July 20, 2015
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
Thai farmers ask spirits for rain to end crippling drought
DROUGHT DESPERATION. Thai villagers pa-
rade through their village with a caged cat as part of
ceremonies praying for rain in Nakhon Ratchasima,
Thailand. Under the scorching sun, dozens of Thai
villagers dressed in flowery shirts and traditional
costumes paraded the white cat caged in a bamboo-
woven basket door-to-door and let neighbors splash
water on the feline, while chanting an ancient tune:
“Rain, rain, come pouring down. We barely had any
this year. Without rain, our rice will die.” (AP Photo/
Sakchai Lalit)
several hundred farmers did not have any
choice but to start growing their rice and
hope for the rain.
Boonchan Thasunthorn, 58, recently
finished plowing nearly 16 acres (6.5
hectares) of his rice farms by using a
crumbling 16-year-old manual tractor. He
said he would rather take risk by sowing
the crops in the absence of rain than
holding off until it was too late.
Boonchan’s village is outside the
irrigation zone and the only access to
natural water is the Chi River, which has
nearly dried up.
“I’m just waiting for it to rain. ... If the
drought continues, it’s going to be tough
for me. But I can’t just sit here and do
nothing, or else I’ll starve,” he said, adding
that he still owed 100,000 baht ($2,950) to
the Bank of Agriculture for the equipment
and maintenance costs for his farms.
“This drought has hit me the hardest,
but I don’t know what else to do. Once
you’re a farmer, it’s hard to be something
else.”
By Thanyarat Doksone
The Associated Press
AN LUEAM, Thailand — Under
the scorching sun, dozens of Thai
villagers dressed in flowery shirts
and traditional costumes parade a white
cat caged in a bamboo-woven basket door-
to-door and let neighbors splash water on
the unlucky feline, while chanting an
ancient tune: “Rain, rain, come pouring
down. We barely had any this year.
Without rain, our rice will die.”
It’s a desperate plea to the god of rain, in
the belief it will hear the cat’s cry and
answer the farmers’ prayers.
Thailand’s rainy season officially began
in the last week of May, but it rained only
once in the Ban Lueam district in
northeastern
Nakhon
Ratchasima
province. It is one of more than 250
districts — or nearly 20 percent of the
country — that have been declared
emergency disaster zones as the prolonged
drought becomes the worst in decades, its
impact felt most acutely by farmers
growing Thailand’s most important
agricultural export: rice.
At the beginning of July, the amount of
usable water in major dams across the
country — except in the west — dropped to
below 10 percent, according to the
Irrigation Department. The water level at
Bhumibol Dam dropped to its lowest point
in 51 years.
In the capital, Bangkok, the Metro-
politan Waterworks Authority has slowed
tap water production since May. The head
of the authority, governor Thanasak
Watanathana, told The Associated Press
that without rains, the current water
supply for daily consumption in Bangkok
and its nearby provinces would last maybe
only 30 days. However, he said forecasters
are expecting rains in August.
For rice farmers, it may already be too
late.
The drought and the critical water
shortage in dams have prompted the
Agriculture Ministry to ask farmers to
hold off planting their crops. The Office of
Agricultural Economics estimated that the
delay could cost farmers in Thailand’s
central plains alone 60 billion baht ($1.8
billion) in potential losses.
“Every year in the past, in June and
July, in every part of the country — the
north, the central, or the northeast —
farmers would have started planting their
rice,” said Sompong Inthong, the
permanent secretary at the Agriculture
B
Ministry. “The real damage will be with
those who have already planted, but
there’s not enough water. We have to look
at how we can help them.”
The Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural
Aviation Department sent a fleet of propel-
ler aircraft on more than 3,000 flights
since March to increase precipitation by
cloud seeding, an artificial rainmaking
technique spearheaded by King Bhumibol
Adulyadej. Despite the high rate of
success, it did little to fill the dams.
Together with Vietnam, Thailand is one
of the world’s top rice exporters. But
because of the drought, the Office of
Agricultural Economics estimates this
year’s main crop will decrease by 11
percent, or about 24 million tons, from the
average of 27 million tons per year.
The Thai Rice Exporters Association
says at least 3 million tons of off-season
rice has disappeared from the stock since
the beginning of the year due to the
drought. The main concern, however, is
the main farming cycle, which begins in
May and is harvested as early as October.
“If the main crop’s produce is damaged,
even 10 or 20 percent, it means the amount
of rice will drop drastically,” said Chookiat
Ophaswongse, the association’s honorary
president. “If there’s still little rain from
now, I’m afraid it will make quite an
impact on next year’s export figures.”
He said that Thailand’s competitiveness
against rival exporters, such as Vietnam,
“which have less impact from the drought
than Thailand, will be affected.”
Meteorologists from the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and NASA say 2014 was the
hottest year on record since 1880, when
the earth’s average surface temperature
warmed by about 1.4º Fahrenheit (0.8º
Celsius) — a trend that is largely driven by
the increase in carbon dioxide and other
human emissions into the planet’s
atmosphere. The majority of that warming
has occurred in the past three decades.
The reason involves El Niño, a warming
of the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects
weather worldwide. This year, NOAA
says, El Niño has an 85 percent chance of
lasting through winter 2015-2016.
In Ban Lueam, a drought-plagued rural
district 211 miles northeast of Bangkok,
q
Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival
expands screenings for Asian films
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — The
Philippines’ leading independent film
festival is adding a section showcasing
Asian films, offering a venue for film-
makers facing censorship in other parts of
Asia.
Organizers of the Cinemalaya Inde-
pendent Film Festival and Competition
said the festival’s new “Independents:
Asia” section will be opened by Zhang
Yimou’s acclaimed Coming Home starring
Chinese actress Gong Li.
Also to be shown are 10 award-winning
films from China, Cambodia, Japan,
Myanmar, India, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and
Kazakhstan.
The Philippines enjoys one of the freest
independent film scenes in the region, so
movies censored in other countries can be
screened at the festival, said Laurice
Guillen, president of the Cinemalaya
Foundation, which is mounting the
festival for the 11th year. The film fest
runs from August 7 to 15 in Manila.
“Those which cannot be shown in their
own countries because of some kind of
(censorship), you can show it here, because
we have the freedom,” Guillen told
reporters.
She said as a modest start, Cinemalaya
invited Asian filmmakers to showcase
their films for this year’s festival, but that
hopefully a regional competition can
evolve in the future. She didn’t name
which Asian celebrities were invited to
attend this year’s festival because they
had not yet responded.
“While it has sought to nurture Filipino
filmmakers
through
the
yearly
competitions, Cinemalaya aims to inspire
Asian filmmakers by showcasing the
Philippines as the cinematic center of
creativity and free artistic expression ...,”
the organizers said in a statement.
Asian films to be screened this year —
though not necessarily censored in their
countries — include The Ferry and Poet on
a Business Trip from China; The Move and
The Owners from Kazakhstan; The Monk
from Myanmar and the Czech Republic;
The Last Reel from Cambodia; Six Feet
High from India; Summer Kyoto and The
Tale of Princess Kaguya from Japan; and
The Night of Silence from Turkey.
Tu Phan
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