OCgringo Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Anyone know what the average rice production per acre is in Thailand ? Since the latest "sweetheart" had just got back from helping on the farm , I was interested, In the USA it seems to be around 6000-8000 lbs per acre, but these are big "factory" farms Anyome know ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Quote: USDA December estimate for Thailand's 2004/05 rice production was 17.4 million tons (26.36 million, rough basis), a reduction of 3 percent from last year's record crop. The main rice crop and second crop are estimated at 13.4 and 4.0 million tons, respectively. The estimated yield of 2.56 tons per hectare is below last year and the 5-year average. The yields of both main and second rice crops are expected to drop in 2004/05. Harvested rice area is forecast at 10.2 million hectares, down slightly from last year. Earlier in the season there were indications that farmers would expand second crop area in response to high government support prices, but this now seems unlikely. The harvest for the 2004/05 main crop started in October and will continue through January 2005. The smaller second crop will be planted in January/March and harvested in May/July 2005. Source: US Department of Agriculture (Cached Page) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted December 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Hi.....thanks for the info since the USA places only get 3-4 tons per acre (is an acre and hectare the same ?) seems that the Thais are doing good without the expensive equipment a USA grower needs. OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Hi there! Acres and hectares are certainly not the same (actually I even think there are several different definitions of hectares). This seems to be the established standards however: One Hectare = 2.47 acres One Hectare = 10,000 sq. meters or 107,600 sq. feet One Acre = 4,050 square meters or 43,560 sq. feet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted December 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 ummmm well then if they only get one ton per USA acre , and the USA growers get 3-4 tons then thats not so good OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 OC, I looked into this a bit, and see it every year in Isaan village area. Depends on the land, how much you pay for it, and many other things including the weather. But, from what I saw it wasn't really a good investment of your money unless you could get the land cheap per Rai. Also depends on who works the fields. You need to hire help, or pay them in rice grown. Family members won't do it for free, they expect at least rice from doing so, which seems to mean they want a year's worth of rice to eat, in no direct relation to their work provided and the costs it might have been had you just hired someone for cash to do so. Also costs to fertilize the fields before planting, turn over the dirt with a rice tractor (need to hire someone/pay someone/give rice to someone to do all this as well.) From what I saw they make maybe 16,000 baht, a little more, per Rai from the rice sold. Can't remember right now if that is before or after taking out the expenses. I thought it to be a lot of work and headache for very minimal returns on your investment. Good maybe for a poor Thai family/farmer who does most of the work him/themselves, but not much return in a farang's view. Plus you need to pay someone to thresh the rice, dry it, collect it, and also harvest the stalks as well for hay which is used for the cows and water buffalo feed. Also it depends on where the rice land is located, access to water and roads. Things like this affect your costs and harvest. One bad year weatherwise can break a small operation. Then there is the fluctuating price of rice as well. Rice farm land is considered valuable, with many factors involved to its pricing, and some areas the land is quite expensive really for what your returns on it would be. Just my thoughts on it. I wouldn't do it myself. One thing they do is to rent the land to others if they can't farm it themselves (or don't want to/too lazy to) and take a percentage of rice per Rai and sell it. This is done by many older folk too old to work the fields now and with no kids or no relatives to do it, or the kids are all gone working in the city and such. Just seemed to me to be a lot of work and investment, and possible headaches and problems, for very little return. Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Hi, "From what I saw they make maybe 16,000 baht, a little more, per Rai from the rice sold." Rice farmers would love that yield My wife has 21 rai, but she sure as hell didn't make 336,000 Baht (which is almost more than the land is worth). A typo somewhere maybe? The harvest on my wife's plot was really crap this year, and I think she made less than 10,000 Baht profit. First, and likely last, year she grew her own rice. Next year she is letting her brother-in-law rent it again. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted December 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Hi First I was not planning on buying Thai farmland , more interested in how well they grew rice , and if there was a smarter way to do it , Looking at the California growers website they keep the water 6 inches deep etc, So just looking to see if there was a more efficent way to grow it and maybe bring the info over next trip. I doubt the farmers would change there ways on what I said , but it may be worth a try. OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadStockBroker Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 Interesting topic. My stats book is a bit out of date but is taken from official thai gov sources... In 2001 Thailand produced 27,105,000 metric tons of rice Thailand is 514,000 sq km in total land size of which 49,049 sq km is irrigated land. Assuming all the rice was grown on irrigated land thats 0.55 tons per sq meter... unless my math is wrong! But this number does not correlate to the quote above from the US dept of agriculture.... On the income per rai...yes this looks high. FYI The national statistical office (ok maybe slightly dubious!) puts 2001 ave monthly income at Bt 7,027 for the non-municipal areas of NE THailand (ie rural issan). Compared to Bt24,365 for bangkok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddave Posted December 13, 2005 Report Share Posted December 13, 2005 When I was living outside of Udon Thani, in a Moo Ban that primarily grew rice, I once asked why so many fields remained fallow throughout the year; "All young men go Taiwan" was the reply. The lack of young men was really noticable in most of the villages, They were either working overseas or in Bangkok. Field labor was left to young mothers and the elderly who could still work, and they would raise just about enough rice to feed their extended families. The only farms that seemed to do well were those that were close enough to a canal, and had enough political pull to get water year around. Most of those farms eschewed rice, growing peanuts and vegetables instead. Un-irrigated farms only provide work for three or four months of the year, certainly not enough for a young man wanting to get a start in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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