PM claims politicians exploiting oil palm price problem to discredit government

 

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has accused some politicians of distorting the problem of oil palm prices to create the impression that his government is not helping oil palm farmers in Thailand’s southern provinces, said deputy government spokesman Lt-Gen Weerachon Sukondhapatipak on Friday.

 

Without naming the party, he said the Prime Minister was open to opinions of farmers but warned some politicians, who had met with farmers in a southern province, to be constructive in their efforts and not to distort the problem in a way which might cause trouble.

 

A small group of Pheu Thai core members, including Kittirat na Ranong and Chadchart Sitthipant, went to the province of Chumporn early this week to meet oil palm farmers, at the King Mongkut Institute of Technology, to listen to their problems and their proposals on how to tackle the price problem.

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-05-12

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Ask Suthep.......

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

said deputy government spokesman Lt-Gen Weerachon Sukondhapatipak on Friday.

Of course, military people know all about economics and agriculture. 

 

The farmers we speak to are not happy with the government, so there may not be any distortion. 

 

It will be wonderful to see spokes people, in the future, that do not hold military rank and show up to work everyday in a uniform. 
 

It’s not illegal to talk to people yet

I think the elections and how is was manipulated will do just fine in the international communities assertion of who discredited the government.

11 hours ago, rooster59 said:

distorting the problem

How does one 'distort' a problem?

Fact-finding to define a possible solution is not a distortion but an answer.

If there was no problem there can be no distortion. Prayut essentially admits there was been a palm oil problem every since his tenure as PM with no permanent solutions. It seems he has sustained the cause for the problem, not opposition politicians.

Edited May 12, 20197 yr by Srikcir
grammar

8 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Ask Suthep.......

Good point. Suthep and his family own a substantial share of Southern Thailand's oil palm plantations and shrimp farms. Why didn't Prayut google it? Palm oil, Southern Thailand, dwarf, poisoned...

13 hours ago, Redline said:

It’s not illegal to talk to people yet

It can be, It just depends what you say.

i didn't know tailand produced oil palm as well! so far, people talked  mainly about indonesia and malaysia destroying trees and forest in order to cultivate palm trees

3 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

i didn't know tailand produced oil palm as well! so far, people talked  mainly about indonesia and malaysia destroying trees and forest in order to cultivate palm trees

Thailand is the third top producer of palm oil in the world, and the majority of the producers in the country are the small-scale farmers, who are responsible for 76% of the country’s output. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-palm-oil-producing-countries-in-the-world.html

The Thailand's palm oil surplus is only a part of the whole agricultural industry characterized by small farmers being unable to achieve sustainable export income. Without economy of scale that comes from farm consolidation, smart economic crop strategies and mechanization, their cost of production (even with heavy government subsidies) can't compete price-wise in the global market.

Domestically, government subsidies and other assistance helps farmers sustain a minimal subsistence but it just amounts to a welfare program. It essentially makes farmers vassals of the state for survival doesn't solve farmer's fundamental economic problems nor provide a path to economic sustainability.