Little rain expected so save water, pleads Ministry

[FarFlungFalang]

22 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

No rain here here in central Isaan for 7 weeks. I keep asking when the wet season will start.

 

Didn't you guys vote for Prayuth?Neither did we and we got no rain either something fishy going on here!

[Snowyrivers]

Totally agree with Dang!

since thais got blue pipe water pumped from underground the have given up on storage altogether! As an Aussie farmer I have tried to get 20,000 litre plus pvc tanks but in Thailand the expense is Crazy. Soon they will realise water is a commodity and start to treasure it! I hope!

[FarFlungFalang]

15 minutes ago, Snowyrivers said:

Totally agree with Dang!

since thais got blue pipe water pumped from underground the have given up on storage altogether! As an Aussie farmer I have tried to get 20,000 litre plus pvc tanks but in Thailand the expense is Crazy. Soon they will realise water is a commodity and start to treasure it! I hope!

We have loads of tanks large roof area fill up in no time!Doesn't really help with the farm though.

[malathione]

49 minutes ago, RobboR said:

I've always heard that good steady rain/drizzle is much better than downpours. Is that true?

I'm not a farmer so I don't really know. That said, rice paddies require flooding so I guess they'd want pretty heavy rain initially.

[Isaan sailor]

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

It is very difficult to move from rice to other crops, for a number of reason. 

 

First, rice is not grown in regular fields, but in paddyfields, that is, swimming pool like fields, which are designed to retain water... good for the rice, not good for other crops... 

 

Then, the soil quality is very poor, having been overexploited and not enriched by decades of rice monoculture. 

 

In my area, the soil looks like a mix of sand and flour... not exactly good for growing anything other than grass. 

 

Finally, it costs a lot of money to change crops. 

 

If a farmer wants to stop growing rice, he first needs to refill the paddyfields with soil, which is very costly... tens of thousands of baht for a small farm... 

 

And while other crops generally need less water than rice, they still need a lot of it... which they won't get now that Isaan is quickly becoming a one season land... and unfortunately it is the summer season, the worst of the three former seasons... 

 

Good post.  Would add that because Isaan villages have surrounding farms (instead of more efficient house-on-farm)—they cannot grow higher value crops.  They’d lose crops to pilfering.  A feudal farming system doesn’t help.

[Nong Khai Man]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

We've had 50% more than last year already!

NOT Here,We Ain't !!

[canuckamuck]

3 hours ago, lipflipper said:

As for the idiot farmers who simply ignored the requests Not to keep on planting second and third rich crops in year despite the ominous signs that a drought was coming I feel absolutely no sympathy with their plight now. You idiots made you own bed now go lie in it. The only ones who are going to benefit will be the hoards of loan sharks in Issan and elsewhere who will gladly give money to these Bozos and extract high interest rates in return. Rice farming in Thailand is going to be severely affected and IMO Thailand will fall behind Vietnam and the Philippines in rice production. Thus adding to the overall economic downturn going on.

Sent from my CMR-AL19 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

This not the second or third crops of the year that are in trouble. This is the primary and for most farmers only planting of the year. It's a big deal and it isn't their fault.

[sawadee1947]

I wonder if any of those called scientists in Thailand would consider of climate change???

 

[PaDavid]

As I write we are enjoying a light shower. But up here in SE Loei Province (NE Thailand for those who don't know where Loei is), we've had no significant rain since May 31st. This follows on from last year's very dry rainy season. The locals in my village are getting desperate. The ponds and lakes which provide the means to water their crops are drying up fast. If they're not at least three quarters full by the end of September there'll be no water left when it comes time to plant sugar, which is the main earner up here. I've also noticed a lot of rubber trees (the number 2 earner) aren't being tapped - presumably because of the dry conditions. 

 

I can see a lot of my fellow villagers being in dire straigts next year. 

