Super El Niño Drought Devastates Korat Rice Farmers

NAKHON RATCHASIMA — A 67-year-old rice farmer in Sikhiu district has been severely affected by drought linked to Super El Niño, forcing her to sow rice twice and replant by hand in hopes that some of the crop will survive.

Muay Singkhon, a farmer from Ban Huai Takaeng Tai in Nong Bua Noi subdistrict, Sikhiu district, said a prolonged dry spell had left local water sources running low, making it impossible to pump enough water into her rice fields.

"I planted jasmine rice on seven rai, but the drought caused almost all of the rice seeds not to germinate. Only small patches have sprouted," she said.

Rain has been scarce in the area for nearly a month, with only occasional light showers that are not enough to thoroughly soak the soil. Muay said she had also seen little benefit from the government's artificial rainmaking efforts, as no significant rain had reached her fields.

She has now been forced to manually sow rice seeds in empty patches after planting twice already.

"The lack of water caused the seeds to dry out and become shriveled, so they could not grow. I don't know what else to do," she said.

Muay had hoped to harvest enough rice this year both for her family to eat and to sell, but the severe drought has caused significant damage despite the fact that it is the planting season.

"At this point, I just hope to get enough rice to eat," she said, adding that she had planned to pump water from a natural canal into her fields, but the water level had fallen too low for pumping.

Muay called on the government to increase artificial rainmaking operations and help reduce the cost of agricultural inputs.

"The prices of herbicides and fertilizer are still very high. I want the government to lower them further. Farmers are already struggling with high production costs," she said.