Organic farmers threaten Government House rally unless Prayut bans chemicals

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION 

 

Protest leader Amnart Khetkhao, left, submits a petition from organic farmers demanding a ban on paraquat and glyphosate to Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry representative Derake Tonpayom yesterday.

 

PROTESTERS HAVE demanded that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha |immediately ban paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos or they will march to Government House.
 

The demonstrators, led by the Phatthalung Organic Farmer’s Network, yesterday said that in order to protect the public health and environment from contamination by harmful herbicides and pesticides, they will march to Government House and stage a prolonged protest there unless their three appeals to the government are heeded.

 

The protesters, who are mostly organic farmers, have gathered in front of the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry since last Thursday |to protest a decision by the Hazardous Substance Committee to allow ongoing use of the three farm chemicals in Thailand.

 

They pointed to evidence that prolonged use of the harmful chemicals had already caused widespread contamination of the environment, with not even organic farms spared. 

 

Their petition demands that Prayut exercise his Article 44 powers to over-rule the Hazardous Substance Committee and ban the use of paraquat and glyphosate by the end of 2019, and to implement clear measures to restrict the use of chlorpyrifos, especially in the headwater and organic-farming areas, as per recent resolutions of the Public Health Ministry.

 

They also asked the PM to order the Public Health Ministry to educate people about the dangers of the harmful chemicals and to ignore the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry’s proposal to set up another committee to consider a ban.

 

Protest leader Amnart Khetkhao said if they do not get satisfactory feedback on their demands from the government by 9am today, protestors will march from the current venue at the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to Government House.

 

Metropolitan Police had earlier secured a 50-metre perimeter around Government House due to frequent demonstrations in the area.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry inspector Derake Tonpayom met with and received the petition from the protesters.

 

Derake assured them the government’s first priority is to protect the people’s health and environment. 

 

The Ministry also supports organic farming, he told them, but the use of chemicals is still necessary for large-scale commercial farming.

 

Protestor Supaporn Songchu said that organic farms throughout the country, including her chemical-free fish farm in Phatthalung, have suffered greatly from herbicide and |pesticide contamination in the environment, which had also contaminated their organic crops.

 

“The prolonged and heavy use of herbicides and pesticides for many decades has already left large amounts of chemical residues in soil, water and air, so even though we grow food with chemical-free methods in that environment, our crops are contaminated with chemicals no matter what,” Supaporn said.

 

“This situation jeopardises organic farming as a whole and results in Thailand’s organic products being unable to compete in the international market, because our products do not meet with the international standards for organic food.”

 

Amnart also urged the government to properly support organic farming as per the agricultural theory of HM King Rama IX’s sufficiency economy. 

 

It has been proven that 40 years of chemical farming promotion by the authorities is not only unsustainable, but also drives Thai farmers deeper into poverty, said the protest leader. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348055

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-19

I said on TVF a long time ago that this sector to do with the supply of chemicals to farmers was a huge corrupt powerful business in Thailand..…………….and it still is 

 

The government need to dismantle this very powerful (basically a mafia) and bring the supply of fertilizers etc into government control, and then get with the world program of what is safe and what is not, I am actually surprised that Thailand can export grown products into world markets were these chemicals are banned 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

PROTESTERS HAVE demanded that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha |immediately ban paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos or they will march to Government House.....

I have a feeling that "Attitude Adjustment Camp" is right around the corner for these poor farmers....

So w e all go organic, prices  will rise dramatically due to the extra manual labour required or there will be a big shortage of Thai produce as NO ONE wants to work in the fields, also if the Thais wont do it and the Burmese now also dont  want to do it China  will fill that gap kiss goodbye to even more Thai jobs

1 hour ago, smedly said:

I said on TVF a long time ago that this sector to do with the supply of chemicals to farmers was a huge corrupt powerful business in Thailand..…………….and it still is 

 

The government need to dismantle this very powerful (basically a mafia) and bring the supply of fertilizers etc into government control, and then get with the world program of what is safe and what is not, I am actually surprised that Thailand can export grown products into world markets were these chemicals are banned 

It would be reasonably safe to assume some members of this government have their fingers in the till of the chemical manufacturers. Politicians getting paid a bonus to allow big bad business to continue would not be unheard of.

58 minutes ago, kannot said:

So w e all go organic, prices  will rise dramatically due to the extra manual labour required or there will be a big shortage of Thai produce as NO ONE wants to work in the fields, also if the Thais wont do it and the Burmese now also dont  want to do it China  will fill that gap kiss goodbye to even more Thai jobs

Robots will do the job. 

The problem with mega farms is that the pests that eat the plants have no natural enemies.  Flowering plants attract insects that eat pests.  Most mega farms have no natural habitat.  Also, Thailand use to use chili and other naturally based repellents for years.   They are never even mentioned as even a partial solution. 

They might be lucky and get another hollow promise from the man like other protesters just to shiut them up for a while !

What is "ORGANIC"? This world is already totally full of pesticides and herbicides, Thailand is one of the countries where the chemical industry still sale all the in EU and US forbidden products they use it in a very large amount. The Buddism is a religion that learns to love the nature but not in Thailand, here are the monks the biggest environmental criminals. Is not possible anymore to have organic food.

Edited June 19, 20188 yr by peperobi

So you either go organic or eat the pesticide lace vegetables.

So you either pay a few extra  bath, or you pay the big price at the hospital or with your life.

The choice is yours?

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

 

I wonder where the ministers defending the use of these chemical get their daily fruit and vegetables from?

1 hour ago, james.d said:

I wonder where the ministers defending the use of these chemical get their daily fruit and vegetables from?

The junta members probably eat all this chemical-contaminated food: that explains how brain-dead and physically ugly they all are!

15 hours ago, kannot said:

So w e all go organic, prices  will rise dramatically due to the extra manual labour required or there will be a big shortage of Thai produce as NO ONE wants to work in the fields, also if the Thais wont do it and the Burmese now also dont  want to do it China  will fill that gap kiss goodbye to even more Thai jobs

Seems eating too much paraquat, glyphosate, chlorpyrifos and other toxic chemicals in the food supply has affected your ability to think straight! There are alternatives and in fact, hydroponics looks to be far more profitable than dirt farming with toxic chemicals and carcinogens.

 

Education will be a key factor in the future of farming and agriculture as well as the health and safety of the consumer.