BANGKOK, 10 June 2015 – The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) has advised farmers to put off their cultivation of in-season rice, owing to the persistence of drought and depleted water reserves.
Director-General of the RID Lertwiroj Kowattana revealed that an announcement has been issued to rice farmers in the Chao Phraya River Basin, requesting them to use water on their fields as economically as possible. He reasoned that precipitation this year has been lower than previously forecast, with the amount of rainfall recorded in May in the North and the Central Plains dropping further from the same period of last year.
Mr Lertwiroj explained that the decrease in water input at dams, coupled with the increase in output to offset the impact of drought on farmland, has caused the water reserves to run out quickly. Therefore, the department is urging rice farmers to postpone their planting of in-season crops in order to avert a severe shortage of water.
The Director-General cited late July as a more appropriate time to start growing rice as rain will be more abundant and water reserves will likely be sufficient for farmers’ use.
