News from Thailand – July 6, 2014
The government's rice supply is a mess. Large quantities of rice are missing, code numbers on bags are incorrect, the weevil (weevil, other translation: weevil) is having the time of his life, stocks are out of date, the rice is stored carelessly and the accounts are a mess.
Panadda Diskul, acting permanent secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, makes no bones about it on his Facebook page. He noted the above experiences from the mouth of team members, who are currently checking warehouses and silos, in which the rice bought up by the previous government is [rotting]. And that after the inspections have only been going on for two days.
The rumbling of code numbers indicates that bought-up rice has been sold to rice mills and replaced with old rice, bought elsewhere and sent to warehouses in other sacks.
Panadda is frustrated with the initial results; he wonders why things are in this state. The people responsible for managing the rice project have not done a good job; they have seriously duped the rice farmers, he writes.
See also: Rice stock inspections: Loss of quality and weevil
– An elected prime minister and members of parliament who have no say in provincial affairs. To the participants in a seminar, this seems like an ideal situation. The proposals were floated yesterday during a brainstorming session on national reforms in the Defense Ministry.
Six hundred participants immersed themselves in twelve discussion groups in possible solutions. Most thought that the prime minister should be elected, just like the administrators of municipal councils and provincial councils. At the start of the election campaign, candidates must already announce the composition of their cabinet. Candidates must not be a member of a political party.
Another proposal concerned the role of MPs. It should be limited to making laws. It's provincial affairs package an from provincial authorities. The proposal is based on the belief that many MPs are abusing their power by funneling funds into their provinces, which smacks of vote buying. The number of members of parliament can also be reduced to save costs. The House of Representatives currently has 500 members.
– Police yesterday arrested a man suspected of being a member of the infamous Thon Buri Oros drug gang. This gang has links with drug criminals in Thon Buri Prison.
In the house where the suspect was arrested, police found several types of drugs, including 349 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 3.000 methamphetamine pills and three bottles of liquid ketamine. They also seized 28.000 baht in cash, some ornaments and bank account information.
The arrest was the result of an arrest on Thursday in Bang Khen. Those suspects said they bought the drugs from the Oros man. The police say they have already arrested some members of the Oros gang. Those arrests took place in response to a video clip posted by the gang on the internet. It shows how gang members use drugs.
– Tomorrow another eight so-called one stop service centers open, where migrants can obtain a temporary work permit. They come in Samut Prakan, Chachoengsao, Pattaya (2), Rayong, Ayutthaya, Surat Thani and Songkhla. The ambassadors of Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia will go to Samut Prakan and Pattaya to watch the registration process.
The first service center in Samut Sakhon opened on Monday. The start was successful (no details). The Ministry of the Interior is considering opening even more service centers. For the junta, the registration of foreign workers is a priority as it seeks to end human trafficking and other migrant exploitation problems.
– After five years, former union leader Suwit Kaewwan and twelve other employees may return to the State Railway of Thailand. The dismissal they received in 2009 for organizing a work stoppage was not justified, a committee has determined. The strike was aimed at improving railway safety and that cannot be wrong.
The reason was a serious train accident in Prachuap Khiri Khan that killed seven passengers and injured 88. This was due to a malfunction of the automatic braking system. The strikers blocked train traffic in Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. Thousands of train passengers were then stranded.
The resignation has since been reversed. The thirteen men will resume their former activities on Friday.
– National artist and well-known fiddle player Chalerm Muangpraesri has died of a heart attack at the age of 76. Chalerm taught violin for over 50 years and made an important contribution to Thai classical music. He last performed last month, along with other music teachers, at a concert attended by Princess Sirindhorn.
– A man who stripped 1.000 rai from a game reserve in Prince Chumpon Khet Udomsak park in Prachuap Khiri Khan was handcuffed by the police yesterday morning. He was found in a cabin near the clearcut. The man said he was hired by someone who wanted to build a rubber plantation. Police seized four rifles, six cartridges, four radios and tools.
– A free movie show, then we do something like that. All zoos of the Zoological Park Organization are free to enter on Friday in support of the Happiness junta campaign. Last month, 160 cinemas across the country played the popular new film for free The Legend of King Naresuan 5.
