Ministries scramble to offset loss of toxic pesticides

[webfact]

Ministries scramble to offset loss of toxic pesticides

By The Nation

 

Chalermchai Sri-on , Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister

 

An Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry taskforce established to help farmers affected by a ban on three dangerous pesticides is studying every impact on the industry and considering supportive measures, minister Chalermchai Sri-on said on Wednesday (November 6).

 

He said the panel was also mulling ways to safely manage remaining stocks of the chemicals.

 

The taskforce is collaborating with the Ministry of Public Health, which is monitoring residual substances in farm produce imported from countries that still use toxic substances, and the Industry Ministry, which is preparing to assist farmers hurt if the import of possibly contaminated products such as livestock feed is suspended.

 

The Commerce Ministry is on the alert for retailers increasing the price of permitted pesticides to take advantage of the ban, and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society for the sale of unregistered substances. 

 

All measures must be in place by December 1, the day the ban on the three toxic pesticides – paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos – goes into effect, Chalermchai said.

 

Vice Minister of Agriculture Narapat Kaewthong said the taskforce is primarily concerned about growers of sugarcane, cassava, oil palm, rubber, corn and fruit, who will have to make substantial changes in their production process without the banned chemicals, including hiring more manpower to deal with weeds and pests. 

 

He said agricultural cooperatives might have to begin encouraging wider use of machines on the plantations, which would also require production changes.

 

More farm subsidies might be necessary as well, Narapat said. 

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture will study the possibility of shipping remaining stocks of the banned chemicals before December 1 to countries that still use them to avoid the high disposal cost of up to Bt100,000 per tonne.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30378138

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-11-07

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[hotchilli]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

He said agricultural cooperatives might have to begin encouraging wider use of machines on the plantations, which would also require production changes.

Hardly a unique approach, welcome to the 21st century!

[Oziex1]

"He said agricultural cooperatives might have to begin encouraging wider use of machines on the plantations, which would also require production changes."

 

The girlfriends family have small plots scattered all over the place I'm sure a few larger plots would work better but who am to say.

[digger70]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Hardly a unique approach, welcome to the 21st century!

Poor farmers can't buy more machines and employ more people to do the work of the Herbicides . That only means More Debt for the farmers . Why haven't they come up with a Replacement Herbicides that will do the job (for the same costs)   they haven't ,,, they can't.

[Cadbury]

I get the whiff of a coming pesticide/herbicide subsidy for growers of sugarcane, cassava, oil palm, rubber, corn and fruit.

This would be on top of other subsidies these and other farmers already get due to the high baht.

 

 

[farmerjo]

1 hour ago, Cadbury said:

I get the whiff of a coming pesticide/herbicide subsidy for growers of sugarcane, cassava, oil palm, rubber, corn and fruit.

This would be on top of other subsidies these and other farmers already get due to the high baht.

 

 

The problem with subsides is they don't filter through to ALL the farmers.

The only way is to have a fixed price of the products at the farm gate to make it fair for all.

So that gives the government 22 days to come up with formula otherwise farming in thailand will be thrown into turmoil for years to come.  

 

[canopy]

On 11/7/2019 at 2:55 PM, webfact said:

More farm subsidies might be necessary as well, Narapat said. 

The purpose of a business is to make a profit, not become a burden to the taxpayer. Just let the cost of the product rise to reflect how much it actually costs to provide. If it costs more to make, the consumer pays more to buy it. Free market, no subsidies.

 

[Cadbury]

54 minutes ago, canopy said:

The purpose of a business is to make a profit, not become a burden to the taxpayer. Just let the cost of the product rise to reflect how much it actually costs to provide. If it costs more to make, the consumer pays more to buy it. Free market, no subsidies.

 

I agree with you in principle and your theory is fine for the domestic market but to let the new high cost of production (without chemicals) dictate the price of exports it will spell doom for exporters.......unless of course the export prises are subsidised.

