Life just goes on,

[Ladyboy_Loser!]

Up here in Surin unless you read the English newpapers you would never know what is happening in Bangkok. Life just goes on the same way. Even the expats I hang out with in the afternoon don't give more than a moments thought to the ongoing Thai political circus. I took a quick trip to Ko Samui for my birthday and it was the same there, no one was working themselves up over this mess. Tourism was down as was evidenced by the lack of people I saw out and about. Lots of shops having hugh sales, restaurants with only a few customers and the Discos were never packed like I have seen before. Even when we spent the night in Bangkok along Sukhumvit Road you would never get the sense that Thailand is facing a serious crisis again. In a purely selfish view, with the U.S. dollar climbing back up and now this crisis I hope to see the exchange rate head to the to 36-37 range.
On more mundane subjects I finally gave in to Bow, she did not like the hot water tank that was hooked up to the solar panels. I wanted to replace it but she wanted those electric water heaters you see in showers. She won that one. I gotta replace two toilets bowls and two bathroom sink fixtures this coming week. I finally got around to having the a/c unit cleaned, the guys from the shop came around when they said they would and spend three hours working on it. The cost?? 500 baht.
This next one is just another example of how Thai-Farang relationships can be easily upset. Bow asked me to buy food for rice for her Papa. First off, I did not understand, Food for Rice??? Finally it dawned on me that she was refering to fertilizer and that it was time to take care of the rice crop. No problem or so I thought. Off we went to the local shop that sells this type of thing. I was guessing maybe 6 or seven dollars a bag and we were buying 15. You could have knocked me over with a feather when the guy totaled the sale up and showed me the figure. 19500.00 baht for fertilizer. I did not say much on the ride to her Papa's house and she did not understand why I was upset. I told her that it was not so much the price but the fact she did not clue me in to the price shock beforehand.
There you have it, another view of life with an LB in a quiet town. Never easy, never dull, a work in progress but I still think that I am a very lucky man. Others dream, others say never me but I would do it all over again. Take care guys, talk with you all again soon.

[stogie bear]

'Food for rice!' Ha ha! keep it coming...

[kahuna]

(PogueMahone @ Aug. 31 2008,19:03) 19500.00 baht for fertilizer.  

20k baht for shit...What in the hell do they have water buffalo for...

[azza33]

Oh but its Good shit!

[stogie bear]

How much actual rice could you buy for that?

[TTChang]

Sure this isn't dual pricing? - special deal for farang .... add a nought  

[rxpharm]

Hi Poguemahone, thanks again for insight into the "country" life.

Hey guys, remember the post about inflation and how prices are going up? Rice has close to tripled in price over the last 1.5 years.

We don't know how big these bags of fertilizer were or how much land is being fertilized, however, making fertilizer requires natural gas (which has gone up in price along with oil).

Anyway, each bag of fertilizer cost 1,300 Baht, roughly 38.50 USD a bag.

For comparision, a 20 lb sack of lawn fertilizer cost about 22.00 USD. So depending on the size of the bags, PM prices might have been in ball park area.

Here is an article that shows just what kind of impact inflation has on food production:

A global fertiliser crisis caused by high oil prices and the US rush to biofuel crops is reducing the harvests of the world's poorest farmers and could lead to millions more people going hungry, according to the UN and global food analysts.

Optimism that soaring food commodity prices could lift millions of developing country farmers out of poverty and lead to more food being grown have been dashed, says the UN. This is because small farmers either consume their own crop or have no access to global markets to take advantage of the higher food prices.

There is little prospect of relief. A world fertiliser forecast report, due to be published by the UN this week but seen by the Guardian, states that prices will remain high for at least three years and possibly longer.

Fertiliser prices have mostly doubled and in some cases risen by 500% in 15 months as US farmers have rushed to plant more biofuel crops and countries such as India and China have bought fertiliser stocks in large quantities to guarantee their food stocks.

But while the unprecedented price explosion has barely affected large commercial farmers, it is leading directly to civil unrest among small farmers in developing countries. There have been fertiliser riots or demonstrations in Vietnam, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan and Taiwan in the last few months. Last week one man was killed in a stampede at a government handout of fertiliser in Hyderabad, India.

Senior UN Food and Agriculture organisation analyst Dr Jan Poulisse warned the poor were being hurt the most by the crisis. "High commodity prices allow commercial farmers in developed countries to cope with high fertiliser prices. But rising food prices hurt subsistence farmers, particularly in Africa," Poulisse told the Guardian. "People just cannot afford [fertiliser]. They were in dire straits before, but now the situation is worse."

Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have been hardest hit because they have the least chance to benefit from soaring food prices on the world market, but desperately need fertilisers to replenish nutrient-depleted soils.

World fertiliser prices have risen more than oil or any other commodities in the last 18 months. Of the three main types, diammonium phosphate (Dap) sold for US $250 per tonne in January 2007 but has risen to $1,230 per tonne. Potash-based fertilisers have risen from $172 to over $500 a tonne, and nitrogen based fertilisers have risen from $277 to over $450 per tonne.

Much of the price rise is attributed to first world farmers who have applied high levels of fertilisers to maximise harvests of grain to take advantage of record grain prices, said Dr Balu Bumb, policy leader at the International centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) in the US.

The UN fertiliser forecast blames capacity constraints for the price rises. "Strong global demand for fertilisers is stretching current production capacity to its technical limits. This situation will persist until new capacity comes on line", it states.

"It can take 5-7 years to open a phosphate mine, 10 years for a potash mine and three years for a major nitrogen plant", said Dr Poulisse, one of the report's authors. At least 50 new plants to make nitrogen fertiliser are believed to be under construction, and phosphorous and potassium mines are being expanded.

Fertiliser prices have in the past been largely controlled by governments because they are so politically sensitive. But keeping prices down in the current crisis is now impacting heavily on other areas, such as education and health.

India is expecting to have to spend $24bn supporting fertiliser prices this year compared to only $4bn three years ago and countries such as Malawi have had to borrow millions to introduce a fertiliser subsidy programme. However, the president of Malawi admitted last week that the subsidy programme was failing the poor. "Sadly, it is the rich who are benefiting a great deal. They are selling maize to the poor at exorbitant prices," he said.

Agriculture and development experts say the world has few alternatives to its growing dependence on fertiliser. As population increases and a rising global middle class demands more food, fertiliser has become the preferred route to higher yields.

"Rises in basic commodity prices should be good for small growers but we are seeing that agri-business is reaping all the benefits. It needs a fundamental reform of the way agriculture is managed as well as more sustainable farming", said Amy Barry, an Oxfam spokeswoman

Here is the link: Fertilizer Crisis

Taken from the IFDC website.

Best to shag every lb possible and enjoy life before we cannot afford anything!