Ride ’em, cowboys, government tells Sa Kaew farmers

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Ride ’em, cowboys, government tells Sa Kaew farmers
By The Nation

 

SA KAEW: -- Agriculture Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya has given the green light to the Koban Burapha (Eastern Cowboys) cattle-raising scheme following Cabinet approval on Tuesday of a Bt1.028-million budget. 

 

The six-year plan is designed to turn 6,377 Sa Kaew rice farmers into livestock ranchers. It would transform 103,823 rai of rice fields into a massive livestock hub, raising beef cattle in particular for export to Cambodia and Vietnam, Chatchai said. 

 

The scheme, extending to 2022, earmarks Bt900 million for raising beef cattle. Farmers will be encouraged to raise 120,000 cows from a “bank” of 30,000 breeding animals. 

 

Another Bt13.2 million will be set aside for raising 27,200 goats from a bank of 3,200 nannies.

 

Bt80.6 million is allocated for cultivating grasses and other feed crops on 40,300 rai. 

 

A Bt34.6-million slaughterhouse that meets Good Manufacturing Practice standards will be constructed.

 

Other funding will support Koban Burapha cooperatives.

 

Chatchai said the Livestock Development Department is now finalising details for the scheme. 

 

He said it already has a list of participating farmers, including 6,106 who were struggling with drought conditions and 271 whose croplands had been reclaimed as part of agricultural reforms. 

 

The number of beef cattle in Thailand has dropped from eight million to 4.8 million in the past decade due to high demand for the meat. 

 

Chatchai said the ministry selected Sa Kaew for this project because it has 2.34 million rai of farmland, 10.4 per cent of which is irrigated, and crop production is relatively low, especially in drought-prone Aranyaprathet, Khok Sung and Wattana Nakhon. 

 

The province’s closer proximity to Vietnam and Cambodia also gives it greater potential for exporting beef cattle, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30317417

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-07

[Hi kwai fun]

 

   Gonna need some new fly screens folks . 

 Hub of flies ? 

[Ricardo]

Good to seee some attempt to diversify away from rice, hope it succeeds !

[Classic Ray]

"the total amount of water needed – to produce one pound of beef is 1,799 gallons of water; one pound of pork takes 576 gallons of water. As a comparison, the water footprint of soybeans is 216 gallons; corn (maize) is 108 gallons." 

 

https://foodtank.com/news/2013/12/why-meat-eats-resources/

 

"Because of this flooding, rice is said to use a lot of water, about two and a half times the amount of water needed to grow a crop of wheat or maize."

 

http://irri.org/blogs/bas-bouman-s-blog-global-rice-science-partnership/does-rice-really-use-too-much-water

 

So rice uses 264 gallons of water compared to beef needing 1799 gallons. Soybean requires 216 gallons.

 

I just wonder how it is viable in areas that are already "suffering from drought conditions" to switch from rice production to cattle production, especially bearing in mind that water from the same area will be used to grow the cattle feed. And what happens to the mountain of slurry and the large volume of greenhouse gases like methane that the cattle produce?

 

"Soy protein is considered to have a similar equivalent in protein quality to animal proteins. Egg white has a score of 1.00, soy concentrate 0.99, beef 0.92, and isolated soy protein 0.92"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_protein#Nutrition

 

I am not a vegetarian and I like to eat beef, but maybe more effort and research should be put into producing crops like soybean that can provide protein far more efficiently, and using far less water, than the process by which cattle feed is turned into beef protein.

Edited June 9, 2017 by Classic Ray