Exports of farm produce now is difficult enough with the high baht already and some have to be subsided otherwise these exports will just diminish (rice?). 

All other surrounding countries use these agricultural products to save costs. How can Thailand possibly compete against them on the export market. 

These government experts have created the law, let them come up with the solutions to keep export prices competitive.

But so typically the Thailand government makes rash knee decisions first and worries about the consequences later. Growers cannot change their farming methods overnight; that might take decades. 

Pity help these export growers next year, their fate has been sealed.

 

[canopy]

1 hour ago, Cadbury said:

All other surrounding countries use these agricultural products to save costs. How can Thailand possibly compete against them on the export market. 

Simple. Don't compete with them in the dredges of the world. Sell to affluent nations that require and test for clean food that fetches higher profits and where cheap, poison drenched crops are prohibited. Scary thing is it might just work so well that all Thai rice gets exported and we get to eat the chemical stuff imported from surrounding countries.

 

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, digger70 said:

Poor farmers can't buy more machines and employ more people to do the work of the Herbicides . That only means More Debt for the farmers . Why haven't they come up with a Replacement Herbicides that will do the job (for the same costs)   they haven't ,,, they can't.

All I hear is poor farmers poor farmers.... they are poor because they refuse to change their ways & modernise to become efficient, many other countries seem able to change without the constant pleading poverty!

[Cadbury]

5 minutes ago, canopy said:

Simple. Don't compete with them in the dredges of the world. Sell to affluent nations that require and test for clean food that fetches higher profits and where cheap, poison drenched crops are prohibited. Scary thing is it might just work so well that all Thai rice gets exported and we get to eat the chemical stuff imported from surrounding countries.

 

Congratulations! Easy-peasy.......you alone have solved the problem. Well done.

BTW are you referring to the certification for "clean food" that can be purchased under the counter at the relevant authority. Everything has it's price in Thailand.

[canopy]

9 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

BTW are you referring to the certification for "clean food" that can be purchased under the counter at the relevant authority. Everything has it's price in Thailand.

 

Of course not. I am talking about international standards where inspections and testing occurs in stringent countries who care about clean food.

 

[farmerjo]

13 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

All I hear is poor farmers poor farmers.... they are poor because they refuse to change their ways & modernise to become efficient, many other countries seem able to change without the constant pleading poverty!

What do you think farmers here have 10,000 rai each and 500 horsepower tractors,your out of touch with farming here.

[Chazar]

3 hours ago, canopy said:

The purpose of a business is to make a profit, not become a burden to the taxpayer. Just let the cost of the product rise to reflect how much it actually costs to provide. If it costs more to make, the consumer pays more to buy it. Free market, no subsidies.

 

Theyll  just  buy it from china instead and thai  farmers  will go  bust

[Cadbury]

11 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

What do you think farmers here have 10,000 rai each and 500 horsepower tractors,your out of touch with farming here.

Average farm size in Thailand is about 30 rai with maybe two or three 1 horsepower buffaloes.

http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&style=type&id=20110726143050

[Cadbury]

25 minutes ago, canopy said:

 

Of course not. I am talking about international standards where inspections and testing occurs in stringent countries who care about clean food.

 

You still make it sound so easy from where you are sitting, wherever that might be. Reality seems to escape you. It sounds like you are entrapped in a Thai political/civil service dream world.

To make your idea work all that is needed are tens of thousands of agricultural advisers to go forth into the boondocks and teach all the mum and dad 30 rai farmers how to grow "clean food", at whatever expense, that will meet international certification before it leaves Thailand.

Then if they are lucky they will be rewarded by the high prices for this "clean food" by these unnamed rich countries. Meaning to say, what's left after the middlemen have creamed it off.

 

[neeray]

23 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

"He said agricultural cooperatives might have to begin encouraging wider use of machines on the plantations, which would also require production changes."

 

The girlfriends family have small plots scattered all over the place I'm sure a few larger plots would work better but who am to say.

