Chainat rice farmers caught in a dilemma

Many rice farmers in Thailand’s central province of Chainat are caught in a dilemma over how to proceed with the cultivation of their main rice crops against a background of the unpredictable weather conditions.

On the one hand is the prospect of the premature arrival of drought, forecast to arrive in September and last through October. On the other is the warning from the Royal Irrigation Department of the arrival of a mass of water from the northern region into the Chao Phraya River, which will force an increase in the discharge of water through the Chao Phraya Dam.

According to the department’s director general, Witthaya Kaewmee, the increased discharge will raise the level of the downstream river by between 60cm and 1.5 metres, particularly in the lowlands of Chainat and Ayutthaya provinces.

He also advised people and farmers living near the river to monitor the water situation closely.

The main rice crops will be entering the reproductive and grain-filling stages, which means that the rice needs a lot of water to keep growing. Hence, many farmers in Muang district have been busily pumping water from the irrigation canals into their rice fields after they were warned of the early arrival of drought.

The situation is worse in rice fields with no access to irrigation systems, such as in Saphan Hin sub-district in Nong Mamong district. Rice cultivation is yet to start, although the paddy fields have been ploughed due to lack of water and left abandoned. A number of farmers say that they will miss their cultivation of the main rice crop if there is no rain in the next 30 days.