Growing Rice #2

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, Happyhorn52 said:

I've always wondered why they don't do something similar here as Asians love crawfish and they probably command a higher price than rice. 

I'm not sure if it is being done and if not, why not, but according to this article there are some very large Freshwater Prawns available in Philippines so it should be viable.

Perhaps James Mussewhite is on top of this but he has not checked into the thread yet.  Here is an excerpt from the article.  It does not tell us where they can be obtained but its a starting point for anyone who sees this as an opportunity.

Quote

FAMILY PALAEMONIDAE

13. Macrobrachium rosenbergii (DE MAN)
English name: Giant river prawn, Giant Malaysian prawn or
Giant freshwater prawn.

Philippine name: Burok (Ilongo), Pahi (Ilongo), Ulang (Cebuano)
or Uwang (Surigaonon).

This species grows up to 25 cm in body length weighing
about 250 g. The strong rostrum is armed by 11 to 13 dorsal
teeth and 11 ventral teeth. Among the Family Palaemonidae
this species is attaining the largest size and is probably one of
the biggest freshwater prawns in the world.

Until recently the species has been known under the name
of Palaemon carcinus which is now invalid. Unlike penaeid
shrimps or prawns of which female grows bigger than male,
the male of the species has huge, strong pincers or chelipeds
and grows larger than female. Females carry more than 120
thousand eggs.

 

[Gary D]

With three to four crops a year the water is not there long enough for growing anything aquatic. Some will try for four crops but the odds are  of losing the crop during the typhoon season.

[Clermont]

20 hours ago, Russell Clement said:

Thank you for your comments , I believe you are close to the mark Clermont , so much of the stuff that goes on here is straight out of the 60's  as I remember growing up in Qld, Aussie. 

I wasnt aware the farmers dont use hybrid seed , but I do know , by the time the farmer pays the ( Piper ) there is very little left for himself .

I guess its no business of mine and why should I care but I'm going to pursue this ,,, one never knows it may open avenues later, but thats another story  .

Russ. 

Thanks for that Russ, there is one little bit of advise if you want to take it on board or not, suggest, not tell them and use a little bit if diplomacy by asking if it was done this way along with back up literature, why can't it work here. Plant the seed of doubt in their mind and let them grow the idea. Don't forget it is their livelihood your trying to change and any downturn in the crop, it will be the bloody long noses fault. I take my hat off to any expat that tries to improve the life of their newly adopted country, but the key words, suggest not tell. 

[allancomeau]

As far as I know the Department of Agriculture is quite active in promoting new methods of farming, including integrated farming (crops, fish, poultry, mixed crops, animal, etc).

They do go out to the farmers and give a show & tell, as well as having roving consultants. The ones I met weren't too impressive (what can you expect from an underpaid government employee) but make some effort and had some resources.

The reasons for the farmers slow acceptance are several but one of the main reasons is their natural reluctance to increase the risk of failure. This is their livelihood; food on the table for the family. What seems natural to us (easy to say since we have no risk) is a substantial barrier for them. Second is that often these new methods incur greater cost and most farmers do not have the funds - it is easy to say they can make more money, but where is the money to get started, and what happens if it fails? Third is market acceptance - if they do grow it can they sell it? 

Talk is cheap and so people (foreigns and local consultants) can talk and talk but they are not the ones in the 'trenches' and RP is riff with talk that is 99% BS.

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by allancomeau

[Dave Hounddriver]

16 minutes ago, allancomeau said:

they are not the ones in the 'trenches'

True that, I helped an ex gf to buy a rice field.  I supplied money and advice.  She took the money and planted some rice the old fashioned way but said:  My family told me if you are not willing to get in the mud and help then we do not need your advice.

Too bad she did not follow the advice but she seems much happier now, years later, as a hooker in Dubai.

[allancomeau]

43 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Too bad she did not follow the advice but she seems much happier now, years later, as a hooker in Dubai.

But still plowing .................

[allancomeau]

Talking about expert advice reminds me of two true stories…

 

In the USA during the late 1920’s a farming expert convinced many farmers to move to the mid-West where the land was marginal in terms of rain. He had the method to successfully work the land. Many did and it worked for some years. Then the drought hit (the American dust-bowl years) however his advice made it much worse and those farmers collapsed into abject poverty.

Two years passed and the farm expert came back and said, “Sorry about that. You should use this technique.”

(They did and it worked, but consider the cost of his initial faulty advice.)

 

Then in China during Mao’s reign. He started a campaign against vermin which included sparrows. The great infallible leader urged the killing of sparrows as they ate fruit crops and their droppings were a nuisance. So the folks killed sparrows by the hundreds of thousands. The next year the crops were over-run by pests – pests that the sparrows would have eaten. And the ensuring famine killed millions.

Ironically China then imported sparrows from the USSR.

 

 

 

[Gary D]

The same happens in the Philippines, snakes are relentlessly pursued and in the next breath the number of rats and mice are complained about.

[Jack Peterson]

1 hour ago, Gary D said:

The same happens in the Philippines, snakes are relentlessly pursued and in the next breath the number of rats and mice are complained about.

Time we all understand the FOOD Chain ( It matters) 

 

[allancomeau]

On 2/8/2018 at 6:53 PM, Jack Peterson said:

Time we all understand the FOOD Chain ( It matters) 

 

True (BTW it is called the Food Web) (I taught high school Science until last year :( )