Thailand is currently experiencing a severe drought and the farmers in the rice-growing Suphan Buri province are suffering badly and are becoming increasingly desperate for water for their crops which form the staple diet of the nation.
According to the National Disaster Warning Centre, this drought in seven out of the 67 provinces is the worst the country has experienced in a decade, and around one third of the country is under very strict water rationing.
Thailand’s Farmers Fight over Water
Although the rainy season is imminent, farmers have been asked not to plant their main rice crop until August when it is expected that the drought will be broken. Unfortunately this has meant that the Thai government has lowered its forecast for the 2015 main-crop rice output by more than 2 million tons, according to a report by the Office of Agricultural Economics earlier this month.
Unfortunately the farmers in the central province of Suphan Buri, 103km from Bangkok, are in such desperate straits that they are basically physically fighting over use of the Tharakam canal which is a small waterway that has not previously been used for irrigation but could mean all the difference to having a crop or not.
Residents of the province’s Don Jedi district accuse upstream villagers of hoarding this precious water to save their crops while those in Don Jedi are suffering the same water shortages. According to the farmers, water rationing is unsustainable, and the government’s pleas to stop unauthorised pumping of canals are unrealistic.
Benchmark Thai prices are already near their lowest since January 2008, and fears are that a drop in output could underpin those prices. Thailand’s finance minister said in June that this drought could cut Thailand’s economic growth by 0.5% point this year.
Although rain is forecast to hit the drought-stricken areas by August, some farmers, especially those in Suphan Buri, including Chanate, fear that the canal water may run out before the rains come and that their crops may die.
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