Royal Rain Dept seeks additional 4 bn baht to tackle El Nino
The Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation has proposed a plan to address the El Nino phenomenon that would require an additional budget of four billion baht to support artificial rain-making.
This plan includes dismantling unused airports to establish operational units for cloud seeding, reducing fuel costs, increasing research funding, and declaring a united effort to combat drought and global food shortages. The goal is to transform Thailand into a global food supplier.
The government is concerned about the severe impact the current El Nino event is having on areas with lower-than-average rainfall and limited water sources, leading to a scarcity of water for consumption.
Supit Pitaktham, the department’s director general, said that the department is preparing to tackle the El Nino situation. However, there are budget constraints. Despite an average annual budget allocation of 2 billion baht, of the 7 billion baht requested for 2024, only 2.16 billion baht was provided. This falls short of the required amount for the department’s primary task of creating artificial rain, as operational expenses alone are over 1 billion baht.
Supit also highlighted the significance of addressing the issue promptly, as the department has carried out various tasks such as mitigating PM 2.5 pollution in urban and northern areas, extinguishing forest fires, and providing rain for farmers in various provinces.
Furthermore, the current depletion of aviation fuel funds since June poses a challenge. Additional budget adjustments are required to address urgent issues.
Despite this, the approval process for allocating these funds has been slow.
Supit emphasised that the El Nino event, which causes drought due to reduced rainfall, is not seen as a major problem for Thailand, thanks to the practice of artificial rainmaking, which was bestowed by the late King Rama IX. This technique enables clouds to be condensed and turned into rain. He believes that the government needs to understand the necessity of budget increases for research and development.
Supit called for the renovation of disused airports into rainmaking bases to expand the department's operational capacity. He also mentioned that with the depletion of aviation fuel funds, the budget for artificial rain is insufficient. The department requires additional research funding, but the allocated amount is only 500,000 baht out of the requested 10 million baht.
He concluded by expressing his hope that the new government will re-evaluate the budget and allocate an additional 4 billion baht annually to effectively combat El Nino and utilise this situation to turn Thailand into a key global food exporter to help alleviate food shortages in various parts of the world.
