Bangkok Post EDITORIAL
A few months back Thai farmers were jubilant as never before. Rice millers and exporters, too, were all smiles. Thanks to the shortfall in rice production worldwide due to natural disasters, plus the grim prediction of potential food shortages by the United Nations, the domestic and export prices of Thai rice skyrocketed to unprecedented levels, as foreign buyers headed for Thailand with their purchase orders.
The euphoria was such that Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan told farmers not to rush and sell their harvested grain, as they might get much higher prices if they waited a little longer. All of a sudden, rice became a precious commodity. Many farmers had to spend sleepless nights guarding their rice fields to prevent thieves from stealing the grain. There was even talk of landlords turning to farming the land themselves to reap the rare windfall, instead of renting their acres to farmers. Or turning unused land into rice fields.
Unfortunately, the euphoria was short-lived. Exporters simply stopped buying, prompting millers to do likewise, citing liquidity problems. As a consequence, paddy prices started to nosedive, prompting farmers in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai to take to the streets and demand that the government shore up prices for their produce. They claim the millers have suppressed the price of their paddy to as low as 6,000 baht a tonne, claiming the amount of humidity in the grains exceeded the 15% limit.
Frustrated by what they allege to be slow government response to their demands, the Rice Farmers Association has threatened to bring farmers from across the country to block all major in-bound roads to Bangkok tomorrow, if they do not get satisfactory answers to their demands.
In the meantime, truckers have also threatened to descend on the capital with their trucks in seven days, if the government fails to come up with measures to cushion the impact of rising fuel prices.
Despite these threats by farmers and truckers, as well as the pressing economic problems driven by increasing oil prices which are seriously affecting people from all walks of life, it appears the government is more preoccupied with its political agenda: how to deal with the PAD demonstrators and whether Article 68 of the Constitution should be invoked to disperse them, and whether the bid to amend the charter should be suspended.
This self-serving political agenda must be dropped at once. The government must wake up and quickly tend to the pressing economic problems, in particular the farmers' plight. The National Rice Committee headed by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, which is supposed to deal with the problem of plunging paddy prices, must come up with solutions immediately. The prime minister must call an urgent meeting of the committee if he is genuinely concerned about the plight of farmers and really wants to help.
Since the cabinet on May 13 announced price guarantees for jasmine paddy at 19,000-20,000 baht a tonne and regular grade paddy at 14,000 baht a tonne, this pledge must be kept. The rice mortgage scheme must be activated quickly to shore up paddy prices.
In order to pre-empt the farmers' threatened protest, the government yesterday decided to set aside 22 billion baht to implement the rice mortgage scheme. But the decision has yet to be endorsed by the National Rice Committee, which is due to meet next week. The farmers are already in hardship and need help now. There should be no further delay or bureaucratic red tape in launching this scheme.
The euphoria was such that Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan told farmers not to rush and sell their harvested grain, as they might get much higher prices if they waited a little longer. All of a sudden, rice became a precious commodity. Many farmers had to spend sleepless nights guarding their rice fields to prevent thieves from stealing the grain. There was even talk of landlords turning to farming the land themselves to reap the rare windfall, instead of renting their acres to farmers. Or turning unused land into rice fields.
Unfortunately, the euphoria was short-lived. Exporters simply stopped buying, prompting millers to do likewise, citing liquidity problems. As a consequence, paddy prices started to nosedive, prompting farmers in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai to take to the streets and demand that the government shore up prices for their produce. They claim the millers have suppressed the price of their paddy to as low as 6,000 baht a tonne, claiming the amount of humidity in the grains exceeded the 15% limit.
Frustrated by what they allege to be slow government response to their demands, the Rice Farmers Association has threatened to bring farmers from across the country to block all major in-bound roads to Bangkok tomorrow, if they do not get satisfactory answers to their demands.
In the meantime, truckers have also threatened to descend on the capital with their trucks in seven days, if the government fails to come up with measures to cushion the impact of rising fuel prices.
Despite these threats by farmers and truckers, as well as the pressing economic problems driven by increasing oil prices which are seriously affecting people from all walks of life, it appears the government is more preoccupied with its political agenda: how to deal with the PAD demonstrators and whether Article 68 of the Constitution should be invoked to disperse them, and whether the bid to amend the charter should be suspended.
This self-serving political agenda must be dropped at once. The government must wake up and quickly tend to the pressing economic problems, in particular the farmers' plight. The National Rice Committee headed by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, which is supposed to deal with the problem of plunging paddy prices, must come up with solutions immediately. The prime minister must call an urgent meeting of the committee if he is genuinely concerned about the plight of farmers and really wants to help.
Since the cabinet on May 13 announced price guarantees for jasmine paddy at 19,000-20,000 baht a tonne and regular grade paddy at 14,000 baht a tonne, this pledge must be kept. The rice mortgage scheme must be activated quickly to shore up paddy prices.
In order to pre-empt the farmers' threatened protest, the government yesterday decided to set aside 22 billion baht to implement the rice mortgage scheme. But the decision has yet to be endorsed by the National Rice Committee, which is due to meet next week. The farmers are already in hardship and need help now. There should be no further delay or bureaucratic red tape in launching this scheme.
1 comment:
i guess what goes around comes around. god bless cambodia.
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