We Go Again!

Last night was loud… Our hotel is positioned right next to the highway, which means getting a good night’s sleep is no easy task.

At 6am, we gave up on sleep and got on with our day.

Before hitting the road, though, we grabbed a much-needed cup of coffee and a bite to eat.

After this, we head onto our first meeting of the day, which took place at another cassava starch factory, only it was three times bigger than the one we were at yesterday.

The First Meeting

Upon arrival, it was a very busy at the factory, with lots of producers there waiting to sell their cassava root.

Despite this, we felt immediately welcome, and the meeting went very well. The factory workers were happy to meet with us and enjoyed hearing about the various services we could offer them.

The Second Meeting

After this, we head onto to Buri Ram to meet with a sugar mill.

Khun Lek told us that the 2021/22 cane looked very promising as Buri Ram had received plenty of rain and cane prices were high.

His outlook for 2022/23 was also positive. He thinks the region’s cane area will increase by 16% and total 180k rai (28.8 hectares).

When at the mill, we also had the pleasure of speaking with Khun Kam, a local cane farmer, who was waiting in front of the mill to deliver his cane.

Khun Kam told us that he should produce between 1.2 and 1.5k tonnes of cane this year. The increased cost of gasoline, fertilizer and pesticide seem to have held him back this year, though. In fact, higher prices here mean most of his friends and neighbours have turned to cassava. Flooding and disease also drove this decision.

Back to the Hotel

At 5pm, we were exhausted so decided to head back to the hotel.

The sunset was beautiful on the drive back, so we couldn’t help but stop for some photos in the cane fields. I was very excited to see that real cane is very tall – taller than me standing on the back of the truck!