Economics
Thai Drought Pits Army Against Farmers Over Water Curbs
El-Nino Fuelled Drought Hits Thailand's Economy
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Rice farmer Boontham Chei-pa switches on a water pump in the evenings to irrigate his parched field from a canal in Thailand’s central province of Suphanburi. The soil is hardly moistened before the motor is switched off.
Soldiers patrol the canal to stop unauthorized pumping -- part of water rationing in almost a third of Thailand’s 76 provinces as an El Nino-fueled drought dries the land. Without irrigation, Boontham said he will lose the more than 100,000 baht ($2,950) he spent sowing the crop.