Exports of rice from Thailand could drop by as much as 50 percent in the next three months. This is due to a government purchasing scheme and, of course, the heavy floods that have hit the country during the rice harvest.

Thailand is the world's leading exporter of rice, but output has been troubled in recent years with the crop adversely affected by drought and disease. The recent floods have hit Thai farmers at what would have been their busiest time of the year, as Tony Cheng reports.

Less than a month ago, these were the lush paddyfields of Minburi.

Today it’s an inland lake.

The villagers here were relatively lucky.

They managed to pick 90% of the harvest before the water arrived…elsewhere the whole crop was lost.

But their luck ran out.

The rice that they saved was stored in these barns…

Now it is rotting in a meter of dirty flood water…

In the main mill the news is even worse.

The village chief wades through the fetid water.

Fermenting husks float on the surface…below the waterline more sacks of rice rot.

The threshing machines are destroyed, and will have to be replaced, an enormous financial burden for a small community like this.

Klong Sam Wa Community leader, Yongyud said, "It's hard to estimate how much we've lost in this area, but overall in Bangkok we have one hundred and twenty thousand Rai of rice fields…and these are now 100% destroyed".

And even when the waters recede the outlook is bleak.

From the air you can see how much arable land has been destroyed.

More than half of the Kingdoms provinces have been hit by floods.

But many of the worst hit areas were home to light industry…not farmland.

And while the effect will be damaging, it may not yet threaten Thailand’s place as the number one rice exporter in the world.

Still, after years of turbulence, the Thai Rice exporters association is keen to see some stability in this all-important market.

For rice farmers, this should be the busiest time of year.But the harvest is underwater, and their fields have become swamps.Now all the farmers can do is try and make a living from the land…in whatever way they can,