in law asked Fuu yai ban last night and she don't know nuffink either. We aren't even sure if this is to be done through the farmers' bank or not. Judging by past experiences, only the powerful will have access to this scheme or it will be to complicated. A pity, we got a big crop of nice rice this year.

I haven't seen anyone selling rice at petrol stations either.

Edited November 7, 2016 by cooked

[IsaanAussie]

Had my wife check with the PooYaiBaan in our village. It seems that the scheme has a lot of pitfalls. The rice must be Hom Mali without any mixing and be maintained properly. If the quality drops then it appears it will be crossed off the list and the future unsure. How the storage facility is "approved" is also unclear and may well be subject to some fee or consideration. Top me it seems the intention is good but as usual the implementation may be "effected" by local influences.

Of course storing rice in the hope of price rises has its own risks. Still unclear to me, what to do?

[Gary A]

We live about 50 kilometers south of Loei city. The rice crop looked good. Some farmers were in the process of cutting. Two days ago the sky opened up and it hasn't stopped raining since. I'm not talking about drizzle, I'm talking about heavy and sustained rain. Paddies are under water and a lot of the standing rice is laid flat. The poor farmers are in big trouble. I have no idea  how much of the crop can be salvaged. My wife has quite a bit of rice planted and when I asked her how much, she simply said TOO much. In the past few years she has taken out some of the rice paddies and planted sugar cane so it could have been worse. She has over sixty rai. Many of the poor farmers struggle to make a living on their small ten rai farms. Their situation has gone from bad to worse. If the government doesn't step in to help, there will be hungry people in this area.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Gary A said:

We live about 50 kilometers south of Loei city. The rice crop looked good. Some farmers were in the process of cutting. Two days ago the sky opened up and it hasn't stopped raining since. I'm not talking about drizzle, I'm talking about heavy and sustained rain. Paddies are under water and a lot of the standing rice is laid flat. The poor farmers are in big trouble. I have no idea  how much of the crop can be salvaged. My wife has quite a bit of rice planted and when I asked her how much, she simply said TOO much. In the past few years she has taken out some of the rice paddies and planted sugar cane so it could have been worse. She has over sixty rai. Many of the poor farmers struggle to make a living on their small ten rai farms. Their situation has gone from bad to worse. If the government doesn't step in to help, there will be hungry people in this area.

 

The problem is that if the government steps in to help the farmers the anti government politicians, not to mention the anti government posters will have a field day.

 

And if the government doesnt help the rice farmers the net resulting backlash will be just the same.

 

Sadly nobody really cares about the farmers except at election times.

[cooked]

You have to take a step back as regards the small rice farmers. with increasing mechanisation requiring larger rice fields, prices falling world wide, it seems inevitable, to me at least, that in a generation all these farms along with their way of life will have disappeared. Even more families will be migrating to Bangkok, villages will be inhabited by grandmothers and their grandchildren. (and Farangs).

[IsaanAussie]

According to the October FAO report, the Thai government has agreed to promote farm consolidations. So I agree, the writing is on the wall for most small holding farmers that are mono-cropping rain fed rice. 

[billd766]

6 hours ago, cooked said:

You have to take a step back as regards the small rice farmers. with increasing mechanisation requiring larger rice fields, prices falling world wide, it seems inevitable, to me at least, that in a generation all these farms along with their way of life will have disappeared. Even more families will be migrating to Bangkok, villages will be inhabited by grandmothers and their grandchildren. (and Farangs).

I live in rural Khampaeng Phet with my wife and son aged 12. Next year he will go up to high school for 6 years and he wants to be an engineer though what kind we are not sure.

 

He will leave high school at 18 and hopefully go on to tech college or university but that wont be in this province. When he graduates he will go to find work. There is nothing for him to do here that will earn him a decent wage. My neighbours will have the same, but worse problems as the 2 children there are 11 and 8 and they are both girls. Jobs out here are farming, working with the family at the shop or at the 7/11.

