It seems that the military authority (NCPO) wants to end the populist rice mortgage system. The NCPO has formed a panel to develop an alternative system to help farmers get out of their debt trap.
As is known, the system has been debunked by the Yingluck government. Farmers were paid a price for their paddy that was 40 percent above the market price. Naturally, the system received strong support from the farmers – at least from the farmers who benefited from it.
But what is good for rice farmers is not necessarily good for the national finances and it was not, because the program resulted in a loss of at least 500 billion baht. A major part of the loss was due to corruption that took place at every stage.
There are various proposals circulating for the sequel, writes Bangkok Post in its editorial on Thursday. However, there is one fundamental issue that all successive governments in the past have been afraid to address and that is land redistribution. One of the reasons for this is that many politicians are large landowners and would be affected by reforms.
A National Anti-Corruption Commission report from June last year shows that the 500 members of the House of Representatives own 35.786 rai of land worth 15 billion baht. The parliamentarians of the two largest parties, Pheu Thai and Democrats, own the most. It is therefore not surprising that the redistribution of land has not taken off.
The land distribution in Thailand is also quite skewed. Most of the land is owned by ten percent of the population, 90 percent hardly own any land. Most farmers are landless and have to rent fields from large landowners, who often also claim part of the harvest. A large part of the land owned by the 10 percent lies fallow.
The newspaper argues that land redistribution should be included in the blueprint for reform. Without land redistribution, any social reform plan elaborated by the junta is useless, BP concludes. The junta should have the moral courage to do what governments have failed to do. That is the ultimate "restore of happiness" for the people.
(Source: Bangkok Post, June 12, 2014)
35786 rai owned by 500 deputies is about 70 rai per deputy link me a bit low.
@ Renévan I know Bangkok Post is often sloppy with numbers. But this time I'll give the newspaper the benefit of the doubt. It does not say that all 500 deputies own land.
The best solution would be to introduce a progressive land tax.