Govt financial support sought to end sugarcane plantation burning problem

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Govt financial support sought to end sugarcane plantation burning problem

By The Nation

 

 

The problem of fires at sugarcane plantations requires cooperation from all sectors, Sitiwuth Siempakdee, vice president of Thai Sugar Miller Co, said. 

 

Meanwhile, sugar factories are campaigning to cut raw sugarcane for processing. They have suggested that the government offer funding at low interest rates to farmers to buy harvesters as the prices of the equipment are quite high. They are priced in the range of Bt6 million to Bt12 million.

 

They also urged the government to purchase electricity from biomass power plants as some plants could not sell the power to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).

 

“No farmer wants to burn their field but the cost of labour is high. Factories must sign contracts with farmers to help with the harvesting. Factories can encourage farmers by buying raw sugarcane while some sugarcane can be left for generating power,” Sitiwuth said.

 

Sugarcane harvesting started on December 1, 2019. Cane output was 42.62 million tonnes. Fresh sugarcane was 21.69 million tonnes (15.83 million tonnes in the previous year), burnt sugarcane was 20.93 million tonnes (20.58 million tonnes), cane sugar production was 43.73 million bags (34.80 million bags), representing a yield of 102.61 kilograms of sugar per tonne (95.59 kilograms per tonne) and the sweetness average was 12.20 Commercial Cane Sugar (CCS) (11.46 CCS).

 

“The increase in sugarcane output over the previous year was because there were three new factories,. Also, factories increased the efficiency of their machines, improved sugar extraction as a result cane extraction capacity average is 1.0-1.1 million tonnes per day,” Sitiwuth said. “However, as the impact of drought increases, sugarcane output this year will be lower than 30-40 per cent of the previous year, or only 90 million tonnes.

 

Sugarcane extraction will be less than last year by 3 to 4 million tonnes," said Sitiwuth.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30381007

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-01-24

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[otherstuff1957]

I predict that there will be a lot of hot air generated, but nothing will be done.

 

Back in December the PPR party had a fundraising dinner which brought in 650 million baht.  One of the big contributors was the Mitr Phol group, which sells lots of sugar.  As one of the big donors to the current government, I don't think that anything that might impact their profits will every be done.

 

Back during the last "smog crisis" the amount of burned sugarcane that the mills could accept was limited to 20%.  After their generous donations, the amount was lifted to the current 50%.  A simple solution (that will never happen), would be to return the amount of burned sugar to 20%.

Edited January 24, 2020 by otherstuff1957

[unamazedloso]

Get the money from the farmers. Take the land and sell it off! This will solve the problem overnight guaranteed. Its an army government so roll the tanks at so they get one use in their lifetime.. All these crowd control vehicles have been bought so use them to save the health of the thai people. Its justified if people continu to burn and show no fear or care about the law

[DrTuner]

If it's so hard to farm sugarcane, don't. Do something that doesn't require burning.

[FarFlungFalang]

4 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Get the money from the farmers. Take the land and sell it off! This will solve the problem overnight guaranteed. Its an army government so roll the tanks at so they get one use in their lifetime.. All these crowd control vehicles have been bought so use them to save the health of the thai people. Its justified if people continu to burn and show no fear or care about the law

Maybe if cane harvesters were bought instead of tanks and crowd control vehicles the they could have reduced the burning as well as making a positive contribution to the country instead of contributing nothing but I'm sure all those crowd control vehicles look good in storage.

 

[dcnx]

It’s that time of year again. More hot air and promises coming, no action.

[DrTuner]

19 minutes ago, dcnx said:

It’s that time of year again. More hot air and promises coming, no action.

Smoke and mirrors. Lots of smoke.

[thequietman]

Finally ................... something the Thai people understand and can go along with. Its all about the money and rightly so.  ????

[thequietman]

32 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Maybe if cane harvesters were bought instead of tanks and crowd control vehicles the they could have reduced the burning as well as making a positive contribution to the country instead of contributing nothing but I'm sure all those crowd control vehicles look good in storage.