[cooked]

On 09/11/2016 at 7:11 AM, IsaanAussie said:

Had my wife check with the PooYaiBaan in our village. It seems that the scheme has a lot of pitfalls. The rice must be Hom Mali without any mixing and be maintained properly. If the quality drops then it appears it will be crossed off the list and the future unsure. How the storage facility is "approved" is also unclear and may well be subject to some fee or consideration. Top me it seems the intention is good but as usual the implementation may be "effected" by local influences.

Of course storing rice in the hope of price rises has its own risks. Still unclear to me, what to do?

The local village based rice buyers are buying at ‎฿7.-/Kg, last year they were paying ‎฿11.-  We have excellent storage and a good crop of Hom mali but certainly won't be buying in, probably sell about half and then just wait and see as far as possible. Not much joyful festivity this year I think, those that can afford to wait will wait, others will be out of business next year.

Next year I think we will start buying in ourselves, I should want to make loading and unloading much easier before we start doing that. A rice dehusker seems to be essential.

Relying on the government to help you isn't the way to go and of course the local mafia won't like it if we start up in competition. As usual, the family will resist (long term investment isn't a priority)  but this time, unless things change radically, that's what's going to happen.

[IsaanAussie]

Hard to achieve a profit if you can't do it all, including selling the milled rice. Years ago (2003) while we were living in BKK we would buy paddy in our village and have it milled. Cart it back to BKK and sell it in 5 kg bags from the house. From memory buying at about 9 and selling at 20-22. Of course you lose about 30% milling by weight but as the miller kept the bran as payment there was still a good return. The limit was in the transport by pickup. 

Now with so many people trying to sell direct it would be interesting to see if they can make a profit. A bit like the banana roadside stalls, first guy in does well. Second day there are 20 more stalls next to him and nobody sells many.

 

[kickstart]

Our local rice mill is selling milled rice,  5kg  @ 100 baht , it is a bit cheaper than our  local market , the rice is  Khow  Pattom,a basic  rice   they are also selling  Hom Marley 5kg @  160baht ,which  my misses said is  expencive . they had a lot of rice waiting to be milled ,as rice mills go  it is a bigger one ,and our rice harvest in this area   has not relly got going yet  .

IA

I was thinking  like you ,one person sells his own rice dose  ok , ten more do the same ,nobody  makes anything ,but with rice being such a basic  commodity , used  by everyone , every day   this one might work out , but the big  suppliers to your  Big C's etc.  might lose out , we shall see.

Like  cooked not seen any one selling rice at our local  petrol stations ,and one is a big  PTT.             

 

 

[IsaanAussie]

Well the harvest is finally in after a few false starts and queue jumping episodes. What a stunner this year! Less than 40% of our usual yield. So I am adopting the Thai approach and saying "Look at this! After all that negativity, with everything paid for and rice in the shed, I have 13,000 baht in hand (well the wife's hand)."

Please do not remind me of the 70K investment, its gone and best forgotten. 

 to the BIL. 

[cooked]

On 15/11/2016 at 9:27 PM, kickstart said:

Our local rice mill is selling milled rice,  5kg  @ 100 baht , it is a bit cheaper than our  local market , the rice is  Khow  Pattom,a basic  rice   they are also selling  Hom Marley 5kg @  160baht ,which  my misses said is  expencive . they had a lot of rice waiting to be milled ,as rice mills go  it is a bigger one ,and our rice harvest in this area   has not relly got going yet  .

IA

I was thinking  like you ,one person sells his own rice dose  ok , ten more do the same ,nobody  makes anything ,but with rice being such a basic  commodity , used  by everyone , every day   this one might work out , but the big  suppliers to your  Big C's etc.  might lose out , we shall see.

Like  cooked not seen any one selling rice at our local  petrol stations ,and one is a big  PTT.             

 

 

There has been a few tables and chairs set up at our local Thaiwatsadu for a week now, anybody wishing to sell rice there should call the number written. Still nobody selling there. At the local BigC there was a group, selling different rice types. Hom mali ‎฿100 for three Kg, which is a bit more than I would be willing to sell it for but I'm guessing that this has something to do with the fact that BigC sells for about the same price.

Dunno. The SIL seems very reluctant to give it a try, maybe something else is going on.