– Thanks to the discovery of skeletons, there is hope for the sea gypsies in a conflict with a local businessman who tries to drive them off a piece of land in Rawai (Phuket). The businessman has documents proving he owns the land, but the skeletons prove, according to DNA tests, that the gypsies lived there before 1955, the year in which Sor Khor 1 land deeds were issued. The skeletons appear to belong to the ancestors of the Gypsies. Sea gypsies always bury their dead near their homes.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
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And so you see how a military administration, after it succeeds a corrupt "democratically elected" civilian government, wipes clean.
Good day readers,
Just a reaction about the stored rice and the annoyances and misery this causes.
I myself have been in rice cultivation for six years now and I am now quite well established in this.
Six years ago I sowed the rice variety hompatoum for the first time, on the land purchased for 25 rai, the second best rice variety. The sowing seed was 100% hompato. In recent years, quite a few rice varieties have been added, such as 41; 47; 51; 29; cp; 21 and a few more. Why these came on the market is unclear to me, because hompatoum is an excellent type of rice, sweet; good yield per rai; nice big grain and the price per ton was around 10000 thb and more per ton. So what more could you want.
By using so many different types and not cleaning the rice fields properly, by which I mean removing the wrong types of rice in what you have sown, a mix of all kinds of rice has arisen, which was offered to the traders and sold to the government. Varietal purity was not considered, only moisture content, which was paid for. You had to specify which type you supplied, but the price was the same for all types.
I have often questioned this, as with the measurement of the moisture content. My own meter, always indicated about 3% less moisture than the meters of the grain companies, which is a difference of 800 bath/ton of rice. This is pure theft and think that the gentlemen of the oak world have made good money on this and not only them.
Seed traders have also increased in number in recent years. These also smell like gold, because the mix that is supplied to the grain trade is also used for seed. That's easy, pay a little bit more to the farmer and after some more drying, you slide everything right into the bag and none of the farmers can check it. This mess is simply sown again and it is almost impossible to select this later in the field. In addition, the different types of rice also have different growth lengths in terms of time and height. Growing time between 90 and 125 days and length between 70 and 120 cm. If you then start mowing, which we also do ourselves and for third parties, the early rice has already sown itself. The problems are therefore piling up more and more in order to obtain a pure rice variety. Incidentally, the grain traders also simply throw different types together when the rice has been sold to the government. We stood on top of it. How they are going to solve these problems in the short term, yes I don't know. But I think it would be a good idea for the inspectors to trace everything back, where that mix comes from and who is responsible for it. It's not that difficult for me. In the past I have mowed the biggest mess, completely unsuitable for anything but fish food, which after drying has been bagged up and sold as seed. Do not think that this is in the past, because it still happens consciously and people are not going to stop. The farmers themselves can do little about this, because they have little choice. The only solution is that there will be very strict controls as soon as we start mowing and where the rice goes and consumption or seed. However, it will take years before the rice can be supplied again in pure variety. You can see whether the variety is pure in your pan by the size of the grain and the color difference.
Greetings to everyone.
Jan Willem
Dear Jan, what you write here concerns the “grandfather farmers” who have hundreds of rai…
The small farmers who have 6 rai per person in a family consume the rice for themselves and their family, because they eat rice 3-4 times a day and, in addition, they keep a portion of the rice to sow it again.
In Thailand, therefore, there are for the most part small farmers who live off their own produce and therefore have good quality.
This rice, for example “Hom Mali” (haha) or Jasmine rice, therefore always retains the same quality…
It is therefore only the large farmers who want to earn extra money and therefore apply corruption.
Good morning Jan-Willem,
I have no knowledge of rice at all (I am a horticulturist), but do you harvest the rice mechanically or by hand?
wilko
We have no master farmers here. We live in the Singburi area, where you sometimes have three harvests in 1 year, a very fertile region. The largest farmers here have about 150 rai.
Hom Mali rice is mainly grown in the Isaan. Hom mali is also only sporadically sown in our area. Hom Mali grows up to 150 cm and the growth time is at least six months. You normally harvest hom mali once a year and the yield is approx. 1 kg/rai. The price/ton is around 400 thb. The rice varieties that we grow do not grow in the isaan, due to the type of soil and lack of water. If the vast majority of small farmers consume all the rice themselves, what will they eat in Bangkok? So it's a good thing that there are also larger farmers in Thailand.
We have our own combine Wilco. By hand is a thing of the past in our region. It sometimes happens in places where you cannot reach with the combine, because the soil is too rotten. Our combine is equipped with steel tracks. You can't do anything on tires here, because the ground is too greasy.
Greetings Jan Willem.