Thailand's 2013-14 second rice crop (January - July), which has almost reached harvesting stage, is severely affected by the ongoing drought conditions in the country.

While officials of Royal Rain Department (RRD) have conducted artificial rain making operation in the rice producing provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Buriram, Surin, Srisaket, Roi Et, Mahasarakham and Khon Kaen in the Northeastern region of Thailand, not much impact could be seen in water availability, say farmers. RRD officials said a total of 130 cloud seeding flights have been operated since last month and noted that the operation would continue till the end of May 2014.

Farmers say water released from local reservoirs by provincial authorities was also insufficient and the rice plants have been withering in extreme heat.

USDA Post estimates that production for the 2013-14 second crop may decline about 6% to 5.7 million tons from 6 million tons the previous year. However, the total year’s crop is estimated up about 1.5% from last year thanks to the 4% y/y increase in production in the main crop, harvested last autumn. The main crop production accounts for about 70% of production and rose to about 14.8 million tons in 2013-14, up from about 14.17 million tons in 2013-13. The outlook will now be on the 2014-15 main crop to be planted later this summer.

Source - http://oryza.com/