 

 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

In our area the rainfall is about 50% below average, but the biggest problem it rains for a week then its dry for a month. Corn farmers have started to plant dry in the hope it will rain enough to take the crop threw. Then they got hit by the fall army worm. This little b#@$% it eating into the growth point of corn and rice. 

[SantiSuk]

 

I've measured the level of water in the reserve tank of my swimming pool in Lower Sisaket Isaan every morning for the last 3 years and have recorded the amount of fresh H2O inputs, whether it be rainfall or village water added by hose. There is a reason for doing so related to assessing the total dissolved solids that do not represent added salt (some pool owners might understand that, though would probably still think me anal in the extreme!!

 

The above is a table of cm added to my reserve tank of rainfall for the period May to mid July for the last 3 years. I could convert that to cm of rainfall if I wanted to by reference to the relative surface areas of the reserve tank and the pool itself. I haven't bothered because it would still only be a rough measure (a major downpour will overflow the reserve tank and short of sitting beside the tank I can't adjust for those outcomes).

 

Nonetheless as a relative comparison between years I believe the data does give a flavour of relative rainfall patterns between the years. 2017 was the last year when we had a normal level of rain (in my 12 year experience here), by which I mean the local huais are all full by mid October end of RS. Didn't happen in 2018 - 60% full- and the local huais are amost dry to the bone now.

 

The figure for the first 16 days of July this year is pretty terrifying! My 35m deep house well ran dry in late 2018 for the first time since coming here. I fear the village wells may be next unless we get some real proper rain. I cannot see the government getting its act together with water tankers on an industro/military scale. Farmers are of course bleeding around here already with failed rice plantings and more. If there is no domestic water I shall have to move the family away temporarily (or is it temporarily?)

[digger70]

4 hours ago, IssanMichael said:

Any suggestions on what sort of crops you are talking about that would grow over here?

Corn/Maize /sorghum /millet/beans /garlic /onions /sugar cane,and a few Grains that also don't need much water

[WeekendRaider]

this a good message.

however it falls short. 

 

we are in a baby ENSO, a mini one.  what they are thinking of is the same as elsewhere, such as the PI.  and it is not 2019 that we are thinking about.  2020.....

if you have missed these two articles below, and you are prefrontal cortex, you really ought to at least skim the abstracts on them.  socially, I know many folks don't have a appreciation at all that there are positive as well as negative atmospheric forcings.  I have to mention that for the Rosenfeld one.

 

not as horrific as the Hansen et. al. or the PNAS 'Trajectories' thing from Stockholm a year back or so but quite apropro for living in Thailand.  the Fruend one.

 

Nature Geoscience
May 6, 2019
Higher frequency of Central Pacific El Nino events in recent decades relative to past centuries
Mandy B. Freund et. al.

Science 
Feb 8, 2019
Aerosol-driven droplet concentrations dominate coverage and water of oceanic low-level clouds
Daniel Rosenfeld et. al.

 

just as with most anything worthwhile, gulp, you need to spend about 5 years full time studying this 'topic' that we can barely even talk about.... before you 'get it'.  oh man. 

 

        

 

[rumak]

7 hours ago, malathione said:

5-10% lower than normal?! Hell, it's lagging by greater than 50% in my neck of the woods.

what's a few percent when putting out public announcements ?

[FarFlungFalang]

4 minutes ago, rumak said:

what's a few percent when putting out public announcements ?

I think they are trying to they've got a handle on it and not to panic but what it comes across as is that they've got their hand on it and they're not waking up!

[WeekendRaider]

I always forget there are two missing thoughts or whatever in the usual public dialogue on this.

not only is there a negative as well as positive forcing but the persistency of the negative one... the one most folks call "dirty" but is actually a cooling effect... only lasts a few weeks or months.  but the "positive" one, that we have also consistently underestimated, but not as much as the IPCC has the negative masking effect, lasts for decades and some for much more than 100 years.  of course.  as it's a gas molecule that is quite persistent and accounts for all of our food and air we breath.

