The world’s largest rice exporter, Thailand, is facing major losses to its next crop of rice and a water crisis because of the worst drought in nearly two decades.
Thai Rice Mills Association president Chanchai Rakthananon said on Tuesday that rice output for the next crop cycle, ending in August, could fall to as little as 2 million tonnes from a previously forecast 5 million tonnes.
“It didn’t rain when it needed to rain,” Thai Meteorological Department director-general Angsumal Sunalai said. He blamed global climate change for the problem.
Chalit Damroengsak, director general of the Royal Irrigation Department, said there would normally be three to four monsoon storms a year during the annual rainy season, “but farmers will be lucky if there is one this year.”
Thailand produces about 20 million tonnes of rice annually in two to four crop cycles, exporting about 9 million tonnes and consuming the same amount.
The government keeps a rice reserve of about 10 percent of output, mostly as a way of stabilizing prices, so the drought won’t cause food shortages.
However, Thailand will face a water crisis if reserves are not refilled and demand for water continues to soar, said Chalit, who explained that the agricultural sector consumes 70 percent of the nation’s water supply, while human consumption accounts for only 4 percent.
Water levels in medium to large size reservoirs nationwide are at 15 percent of total capacity. In some regions, local officials have asked farmers to postpone rice planting by one month for fear of depleting the reserves.
The Meteorological Department predicts heavy rain for the next three months, but that poses more of a problem than a solution for rice farmers, because flash floods can wipe out planted seedlings.
Farmers feel squeezed. In the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket, Jundang Rintorn and her family sowed seeds in their tiny rice paddies on Sunday.
“Too much rain would mean losing money. We have to learn to adapt to this new pattern,” said Jundang, 46, speaking of the irregular weather. “It’s so different from when I was young.”
Although the government implemented a price guarantee scheme in May to insure farmers against prices falling below a minimum, profit margins are shrinking because of higher production costs.
At a meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva asked the Agriculture Ministry to investigate ways to avoid the drought-induced problems next year.
Lower Thai rice production could have an impact on the world price of the staple, said Rex Estoperes, a spokesman for the National Food Authority of the Philippines, which is the world’s biggest rice importer.
But it “was not a major concern” for the supply of rice to the Philippines, which imports about 10 percent of its annual domestic consumption from seven countries, now led by Vietnam, he said.
“We have other choices,” Estoperes said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS