March 13, 2005
CHA-AM, Thailand, March 13 (AFP) - Thailand may approach its neighbours about diverting water from the Mekong river to ease a drought that has crippled the kingdom, a minister said Sunday.
The plan was tabled as a long-term solution to Thailand's seasonal droughts, as current emergency cloud-seeding measures could fall short due to lack of planes to do the job, new agriculture minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said.
"The long-term measures include drafting a national plan to divert water from the Mekong river," she told reporters in this seaside resort a day before Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's new cabinet is sworn in.
"We may have to use water from international rivers. We will talk to neighbouring countries about water," adding the plan could take up to six months.
Sudarat did not name countries, but the 4,000-kilometre (2,400-mile) waterway traverses China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Up to 90 percent of the water taken from the river is already used for agriculture providing an economic lifeline for 75 percent of the population of the Lower Mekong Basin, according to countries on the lower section of the river.
The Thai interior ministry's disaster management unit says 63 of Thailand's 76 provinces are suffering from the current drought, affecting about 9.2 million people.
Across the country, 809,000 hectares (two million acres) of farmland has been destroyed, costing 7.4 billion baht (193.2 million dollars) in damage, the department said.
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has expressed concern for the nation and asked the government to focus on cloud-seeding efforts, Thaksin said Saturday, adding the agriculture ministry would dispatch planes upcountry to seed clouds.
But Sudarat warned the government was well short of its needs.
"Now we don't have enough airplanes to do artificial rain," she said. "We want another 17 airplanes."
On Sunday Thaksin acknowledged the drought "will affect economic growth" but he did not elaborate.
Water levels have dipped to critical points in six reservoirs in northeastern and central Thailand, where farmers have been banned from irrigating crops in order to conserve water for drinking.
The rain season begins in June.
CHA-AM, Thailand, March 13 (AFP) - Thailand may approach its neighbours about diverting water from the Mekong river to ease a drought that has crippled the kingdom, a minister said Sunday.
The plan was tabled as a long-term solution to Thailand's seasonal droughts, as current emergency cloud-seeding measures could fall short due to lack of planes to do the job, new agriculture minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said.
"The long-term measures include drafting a national plan to divert water from the Mekong river," she told reporters in this seaside resort a day before Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's new cabinet is sworn in.
"We may have to use water from international rivers. We will talk to neighbouring countries about water," adding the plan could take up to six months.
Sudarat did not name countries, but the 4,000-kilometre (2,400-mile) waterway traverses China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Up to 90 percent of the water taken from the river is already used for agriculture providing an economic lifeline for 75 percent of the population of the Lower Mekong Basin, according to countries on the lower section of the river.
The Thai interior ministry's disaster management unit says 63 of Thailand's 76 provinces are suffering from the current drought, affecting about 9.2 million people.
Across the country, 809,000 hectares (two million acres) of farmland has been destroyed, costing 7.4 billion baht (193.2 million dollars) in damage, the department said.
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has expressed concern for the nation and asked the government to focus on cloud-seeding efforts, Thaksin said Saturday, adding the agriculture ministry would dispatch planes upcountry to seed clouds.
But Sudarat warned the government was well short of its needs.
"Now we don't have enough airplanes to do artificial rain," she said. "We want another 17 airplanes."
On Sunday Thaksin acknowledged the drought "will affect economic growth" but he did not elaborate.
Water levels have dipped to critical points in six reservoirs in northeastern and central Thailand, where farmers have been banned from irrigating crops in order to conserve water for drinking.
The rain season begins in June.