Rice farmers from 22 provinces in central Thailand threaten to flock to Bangkok if the government does not reverse its decision to lower the guaranteed price of paddy (brown rice) from 15.000 to 12.000 baht per ton within seven days.
Representatives of the Thai Farmers Association (TFA) gathered yesterday to discuss actions. They will hand over a letter to Prime Minister Yingluck on Tuesday requesting that the current price of 15.000 baht be maintained until the end of this harvest season (2012-2013, second harvest) on September 15. The government wants the reduction to take effect as early as June 30 and has set a maximum of 500.000 baht per family.
Wichian Phuanglamchiak, president of the TFA, said farmers had no say in the decision because it was made at the suggestion of the National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC), in which they are not represented. The 12.000 baht fee would only be acceptable if full price is paid, but in practice less is paid due to excessive moisture in the rice and contaminants.
Prime Minister Yingluck announced yesterday that he would stick to the price reduction because the price of rice on the world market has fallen. The mortgage system also threatens to impose too large a burden on the budget. Yingluck has instructed her ministers, the NRPC and provincial governors to explain to farmers why the reduction is necessary.
Nevertheless, Yingluck held back. "When the world market price goes up, the government is willing to adjust the prices." She will ask the NRPC to consider the farmers' proposal to set the price at 13.500 baht instead of 12.000 baht.
Not only in the central region, but also elsewhere in the country, angry farmers gathered. In Suphan Buri, about a thousand farmers demonstrated in front of the Provincial House for the maintenance of the 15.000 baht until the end of the season. Similar rallies have been reported from Ratchaburi and Surin.
The Public Warehouse Organization has instructed its staff not to accept rice between yesterday and June 30.
(Source: bangkok mail, June 21, 2013)
They can no longer appease farmers with those absurdly high prices on which the government has to pay almost half. They do have balls to protest right away, and I wish they would finally do this in a sleepy Netherlands where people keep taking and swallowing everything. But they have to keep the farmers happy, otherwise they will most likely lose the next election. politics in the Netherlands is in the pockets of the banks, and politics here in the rice system. In other words, our government placates the corrupt bank grabbers, and here one has to placate this expensive rice problem in order to keep the votes in the next elections.
Do you have no knowledge at all about farm life in the Netherlands or in Thailand, but that the farmers in the Netherlands do not immediately want to protest or, in your words, just keep pecking and swallowing, perhaps the Dutch farmers are actually doing well there?
It is so easy and cheap to give a kick to the Netherlands from far Thailand in a reaction.
Hi Colin,
It is always necessary to be careful when comparing Thai and Dutch situations. Promising rice subsidies gave Yingluck Shinawatra her election victory in 2011. Now it appears that she does not keep her promises.
Dutch farmers will receive a total of 175 million euros this year. Farmers across Europe receive 45 billion euros in income subsidies. The subsidy ensures, among other things, that they can export at a low price. I will not explain here that the sector itself has had enough by now.
Farmers in Thailand, among others, suffer greatly from Western subsidized agriculture,
in addition to the problem of drought and lagging behind innovation.
Regards, Ruud
Good story Rudolf. You are absolutely right. I have bet with my Thai neighbor (farmer like me) for a case (box) of LEO Beer that Yingluck cannot financially sustain this until the end of her reign. My neighbor lost. It is a pity that the Thais who believe in ghosts are also apparently open to fairy tales and are now allowed to pay the bill themselves. I think it is a pity for them. But with a little common sense, everyone could have known that in advance. Martin
The fire is in the pan!
Spoke to a farming family in the Udon Thani area 3 years ago.
A family consisting of 2 brothers, 1 wife and 1 daughter.
They told me that they received 50.000 baht a year for their rice, or 4.000 baht a month to make ends meet. The daughter therefore went to work in a restaurant in Chonburi to contribute a little.
The men and women would like to work more, but all the inhabitants of the village had the same problem.
The mortgage system made sure they were just able to make ends meet. but with this reduction it becomes 32.000 baht per year or 2660 baht per month.
I expect that many farmers will find themselves in an even more macabre position, so this could be the spark for demonstrations against the government, because they are literally leaving them out in the cold.
Even more young people are forced to look for work in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. Although I don't find many more jobs.
