Water challenge looms in dry season as higher prices boost paddy cultivation
Rice farmers could fight for irrigation water when the dry season comes in two months as they turn to grow more rice following rising prices, an academic has warned.
1. Rice farmers in Thailand are expanding cultivation due to higher prices, raising concerns about water scarcity in the upcoming dry season, particularly in the Chao Phraya basin.
2. Expanded rice cultivation threatens water allocation plans, impacting consumption, industries, and ecological maintenance, with potential repercussions for electronics and fruit orchards.
3. Water reservoir levels are at 62% capacity, highlighting challenges in managing resources amidst increased rice cultivation exceeding government estimates.
Assoc Prof Somporn Issawilanon, an academic of the Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand, said that paddy prices had risen to between 12,000-13,000 baht per tonne while the cost is about 7,000-7,500 baht per tonne.
This has prompted many farmers in the Chao Phraya basin provinces to grow more rice than what was estimated and planned by the government. So far, an extra 2.5 million rai (400,000 hectares) of paddy farms are re-engaged in rice cultivation.
Somporn said he believed the government could not stop farmers from growing the third crop of rice and this would lead to a fight for water during the dry season due to the effect of El Nino in about two months.
He said the growing of rice in excess of the government’s estimates would affect the water allocation plan and distribution for consumption and industries.
He expected that water scarcity during the dry season would affect electronics industries in the industrial estates in Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya provinces.
In addition, fruit orchards along the Chao Phraya banks would also be affected because the authorities would lack adequate water to resist sea water from intruding into the river, he said.
So far, the saline level in the Chao Phraya at the Samlae water station of the Metropolitan Water Authority in Pathum Thani was measured at 0.21 gram per litre of water on Tuesday, which almost reached the limit of 0.25g/l.
The centre reported at the end of January that farmers in the Chao Phraya basin had grown the second crop of rice on up to 5.54 million rai, about 3.03-2.51 million rai higher than the government’s initial plan to supply irrigation water.
The centre said farmers would grow about 5.92 million rai of the second crop during the dry season.
The centre said that it planned to allocate 4.693 billion cubic metres of water for farming this year, 135 million cubic metres for industries, 1.15 billion cubic metres for consumption and 2.722 billion cubic metres for ecological maintenance and other purposes.
The Royal Irrigation Department said the four major dams in the Chao Phraya basin – Bhumibol, Sirikit, Kwae Noi Bamrung Daen, and Pa Sak Jolasid – had a combined 15.378 billion cubic metres of water, or 62% of their combined capacity as of Tuesday.
And as of Tuesday, the department said 4.127 billion cubic metres, or 48% of 8.7 billion cubic metres prepared for farming, had already been distributed.
Meanwhile, the committee in charge of monitoring the water situation nationwide held a meeting on Monday and was informed that farmers nationwide had grown the second crop on 8.19 million rai, about 40% higher than the government’s plan.
Of this figure, 5.54 million rai were in the Chao Phraya basin provinces — 80% higher than the government’s plan — according to the chairman of the committee, Thanet Somboon, director-general of the Bureau of Water Management and Hydrology.
In a related development, Thawit Lorphoonpol, managing director of Lorphoonphol Rice Mill in Nakhon Sawan, confirmed that farmers had stepped up planting the second rice crop because of rising paddy prices.
He said non-jasmine rice paddy prices were about 12,000 to 13,000 baht per tonne while jasmine rice paddy prices were 14,400-15,500 baht per tonne.
