Thread: Drought

Originally Posted by Troy

Originally Posted by Goodwill

A year ago we got rain around this time for three weeks then it all stopped until August.

It is normal for rain to start in May, increase in June, drop down in July and the increase again August and September. It is very close to where the sun is during these months....

Last year was a problem because of the gap betewwn planting the seedlings and transplanting. The rain didn't arrive in time for the main fields to be flooded for the transplanting and the ponds ran out of water if you left it too late to transplant. Many villagers had to buy a second crop ready for transplanting as it was too late to start again from seed. Others transplanted okay but then the rain stopped and the fields went dry too early.

I still think the problems last year (and most years) are in the Central Isan area around Khon Kaen and chaiyaphum rather than further NE Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Panhom, Nong Khai regions. I expect Udon to be under flood by the end of July/Mid August as usual.

I find it frustrating to see so many areas flooded and others bone dry within only a 100km due to poor water management. The amount of work required to better manage the situation cannot be done at the personal level or even the Provincial level. It requires a major investment by Central Government by people that are more concerned about the Country than they are about themselves.

Water management is important, but must be implemented differently according to the conditions. The fields in my picture above were in the floodplain just a couple of years ago, but new water control projects are making it possible to farm these fields today. The problem is that the soil in this area has an extremely high salt content. It is clearly visible as a white layer on the surface during the dry season. In the past flooding washed away this surface salt. Without the flooding and with more intensive agriculture, I believe it will only be a few years before yields drop significantly, and much of the land here will be worthless for farming.

Mrs Borey's oldest sister is one of the biggest farmers in this area. She is buying up any former floodplain land that is available if the price is reasonable. If I'm wrong, she'll get rich. If I'm right about the future of these farmlands, she'll end up owning a salt mine.

Originally Posted by Borey the Bald

Mrs Borey's oldest sister is one of the biggest farmers in this area. She is buying up any former floodplain land that is available if the price is reasonable. If I'm wrong, she'll get rich. If I'm right about the future of these farmlands, she'll end up owning a salt mine.

She must have Chinese blood

Water management?? There's a laugh. You can call it water mismanagement if you want and it would be much closer to the truth. The only thing that the government is interested in is preventing the flood fiasco that occurred in the past. They really don't care a lot about the farmer and how it has affected their rice growing.

Sad really, since Thailand has so much water in one year but is now facing a drought.

The difference between Udon Thani province and Sakon Nakhon is quite extraordinary although I always remember the rain comes later to Udon. East of Chai Wan and, if anything, I'd say the rain was above average but go West and it is as dry as a bone.

Many places are getting serious rain but we are still drying out in Northern Surin.

Looking at the next month's forecast here it is looking very much like a repeat of last year for us, a lot less rain than usual. Serious rainfall not due until the end of this month with enough to keep the rice alive until then. If it is the same as last year I will be pleased as harvest without knee deep water was a pleasant change. Water in our pond remains low so the water table has not started to rise again yet. That could be an issue later.
It is fingers crossed here...

I am praying for rain. Spoke with a friend here in Texas yesterday. She was saying Petchibun was getting rain. Was wondering if she was mistaken or my sil. Petchibun isn't far from Chumpae. I have been talking with my SIL. She speaks English ok face to face. Not so good over a scratchy phone line.

Just keep praying.

Khukhan Weather - AccuWeather Forecast for Sisaket Thailand

Change the location and check out your nearest town. Pretty reliable information

Originally Posted by IsaanAussie

Khukhan Weather - AccuWeather Forecast for Sisaket Thailand

Change the location and check out your nearest town. Pretty reliable information

Thanks for that. Appears we are getting a bit of rain. Nothing major but, will keep the rice alive until it gets better near Chum Phae.

Well, good news. Called the sil and low and behold, there is much rain. She's not too happy, happy, happy because there is now too much rain. She needs to check levees and over-flows. Dang farmers, just can't make them happy. I'm happy, maybe we can get a good crop this year.

Finally some decent rain up here in Southern Esarn. Maybe just maybe we will stay wet until November. Best rain for a couple month today. Lots of people across LOS have had decent rain for a long time now but that hasn't been the case up here in Northeastern Thailand. The farmers planted their rice and many have cut the stalks down because there has been no rain; other fields have overgrown with weeds. The regular mushroom blooms that mushroom hunters love should have happened weeks ago. Tomorrow no doubt the mushroom hunters will be out looking for their shrooms.

Because it has been so dry the fish ponds and canals ran almost dry. This made it easy to catch almost all the fish. This is bad because when the farmers fields flood they usually also catch fish in them. There will be less fish around this season due to the serious dry spell for the past couple years.

Just shows how a short distance can make a big difference to rain fall. We have not had a dry day I think in 2 months and not tapped a rubber tree in 5 days.
This time of year, i refer to as my whiskey period, no money and stuck in the house for weeks at a time. Jim

My pond is starting to fill at last which means the water table is rising. Good news for the rice, we might see some standing water in the paddy fields soon. Time to really get cracking making the fertiliser pellets.

Originally Posted by IsaanAussie

My pond is starting to fill at last which means the water table is rising. Good news for the rice, we might see some standing water in the paddy fields soon. Time to really get cracking making the fertiliser pellets.

Still raining here, not heavy but steady. No rubber tonight. Jim

I would like to know how Thai farmers seem to know to the day when they should be fixing up weeds and dead rice seedlings. A few days ago the whole village is out in the paddies doing this. Most got finished and last night the first real thunderstorm hit.

Well, that earlier post of rain dried up. Hasn't really rained at all in our area of northern surin. It's like there's a wall around this place. The rain should have started in July but it never came. The rest of Thailand doesn't seem to bad for what I see on the news. Just 50 kilometers away in Sikoraphum they had flooding recently I guess. Not sure why this area has been passed over; must be the land of the damned.

Originally Posted by IsaanAussie

Khukhan Weather - AccuWeather Forecast for Sisaket Thailand

Change the location and check out your nearest town. Pretty reliable information

Thanks for the link. I've been looking at the weather.com satellite pic. Absolutely useless in telling anything about rain.

Originally Posted by sranchito

Well, good news. Called the sil and low and behold, there is much rain. She's not too happy, happy, happy because there is now too much rain. She needs to check levees and over-flows. Dang farmers, just can't make them happy. I'm happy, maybe we can get a good crop this year.

..."we"?

Plenty of rain in the Udon area, but watch how they will have another drought after it stops in November.

Right on target today. Getting flooded here in northern Surin. I've never seen so much water at one time. The drought may be over after this and that means water throught he dry season. Another storm is brewing near the Philippines so that might bring a lot to Esarn, too.