Nakhon Ratchasima rice farmers stare at another year of drought as rains play truant
Drought-hit rice farmers in Nakhon Ratchasima province are once again staring at an uncertain future as rainfall in the current season is far short of the normal.
Sanit Chuamun, 47, a rice farmer in Thaluang subdistrict in Phimai district, is worried that shortage of water has started to affect his fragrant rice fields. Sanit owns 17 rai of paddy rice fields. Some of the rice shoots have started to die, he moans.
Although Thailand has entered the annual monsoon season, rains have not been as they were in the past, he said. This is the second year in succession that Phimai district, about 330 kilometres northeast of Bangkok, faces a severe drought, he said.
Reserves in the Phimai dam have also been depleting due to the scanty rain, as a result it could not deliver adequate water to the farmers.
An estimated 20,000 rai of rice fields in the area face the threat of drought.
If there are not adequate rains in the coming one or two weeks, then the rice crop could perish, Sanit said, pleading for government help.