 

Science  
Feb 8, 2019
Aerosol-driven droplet concentrations dominate coverage and water of oceanic low-level clouds
Daniel Rosenfeld et. al.

 

talk about politically correct language.  'the IPCC may want to revisit their climate models'.   jeeeezzzz! 

 

 

[rumak]

To add to others reports :   I live in Lamphun Province ( east side)  ......  Maybe ONE decent rainfall . Long ago.  That's it.   The leaves on our Teak trees are even wilted .     Dry !

Lo and behold:  some dark clouds showing over the hill .  Maybe ??

[rumak]

5 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I think they are trying to they've got a handle on it and not to panic but what it comes across as is that they've got their hand on it and they're not waking up!

i think they got their hands on something else...

[Fred white]

22 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

What rainwater sir? They needn't worry about Chinese or Indian tourists, this potential drought will wipe out a lot of farmers. We are indeed fortunate to have flowing water to pump when needed, I sympathize with all who see their future dried up. 

yeah you have to have rain before you can catch it

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Stevemercer]

6 hours ago, RobboR said:

I've always heard that good steady rain/drizzle is much better than downpours. Is that true?

 

Steady rain is good for gardens and dry land farming. However, we need torrential rain to flood the fields, fill local ponds and the larger reservoirs. 

 

During the 2018 wet season (in central Isan) we got a lot of steady drizzle, so things looked green, but we missed the torrential rains that normally come in September. As a result our dams and groundwater were at their last gasp moving into June 2019 when good rains normally arrive to replenish everything.

 

The 2019 wet season is looking grim so far coming off a poor 2018 wet season.

 

 

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, rumak said:

i think they got their hands on something else...

Sorry I was being a bit to cryptic,some aussies may have picked it up.Yes waking up with your hand on it just means your dreaming if you think anyone is going to believe it. 

[shan777]

9 hours ago, Snowyrivers said:

Totally agree with Dang!

since thais got blue pipe water pumped from underground the have given up on storage altogether! As an Aussie farmer I have tried to get 20,000 litre plus pvc tanks but in Thailand the expense is Crazy. Soon they will realise water is a commodity and start to treasure it! I hope!

get a brick one built , getting one done 16 meters across 3 meters deep, a friend had one done with small solid bricks rendered water proof , 16 meters a cross 2 meters deep they paid 32000 baht , mine will cost more ,of course .

[shan777]

Went to a Thai friends , durian farm today , he and his wife have lost some twenty year old trees from lack of water ,  in Sisakat , we have been lucky we pump water from a large water source  that  has  gone down a huge amount compared to other years , and we have had stuff all rain , we have pumped water from the water source into a creek bed for over three years , then pumped it out again , at our orchard , to water our durian trees etc it takes 3 hours for the water to get from one spot to the other , and  it has become very difficult to setup the pump now , as the water is so far down from the bank and I  am stuff from dragging the pumping system down to the waters edge, every four days . 

 We were pumping 60m3 a hour , and   we had to  use  fuel to run  the pumps ,no power at  either locations , and after a pump died the other day  , we brought a power generator ,  and deep well bore  submersible pump  ,  and will have  a new bore hole done , within two  days , and start to get a bigger concrete storage tank built  , only way to go, see plenty of black clouds over head but no rain ,at all . We have to water every 4 days , other wise the trees will die , durian trees root systems are close to  the surface , and can dry out quickly . I belong to a Durian growers group , here and have see some terrible, losses new Durian farmers have suffered because they ran out of water,  one place not  far  from me lost ,  460 young trees , others lost 3 and 4 year old trees , felt sorry for them , all the hard work they  put in wasted ,  not  easy for poor  farmers. and its blood hotter this year , really hot , don't know what  others in this area think but , tome its  a  lot  hotter this year here than last year.

[baboon]

On 7/15/2019 at 7:45 PM, snoop1130 said:

The Royal Irrigation Department’s director general Dr Thongplew Kongjun said his agency was now advising rice farmers to be self-sufficient.

