As planting season dawned across South East Asia's rice fields, Suchart Piamsomboon, a 60-year-old farmer from Thailand's Chachoengsao province, went to the local shop for fertilisers.
But the fertiliser had not arrived.
And, he was told, it might not arrive. Even if it did, it would cost over 1,100 baht a sack - a jump from the 800-900 baht it cost just over a month ago.
By the time Piamsomboon got home, word was already circulating that prices could even hit 1,200 baht.
"I've decided not to do it," he said, when asked whether he would plant this season. "Farming only leads to financial losses. I'd rather work as a day labourer and earn 100 to 200 baht a day just to get by. Expenses don't go down, but income keeps falling."
