Drought continues to hurt rice farmers
…Farmers in provinces across the Kingdom are feeling the effects of drought after a month of dry weather in which an estimated 10,000 hectares of rice seedlings were destroyed and 135,000 hectares left at risk, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. A report from the ministry, dated August 15 and obtained by the Post yesterday, reveals that rice cultivation is six per cent less than it was this time last year. … Pich Romnea, deputy director of the rice plantation department at the Agriculture Ministry, said he hoped tropical and Pacific storms would provide relief. The ministry has rescued about 20,000 hectares of rice fields via an irrigation scheme and prepared transplants so farmers can grow rice at the end of the rainy season, he said.
