Sssnakes
Since I have been holed up at CRU, I have since had 2 snakes sightings along the road to Sombat's office. Today was most incredible. It was a pale yellow cobra! It was incredible. Sorry man no camera and I was on a bike (phew!) thank god for that. Also the road also has many beautiful birds which make me wish I had the guide book to Birds of Thailand.
Anyways, on other matters, I had a long talk with Xiong (aathit) today about chinese schools in thailand, typing in chinese and more so, about farming and trade in Thailand. You know the dried longans we love to make drinks from which we always think is from China? Well you guessed wrong! The longans are actually from Thailand and then shipped to China and then to Singapore! And we still think it's freaking cheap. Does that make sense? Yes, the Thai can actually still make a profit!
So of course the environmentalist monkey asked why the heck do u have such extensive foodmiles when it is nearer to ship to Singapore. Till now I cannot believe the answer I heard which is so true and so logical but so frustrating. For the Thai farmers to ship directly to Singapore will cost them MORE than if they ship to China and then to Singapore. Through China, there is more profit to be made than if they ship to Singapore directly. First there is a 12% tax if they ship direct to Singapore and not to China. Shipping from CHina to Singapore has no such tax. Then for the ship to wait for HSA to examine the products. And also on the THai side they want to examine also. BUt apparently through China, there is only one such check and straight through to Singapore.
So damn the food miles. I don't think it makes any logical sense in this case to ship the nearer route as the producer. So guess what, let's examine the FTA and other kind of trade agreement Singapore have with these countries. Ho hO ho, Thailand stipulated that only rice and bananas gets exported tax free. The other stuff tax free are phones and other technological stuff. HAH! Who is signing these agreements? Mr T who owns the phone company? Ok this is all hypothetical from now on. So monkey speculates that the tax free stuff are just for the people who signs benefit. I mean there is nobody to protect in this case and Xiong agrees. What kinda FTA is this when it doesnt really benefit the SMEs? I won't really call him a small farmer afterall but definitely of the medium enterprise category.
On another matter, he was explaining his farming methods and it's definitely more environmentally friendly and make a lot more business sense than his thai counterparts. He was complaining how he doesnt understand Thais who plants thousand acres of a single crop. On an environmental stance, I can see all the disadvantages to the soil but business wise he explains that when that one crop is not fetching a good price, the farmer will lose a lot. On the other hand, he has up to 6 crops in substantial amounts that will ensure a healthy profit and also a healthy land. That is what I call local knowledge. He even manages to grow avocado and coffee in his estate! How? Through growing these plants in the undergrowth of longan trees which he has to abundance because they are the price-fetcher. The avocado are then sold to the government who exports them or use them for shampoo! Where do you think your avocado shampoo comes from?! lol The undergrowth also provide sufficient shade for these plants to grow in this hot climate of Thailand. I mean this make so much ecological sense! And the best part is he didnt learn it from some textbooks. this is pure local knowledge through years of trial and error and tried and tested through generations. It's just brilliant. Kudos.
I forget to explain that Xiong is a yunanese living in Thailand for the last 3 generation. They came with the KMT soldiers in the beginning of the 1900s. This is why I managed to find out so much because he spoke chinese! LOL probably the only time I can find out so much in Thailand is when somebody speaks my mother tongue. He is running chinese schools here and that's another story altogether. Yes, it's a brilliant story worth telling and I think I'll tell it another time.
Anyways, on other matters, I had a long talk with Xiong (aathit) today about chinese schools in thailand, typing in chinese and more so, about farming and trade in Thailand. You know the dried longans we love to make drinks from which we always think is from China? Well you guessed wrong! The longans are actually from Thailand and then shipped to China and then to Singapore! And we still think it's freaking cheap. Does that make sense? Yes, the Thai can actually still make a profit!
So of course the environmentalist monkey asked why the heck do u have such extensive foodmiles when it is nearer to ship to Singapore. Till now I cannot believe the answer I heard which is so true and so logical but so frustrating. For the Thai farmers to ship directly to Singapore will cost them MORE than if they ship to China and then to Singapore. Through China, there is more profit to be made than if they ship to Singapore directly. First there is a 12% tax if they ship direct to Singapore and not to China. Shipping from CHina to Singapore has no such tax. Then for the ship to wait for HSA to examine the products. And also on the THai side they want to examine also. BUt apparently through China, there is only one such check and straight through to Singapore.
So damn the food miles. I don't think it makes any logical sense in this case to ship the nearer route as the producer. So guess what, let's examine the FTA and other kind of trade agreement Singapore have with these countries. Ho hO ho, Thailand stipulated that only rice and bananas gets exported tax free. The other stuff tax free are phones and other technological stuff. HAH! Who is signing these agreements? Mr T who owns the phone company? Ok this is all hypothetical from now on. So monkey speculates that the tax free stuff are just for the people who signs benefit. I mean there is nobody to protect in this case and Xiong agrees. What kinda FTA is this when it doesnt really benefit the SMEs? I won't really call him a small farmer afterall but definitely of the medium enterprise category.
On another matter, he was explaining his farming methods and it's definitely more environmentally friendly and make a lot more business sense than his thai counterparts. He was complaining how he doesnt understand Thais who plants thousand acres of a single crop. On an environmental stance, I can see all the disadvantages to the soil but business wise he explains that when that one crop is not fetching a good price, the farmer will lose a lot. On the other hand, he has up to 6 crops in substantial amounts that will ensure a healthy profit and also a healthy land. That is what I call local knowledge. He even manages to grow avocado and coffee in his estate! How? Through growing these plants in the undergrowth of longan trees which he has to abundance because they are the price-fetcher. The avocado are then sold to the government who exports them or use them for shampoo! Where do you think your avocado shampoo comes from?! lol The undergrowth also provide sufficient shade for these plants to grow in this hot climate of Thailand. I mean this make so much ecological sense! And the best part is he didnt learn it from some textbooks. this is pure local knowledge through years of trial and error and tried and tested through generations. It's just brilliant. Kudos.
I forget to explain that Xiong is a yunanese living in Thailand for the last 3 generation. They came with the KMT soldiers in the beginning of the 1900s. This is why I managed to find out so much because he spoke chinese! LOL probably the only time I can find out so much in Thailand is when somebody speaks my mother tongue. He is running chinese schools here and that's another story altogether. Yes, it's a brilliant story worth telling and I think I'll tell it another time.
Labels: Thailand
posted by Monkey at 12:32 PM
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