Opinions Focus
- I have already harvested 100% of my cane for 2022/23.
- Cassava proportion has slightly increased when compared to previous year.
- El Nino is still my biggest concern for 2023/24.
What have you been up to?
Luckily it was raining a few days ago; as I am writing my land are being tilled to improve the soil condition and get rid of the weeds left from the previous cultivation.
Now that the Songkran holiday is over, I will soon be planting a new cassava area. This will be about 100 rai more than last year’s. Since my assistant and I are still collecting the cassava seeds, we will have them ready within the next week. And then I will start applying the fertilizer, both to cassava and cane area.
After about 2 weeks I will apply pesticide in which it is a new one that I never applied before. It is a new method that I have changed recently.
However, this time I will be using a new variety of pesticides which can be applied directly on cane leaves without having to worry that they will die like usual.
The application method will also be changed, from hand-application to drone. This will help me get the work done faster and so that I do not have to worry my cane will die.
What stage is your crop at?
Cassava that I planted last time are doing good with 80% high rate of germination and another 20% kind of not growing so well because it was too dry. I am hoping the new cassava I am planting will grow well and return around 7mt/rai yield.
Cane is all green and healthy because there is rain pouring in the area at the moment. Only about 10% has wilted and turned yellowish (almost like rice) due to hot weather in early April. I am waiting for more rain so that my cane can grow taller and obtain some sugar content in it.
Otherwise, overall I expect that cane production will be almost same as last crop season.
Yellow Cane Leaves
Healthy Cane Leaves
What’s your biggest concern?
I am not worried about labour shortage anymore because this year I will be using more machinery to help ease this problem that used to be a big deal before.
What I am concerned about now is the cane price, which is changing all the time since the new pricing system in Thailand has been introduced. But for cassava, the price is highly reasonable and that is why I think there will be a slight change in the area.
My biggest concern now is El Nino, because I heard it will continue to be dry for about 3 years and it might affect my cane a lot in terms of production. And cassava may not grow to its optimal size, and slow development may result in lower yields if the weather is aggressively dry.