 

But then who wud protect the national securitaaaay? ????

[thequietman]

5 hours ago, otherstuff1957 said:

I predict that there will be a lot of hot air generated, but nothing will be done.

and smoke. Don't forget the smoke.

[FarFlungFalang]

12 minutes ago, thequietman said:

But then who wud protect the national securitaaaay? ????

The cane harvesters can have a duel purpose providing a good source of blood 'n' bone for better sugar production?

[bwpage3]

3 hours ago, DrTuner said:

If it's so hard to farm sugarcane, don't. Do something that doesn't require burning.

Burning makes it easier to cut by hand.

 

Have you ever tried it?

 

The husk they burn is very sharp and difficult to cut by hand.

 

Once you burn that, the stock is very easy to cut.

 

Plus burning gets rid of any large snakes lurking.

[IvorBiggun2]

3 hours ago, DrTuner said:

If it's so hard to farm sugarcane, don't. Do something that doesn't require burning.

Sugar cane doesn't require burning to harvesting it. It just makes it easier for people to hand cut it and machine harvest it. And what would you suggest as an alternative crop to grow?

[bwpage3]

If the sugar factories weren't all into racketeering and paid a decent price, farmers could afford new equipment.

[Muhendis]

12 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

If the sugar factories weren't all into racketeering and paid a decent price, farmers could afford new equipment.

Spot on. The factory owners have encouraged more and more farmers to sign up contractually and join in with them then suddenly the price to the farmers dropped by around 50%. The factories who, incidentally, own the harvesters, still charge the same rate per tonne to harvest their cane and also sell some biomass back to the farmer as manure/compost/fertiliser. Transportation of the crop is paid for out of the farmers proceeds. All this leaves the farmer with precious little other that the bank loan he needed to take out to pay for land prep and crop maintenance. As a result the farmer will look to saving as much money as possible by burning and hand cutting for example, which is less expensive than paying for a harvester.

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, otherstuff1957 said:

I predict that there will be a lot of hot air generated, but nothing will be done.

I predict a lot more burning 

[neeray]

16 hours ago, DrTuner said:

If it's so hard to farm sugarcane, don't. Do something that doesn't require burning.

I have to agree with you. No sense flogging a dead horse.

And what the alternative crop would be, I don't know enough about farming to suggest any.

But as a business decision, there is always an alternative.

[Krataiboy]

This smacks of industry blackmail against a government fighting on two related fronts -against air pollution on the one hand and the nation's unhealthy addiction to sugar on the other.

 

Thailand is a free market economy awash with cheap labour. Taxpayers should not be asked to bail out any business which cannot compete, particulary not one with products and methods which constitute a public health risk.

 

Whether sugar farmers and factory owners survive should be left entirely to the free market.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by Krataiboy

[IvorBiggun2]

16 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

If the sugar factories weren't all into racketeering and paid a decent price, farmers could afford new equipment.

Nothing to do with corruption. There is a glut of sugarcane causing a 4 Billion Baht loss. And due to the strength of the Baht another 6 Billion Baht will be lost. 

 

Can you post any link confirming your claim to 'racketeering' cuz I can't find any.

[DrTuner]

16 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

And what would you suggest as an alternative crop to grow?

Hardwood. Thailand needs it's forests back. Farmers should go back to school and learn a profession higher in the value chain. Agriculture is one where the economy of scale applies, having one family tiny farms belongs to the dark ages. Which is where Thailand is still wading in.

[Cake Monster]

23 hours ago, DrTuner said:

If it's so hard to farm sugarcane, don't. Do something that doesn't require burning.

That is the main problem with all Thai Farmers. They can only grow a certain few Crops like Sugar Cane , Cassava, Pineapple Etc, because thats all they know.

There appears to be some kind of mental blockage about growing something different that might be more profitable , and possibly easier to grow.

Where are the real Farmers that are prepared to offset 1 Rai to growing >> say Potatoes as an experimental crop ??

