Thailand’s rice production has suffered a TBH 2.2 billion set back owing to massive floods that plagued the country’s central and lower northern regions this year, Bangkok’s Kasetsart University revealed.
The university’s agricultural economics office Foresight Center for Agriculture has released a report on the impact of flooding on Thai farmlands, especially rice fields, on 1.37 million rai in 14 of the country’s provinces.
According to reports, some 0.43 million rai of rice paddies were severely affected by flooding. This sums up to about 3 percent of cultivated rice fields in the 14 provinces, and 0.7 per cent countrywide.
As a result, rice production is expected to decline by 210,000 tonnes. This is about 0.8 per cent of the Thailand’s rice production for the year and costs an estimated TBH 2.2 billion.
The flood damage would have been even greater had the farmers not adjusted their planting schedules. The majority of them grew rice in time for an August harvest, just a few weeks shy of monsoon season.
The 14 provinces in the study were: Ayutthaya, Ang Thong, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Suphan Buri, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Chai Nat, Lopburi, Nakhon Sawan, Phetchabun, Uthai Thani, Sing Buri, and Saraburi.
According to Centre director Jaruk Singhapreecha, the report was a collaboration between the Agricultural Economics Office, and the Princess Chulabhorn Satellite Receiving Station at Kasetsart University.
