Pest-hit farmers loath to leave land idle

"If the farmers stop growing rice, they will have no money," said Pissanu Intarawong, village head of Moo 12 in Tambon Banchee, Ban Mi district, Lop Buri. "Most farmers here have rented land plots on an annual basis. How can they agree to leave the plots uncultivated for months?"

Agricultural officials have suggested that rice farmers in the outbreak zones should stop growing rice for at least one farming season, otherwise the cycle of outbreak would not be broken.

"When the outbreak is serious, this is the best way out," Ban Mi Agricultural Office chief Chucheep Utako said.

Without rice to feed on for months, most - if not all - brown planthoppers will die and become much less of a threat in the next farming season.

 According to Chucheep, the brown |planthoppers have already ruined 35,000 rai of paddy fields in Lop Buri's Ban Mi |district, causing up to Bt280 million in |damages. In nearby Tha Wung district, the brown planthoppers have ravaged 29,000 more rai.

Pissanu, who owns 20 rai of paddy fields, said the planthoppers had eaten half of his crop. Yet, he felt they still left him with enough money to go on farming.

"Although they caused Bt100,000 in damages, it's still okay for me to grow more rice. The rice price is good," he said.

Jamnien Rungruang, a 64-year-old farmer, said she did not plan to leave her 40 rai of paddy fields idle even though the brown planthoppers were clearly still around.

"There's no point doing it because other local farmers are still working on their fields," she pointed out.

Faced with the pest, Jamnien is resigned to seeing damages done to her crop. "I will just wait and see how much damage there will be," she added.

However, the outlook is bleak. In Kanchanaburi, 66-year-old Seksan Sirisrikaset disclosed that the brown planthoppers had caused him sleepless nights.

"They have ruined my whole crop and I have nothing to sell this season," he said.

In Suphan Buri, the brown planthoppers have already wreaked too much havoc for local farmers to bear.

"My whole crop is gone," Suthorn Tadee said after toiling over 30 rai of paddy fields in Suphan Buri's Samchuk district for months.

He believed the damage was well over Bt300,000.

Suphan Buri Governor Somsak Purisrisak said the number of brown planthoppers in the province had increased to the point that he had declared Mueang Suphan Buri, Si Prachan, Doem Bang Nangbuat, Sam Chuk, Nong Yasai, Song Phi Nong, Don Chedi and U Thong districts as disaster zones.

"In all, the pest has ravaged through 111,546 rai of land, and we are now urgently extending assistance to locals," he said.

Deputy Phitsanulok Governor Yongyos Mek-arun said up to seven districts in Phitsanulok were declared disaster-hit zones because of the brown planthopper outbreaks.

"The outbreaks have affected 21,782 farmers and up to 469,403 rai of land in my province, he said.

In a bid to help local farmers, many authorities are now spraying chemical pesticides across local fields.

Wichien Chotechalermpong, a volunteer soil doctor in Ayutthaya, strongly cautioned against the use of chemicals, however.

"The chemical pesticides will scare the planthoppers away for just a while. Soon, they will become resistant to the chemicals and come back to wreak havoc," he said.

He recommended the use of a bio formula, which he said had protected his paddy field for more than 10 years. "I have used this formula myself and it has never failed me," he said.

However, brown planthoppers are not the only threat to rice farmers. Sanoh Buabus, 44, said he could harvest just 100 or 200 kilos of unmilled rice from one rai of his paddy fields in Ayutthaya because of the rice-stem borers.

"Normally, each rai gives me 600 or 700 kilo of paddy," he said.

Sanoh is also the village head of Moo 1, Tambon Phra Non, Nakhon Luang district, Ayutthaya.

In Roi Et, farmers were struggling to cope with voles because the rodents had already ruined 4,100 rai of farm in Chang Han district.

"We are worried that the voles will spread out to other areas," Tambon Dong Sing Administrative Organisation mayor Taweesit Montrichon said. Local authorities and farmers are now doing their best to eradicate the pests.

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