BANGKOK,(NNT) – Royal Irrigation Department (RID) Director General Sunchai Ketworachai called on farmers to avoid growing the second crop of rice as water supply will not be adequate.
He said the volume of water in middle- and large-sized dams nationwide was reported at 45.67 billion cubic meters, or 61 percent of total capacity, with the useable volume reported at 21.85 billion cubic meters, or 43 percent or 7.9 billion cubic meters more than a previous year.
According to the RID chief, Chao Phraya River Basin alone currently has 6.62 billion cubic meters of water available for irrigation, accounting for 26 percent of total capacity.
The RID has allocated 5.95 billion cubic meters of water for usage during dry season. However, some 4.69 billion cubic meters has already been used, or 490 million cubic meters more than the planned volume.
Farmers are now urged to suspend the second-crop farming of rice as it will affect the water supply and damage the rice, he said.
The farmers have already done 5.35 million rai of farmland, which was roughly twice as much the planned volume of 2.68 million.