'Don't expect any help. You are on your own', in other words. 

[Brunolem]

15 hours ago, SantiSuk said:

 

I've measured the level of water in the reserve tank of my swimming pool in Lower Sisaket Isaan every morning for the last 3 years and have recorded the amount of fresh H2O inputs, whether it be rainfall or village water added by hose. There is a reason for doing so related to assessing the total dissolved solids that do not represent added salt (some pool owners might understand that, though would probably still think me anal in the extreme!!

 

The above is a table of cm added to my reserve tank of rainfall for the period May to mid July for the last 3 years. I could convert that to cm of rainfall if I wanted to by reference to the relative surface areas of the reserve tank and the pool itself. I haven't bothered because it would still only be a rough measure (a major downpour will overflow the reserve tank and short of sitting beside the tank I can't adjust for those outcomes).

 

Nonetheless as a relative comparison between years I believe the data does give a flavour of relative rainfall patterns between the years. 2017 was the last year when we had a normal level of rain (in my 12 year experience here), by which I mean the local huais are all full by mid October end of RS. Didn't happen in 2018 - 60% full- and the local huais are amost dry to the bone now.

 

The figure for the first 16 days of July this year is pretty terrifying! My 35m deep house well ran dry in late 2018 for the first time since coming here. I fear the village wells may be next unless we get some real proper rain. I cannot see the government getting its act together with water tankers on an industro/military scale. Farmers are of course bleeding around here already with failed rice plantings and more. If there is no domestic water I shall have to move the family away temporarily (or is it temporarily?)

I am also in Sisaket and I confirm everything you say... 

[Brunolem]

15 hours ago, digger70 said:

Corn/Maize /sorghum /millet/beans /garlic /onions /sugar cane,and a few Grains that also don't need much water

Go try to grow these in rice paddyfields... 

[khwaibah]

Department warns of worst drought in decade. Front page Bangkok Post.

[Brunolem]

9 hours ago, shan777 said:

Went to a Thai friends , durian farm today , he and his wife have lost some twenty year old trees from lack of water ,  in Sisakat , we have been lucky we pump water from a large water source  that  has  gone down a huge amount compared to other years , and we have had stuff all rain , we have pumped water from the water source into a creek bed for over three years , then pumped it out again , at our orchard , to water our durian trees etc it takes 3 hours for the water to get from one spot to the other , and  it has become very difficult to setup the pump now , as the water is so far down from the bank and I  am stuff from dragging the pumping system down to the waters edge, every four days . 

 We were pumping 60m3 a hour , and   we had to  use  fuel to run  the pumps ,no power at  either locations , and after a pump died the other day  , we brought a power generator ,  and deep well bore  submersible pump  ,  and will have  a new bore hole done , within two  days , and start to get a bigger concrete storage tank built  , only way to go, see plenty of black clouds over head but no rain ,at all . We have to water every 4 days , other wise the trees will die , durian trees root systems are close to  the surface , and can dry out quickly . I belong to a Durian growers group , here and have see some terrible, losses new Durian farmers have suffered because they ran out of water,  one place not  far  from me lost ,  460 young trees , others lost 3 and 4 year old trees , felt sorry for them , all the hard work they  put in wasted ,  not  easy for poor  farmers. and its blood hotter this year , really hot , don't know what  others in this area think but , tome its  a  lot  hotter this year here than last year.

Durian trees are hard to grow in Isaan in normal (weather) times, so I can imagine now... 

 

In my garden, also in Sisaket, we even lost banana trees for lack of water! 

[digger70]

45 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

Go try to grow these in rice paddyfields... 

That's what they done in  the Towns   Ayr   and Home hill  in NQLD Australia they have gone to grow Sugar Cane and Corn/Maize /cotton, now they don't have to Flood their paddocks like they had to do before when they were growing Rice.   Were there a Will there's a Way .No excuses for Lazy Farmers. The farmers should be happy to grow other crops then they won't have to flood the paddock and work in the mud and shit.  ????