THAILAND: Water buffaloes make a comeback as farmers abandon machinery due to high fuel prices

Record ID: 771490

  • Title: THAILAND: Water buffaloes make a comeback as farmers abandon machinery due to high fuel prices
  • Date: 27th July 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF WATER BUFFALO PULLING PLOUGH AS YOUNG MAN STEERS
  • Embargoed: 11th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Lifestyle,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA4VHJKATBWV3E3867GG9ZND3RC
  • Story Text: The put-put sound of diesel-driven ploughs were a common sound throughout rural Thailand.
    But now, with soaring fuel prices, more and more Thai farmers are putting their modern machinery aside to go back to the traditional way of farming--using water buffaloes.
    In the past, the number of water buffalo a farmer had was an indication of wealth and the water buffalo was considered a farmer's best friend.
    Large numbers of them could be seen wallowing in the mud at the edge of paddy fields.
    But with the invention of diesel plows and tractors, uses for the animal have been on the decline -- until now.
    At 12,000-17,000 Baht ($375-540 U.S. dollars) for one, water buffaloes are a cheap alternative to diesel ploughs. But both farmers and water buffaloes are out of practice.
    Young farmers like Supat Langboon have little experience using farm animals in the fields and the farm animals themselves are confused as to why they are in a rice field attached to a plough.
    But even though water buffalo are more difficult to control than tractors, Supat is not giving up.

    "I would like to try to use a water buffalo to pull the plough because petrol is very expensive," said the 34-year-old farmer.
    Supat's uncle, 73-year-old farmer Tawan Panyaharn, is teaching both man and beast to work together and progress is slow, even after an intensive 3-days of coaching.

    "My relatives do not know how to train a buffalo how to plough.
    Sometimes, I have to step in and train them myself. I can get the buffalo to pull the plough within a few days," he said.
    Rice production is the main source of income for rural families in the northeast.
    Some farmers like 60-year-old Someporn Pakaso were prosperous enough to hire fellow farmers to plough for him, using their machinery. But due to higher fuel costs, he has gone back to using his four water buffalos on his eight-acre plot of land.

    "Working with farm machinery is quick, but we have to spend 400 baht ($12 U.S. dollars) per 0.4 acre. It is better to keep the money for my nephews and use water buffalos to work," he said.
    Thailand is one of the world's biggest rice producers and exporters.
    Some 10 million hectares of rice is grown in the country with more than fifty percent of rice-growing areas located in the country's northeastern region.
    ENDS.
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