Lack of creativity from the current government, because Thailand has so many other possibilities than growing rice and sugar, but you must allow small foreign investors and not just car factories.
Good luck and success to the rice farmers.
Maybe you could respond to something without a sneer at government and politics in the Netherlands. Give it a try I'd say!
Perhaps the Thais themselves are a bit guilty? What does the Thai farmer do between planting and harvesting the rice? Exactly, lying somewhere at home behind a bottle of beer or Mekong wishkey. Then that kind of life is pretty well paid I think. 4 months of work and 8 months of vacation / year ? I also understand that he cannot get by with that - all the more so that everything in Thailand is becoming more expensive. However, you cannot blame the government for Thai laziness. That may be the Thai culture, but the world is changing and so is Thailand. If you don't realize that as a rice farmer, he reads the wrong newspaper or watches the wrong TV program. I know a few rice farmers (small scale). They don't have that problem - have long had a side job / other job next to it. So they have their yard full of empty LEO or Chang Bier bottles.
@ Mathias It is too easy to accuse the Thai farmers of laziness. Thai rice cultivation faces numerous problems:
1 The yield per rai is considerably lower than in Vietnam.
2 There is far too much spraying by the farmers.
3 Only a small part of the agricultural area is connected to an irrigation system. Most farmers depend on the rain, which means they can only harvest once a year.
4 Hardly anything is done to improve quality, nor is it stimulated by the government. The mortgage system ensures that farmers go for quantity instead of quality.
5 Organic rice is grown in dribs and drabs.
6 Most farmers do not own the land, but rent it.
And I could go on like this for a while. I refer interested parties to my article The Rice Mortgage System in Q&A: http://www.dickvanderlugt.nl/buitenland/thailand-2010/het-rijsthypotheeksysteem-in-qa/
I will not argue that your arguments have a basis and background. I'm talking about the time between planting and harvesting. What do the Thais do at that time? I am a hobby farmer with Eukalipt trees myself. Just a little bit different than rice. In the time between September and December I do NOT get a Thai out of his hammock to weed my fields. I pay 50% more wages as a Thai +daily eating, +picking up and +bringing home. The Thai is not interested, he has no time. When I drive past his house, I see the men sitting and lying around their bottle of beer. That is why I employ (hired) Kambodschaners who would like to do this work under equal conditions and pay. If a Thai says that he cannot make a living from the mortgage system, he is right. But the Thai still has 8 months where he could have a part-time job. He just ignores it and expects the government to pay him 12 months/year for 4 months of work. This is no longer possible in 2013. The Thai may understand that one day.
Then you would say that after harvesting there is time to make improvements to the land: investing in modernization such as irrigation systems. If an entire village does that, with its own capital (supplemented by income from side jobs such as construction worker) and a contribution from the government (and loans from a bank?). Then they can harvest more, more often and better quality rice. You can immediately phase out the rice subsidy system slowly: farmers will then supply enough per year with the modernizations to get by without a guarantee system. But who am I, a simple layman, to think about investments and long-term developments/plans?
I think you're right Rob. Just show the will, think and try to solve your problem together. Instead, they lie in their hammock and look for the bottle opener. Creativity = zero and the desire to improve something yourself is not available. It's better to wait for Yingluck's money while enjoying Laos Wishkey, isn't it?
I meant to write . . So they do NOT have their yard full of empty LEO or Chang Beer bottles.
Dear Mathieu,
Maybe in your own family you are grumpy about drinking,
Empty bottles,
But not all farmers in Isan are the same,
We work hard and there is a beer, Lao whiskey after 17.00 pm
Logical right,
You're too busy, maybe too little experience there?
Well Chad
Can you save, respect for the farmers!
Sorry I'm not your opinion. I have no Family here. If you think a bit on a larger scale, Thailand doesn't only consist of the Isaan? I am amazed that your rice farmers work hard. . even in the time when there is nothing to do in the rice fields. I assume they do other work then?. Fine. Then your farmers do not fall under the -shortage of money- problem. It's true that I have no Isaan experience. I don't live there, but I'm there almost every week. Maybe reading is a problem for some Dutch people?. My name is Martin and not Mathieu - so I'm assuming you're commenting on the wrong blog?. Good luck and don't work too hard. Martin