Farm survey to assess the damage

THE Agriculture Ministry is set to conduct a large-scale survey of drought-hit farmlands in the Central plains from tomorrow to assess the severity of the damage before dispatching proper assistance measures.

Agriculture Minister Peetipong Phuengboon na Ayutthaya said yesterday that officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives would be mobilised to conduct the survey.

Peetipong said heads of agricultural offices from 22 provinces in the Central plains are to gather today in Ayutthaya province to plan the mobilisation and assessment.

They would mobilise their subordinates from various departments to go to the fields and evaluate the situation of rice fields.

The ministry estimates about 1.4 million rai of rice fields in the plains had been hit by the drought, but Peetipong said he would like to know the severity of the damage before delivering appropriate assistance. 

The areas would be classified based on the severity of the assessed damage, he said, ranging from the hardest-hit areas, where the rice yield is withering, the areas where farmers could help themselves but need some assistance, and the areas where no help is needed.

The deadline has not yet been set, but it is expected that it would be delivered today at the meeting.

The plan was part of the new effort by the ministry to try to manage the demand side in the drought-hit area. 

“Demand-side management is as important as water management, which is supply side,” said Peetipong during his inspection of the Rama IX Reservoir in Pathum Thani province. 

“It’s about the needs of the areas and how we can manage to help alleviate the problem. If we know which areas need help and to what extent, we will be able to deliver help more efficiently, rather than disseminating it all over and wasting it,” he said.

The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) since Thursday has shut down more than 300 sluice gates in the plains as part of its measures to prevent water being channelled to farms to ensure water for domestic consumption. Soldiers have been dispatched to help keep a watch on any water pumping activity. Meanwhile, angry farmers are reported to have staged protests, demanding water for their withering rice crop.

Some 18 million cubic metres of water a day is being discharged from the Department’s major dams for consumption and to maintain the ecological system in the Central plains. However, there have been reports of water being heavily pumped out of the system, raising fears that this would disrupt the water for consumption downstream.

The Department has urged farmers not to pump water into their fields over the next few days. The minister said he has received a report that the water level near the Chao Phraya Dam in Chainat province has risen by 12 centimetres.

Irrigation department director-general Lertviroj Kowattana conceded that water discharge from its major dams was not as efficient as it should be. The department has allocated 8 million out of 18 million cubic metres for consumption, and 5 million for maintaining the ecological system. However, there have been reports of an increase in salinity downstream, prompting concerns among water users in the Chao Phraya. By shutting down the sluice gates, the Department has seen more clearly where the problem was, he added.

Peetipong said water stored in the major dams had been reducing continuously over the last three years, and in the future it may become necessary for farmers to give up their practice of growing rice two or three times a year, as there was likely not enough water to irrigate their rice fields.

This would be part of the ministry’s long-term plans, Peetipong added.