They just all seem to follow the Herd, because its the easy option.

 

[Chazar]

Why dont they force the factories and middle  men to  buy the machines, I mean like  most things here its  all a controlled monopoly and the only  people  making the real  money are the middle  men and factories

[Scott Tracy]

And how much is a submarine to buy run and maintain? And the crews to train and operate the things? 

Stop the draft, save the money, make the army less powerful, buy more harvesters.....

[TPI]

On 1/24/2020 at 8:54 PM, bwpage3 said:

Burning makes it easier to cut by hand.

 

Have you ever tried it?

 

The husk they burn is very sharp and difficult to cut by hand.

 

Once you burn that, the stock is very easy to cut.

 

Plus burning gets rid of any large snakes lurking.

In Australia "green" harvesting is the norm! It's better for the farmer and produces more sugar! Apart from "bagas" (the cane residue after the sugar has been extracted) who on earth would burn untreated sugar cane? This country has some very odd farming practices?

[rickudon]

On 1/25/2020 at 5:19 PM, Cake Monster said:

That is the main problem with all Thai Farmers. They can only grow a certain few Crops like Sugar Cane , Cassava, Pineapple Etc, because thats all they know.

There appears to be some kind of mental blockage about growing something different that might be more profitable , and possibly easier to grow.

Where are the real Farmers that are prepared to offset 1 Rai to growing >> say Potatoes as an experimental crop ??

They just all seem to follow the Herd, because its the easy option.

 

Well, why don't you try and grow an alternative crop? I have been trying to find some for 9 years. So far about 80% of what i have tried has failed - seed wouldn't germinate, plants cannot survive hot season, rot because too much water. And i haven't mentioned pests and diseases, which affected what would grow!

 

What will work on one farm maynot on another, soil, waterlogging etc. I ask myself if i am a <deleted> at growing vegetables, but i had far more success back in the UK.

 

So far, i have only had consistent success with 2 plants, Lettuce and Okra. And the lettuce never get big enough to sell commercially. My M-in-L, on the other hand has 80% success growing just 2 or 3 types of chinese cabbage - unfortunately they all taste awful!

[Sonhia]

Thai farmers careless, money is all they want and that is a fact!

 

They careless if they pollute the very air young children, the sick and elderly plus their own.family breath.

 

Money, greed, getting drunk and violence are more important to Thai, than life and the enviroment.

[Toany]

On 1/24/2020 at 3:30 PM, otherstuff1957 said:

 

 

Back during the last "smog crisis" the amount of burned sugarcane that the mills could accept was limited to 20%.  After their generous donations, the amount was lifted to the current 50%.  A simple solution (that will never happen), would be to return the amount of burned sugar to 20%.

As it is supposed to be illegal to burn sugar cane, then the factories should not be allowed to buy any illegally burnt sugar cane. 

[IvorBiggun2]

On 1/26/2020 at 9:10 AM, TPI said:

In Australia "green" harvesting is the norm! It's better for the farmer and produces more sugar

Not true.   

Quote

There is no real loss or gain in yield, but there is a slight increase in the PRS (Percentage of Recoverable Sugar) which is the standard used for payment from mills.

Please read.    http://www.acfa.com.au/many-cane-fields-burned/

[IvorBiggun2]

On 1/25/2020 at 1:52 PM, DrTuner said:

Hardwood. Thailand needs it's forests back. Farmers should go back to school and learn a profession higher in the value chain. Agriculture is one where the economy of scale applies, having one family tiny farms belongs to the dark ages. Which is where Thailand is still wading in.

But the majority of land in Thailand is Sor Por Kor land which belongs to the king if I'm not mistaken? There are laws in place which restricts the amount of Sor Por Kor land one can farm. I believe it to be 25 Rai per family or 20 Rai per person. You can't own Sor Por Kor land so how are the farmers going to get these big farms? Thailand will always remain a country of 'tiny farms' because it suits people in high places.