The Thai government is planning to distribute a manual over ways and means to reduce rice production costs to up to 3,000 baht per rai (about $625 per hectare). The manual will suggest farmers about methods to reduce input costs of seeds, fertilizers and other chemicals. According to the Rice Department, farmers spend around 8,700 baht per rai (about $1,810 per hectare) now, and the manual aims to reduce spending by about 25% to around 6,500 baht per rai (about $1,355 per hectare). However, the main cost of rice production for poor farmers in the country is the money paid to get farmland on lease which keeps on increasing, say local sources.   Assuming a yield of 2.88 tons of paddy per hectare, $1,810 per hectare production costs would be equivalent to paddy production costs of about $628 per ton while $1,355 hectare in production costs is about $470 per ton. The 2.88 tons of paddy per hectare is a USDA estimate that may be too low, unless the government's per rai production costs are too high, which seems less likely.   Recently, the Thai government reduced the purchase price of common paddy rice under the government rice mortgage program by about 20% from around 15,000 baht per ton (about $480 per ton) to around 12,000 baht per ton (about $385 per ton). The government is encouraging farmers to reduce production costs and also to switch to crops such as sugar to avoid losses in rice farming. - See more at: http://oryza.com/content/thailand-distribute-manual-ways-reduce-rice-production-costs-farmers#sthash.oKyboPmw.dpuf

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