"wider use of machines on the plantations"

At the risk of having my most deleted for binging up another country, I tender this thought as it is highly relevant to the thread.

I know squat about farming. But I used to own a home in Canadian farm country and am a good observer.

I was surrounded by farms, and drove many farm country roads to and from by business in the city. It was common to see massive machinery going from farm to farm to service each one. Probably no one farmer could justify the use of a (up to) million dollar machine just for his own farm. I don't know the infrastructure of this but it seemed to operate like a co-op.

No doubt this is already practised to some degree in Thailand, both person-power and equipment.

That said, what a shame that the concept couldn't be expanded drastically in Thailand to work under the new constraints.

Massive farm equipment to share with those who feed some 65 million + people would be a much more appreciated expenditure than subs, tanks and Stryker vehicles.

Food for thought (pun intended).

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, farmerjo said:

What do you think farmers here have 10,000 rai each and 500 horsepower tractors,your out of touch with farming here.

So let the Thai farmer on his/her family plot continue as their forebears did and eventually go bankrupt as the rest of the world modernises. If they want to produce for a local market/consumption then fine but if they want to produce for export then they have to collectively smarten up a bit!

[farmerjo]

13 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

So let the Thai farmer on his/her family plot continue as their forebears did and eventually go bankrupt as the rest of the world modernises. If they want to produce for a local market/consumption then fine but if they want to produce for export then they have to collectively smarten up a bit!

Smarten up how exactly,i'm all ears.

[rickudon]

Farming in many areas is already a marginal activity. In my area (North and east of Udon Thani city) about half the farmland is not in use. Some is just left fallow for a year or two, but most is actually just unused. Owners just wait for the magical buyer who will pay 500,000 baht a rai and up to build on it. The land in use is mainly for family rice production  and scraps of land used for fruit and vegetable gardening. The rest of the derelict land sees occasional grazing by cattle.

 

Actually these bans will probably have only a small effect here as most of these small farmers do not use chemicals anyway (ours certainly do not). it is the middle sized farms which will struggle the most.

[Tayaout]

8 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Actually these bans will probably have only a small effect here as most of these small farmers do not use chemicals anyway (ours certainly do not). it is the middle sized farms which will struggle the most.

You would be surprised. I had poor thai told me they use no chemicals that were spraying pesticides a couple weeks later. It's usually easy to know because they throw the empty bottles near the fields. 

Edited November 10, 2019 by Tayaout

[samsensam]

22 hours ago, neeray said:

"wider use of machines on the plantations"

At the risk of having my most deleted for binging up another country, I tender this thought as it is highly relevant to the thread.

I know squat about farming. But I used to own a home in Canadian farm country and am a good observer.

I was surrounded by farms, and drove many farm country roads to and from by business in the city. It was common to see massive machinery going from farm to farm to service each one. Probably no one farmer could justify the use of a (up to) million dollar machine just for his own farm. I don't know the infrastructure of this but it seemed to operate like a co-op.

No doubt this is already practised to some degree in Thailand, both person-power and equipment.

That said, what a shame that the concept couldn't be expanded drastically in Thailand to work under the new constraints.

Massive farm equipment to share with those who feed some 65 million + people would be a much more appreciated expenditure than subs, tanks and Stryker vehicles.

Food for thought (pun intended).

 

i live in a farming community back home and exactly the same is true; the farmers work together at key times, share machinery, know how and labour - all it needs i bit of organisation, forward thinking and participation of all for the good of all 

[fforest1]

If I were a farmer I would be buying all the banned chemicals I could....Stocking up with a 10 year supply....Show me a better way and I will gladly ditch the chemicals....

[Tayaout]

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

If I were a farmer I would be buying all the banned chemicals I could....Stocking up with a 10 year supply....Show me a better way and I will gladly ditch the chemicals....

They don't have money to begin with. 

[edwinchester]

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

If I were a farmer I would be buying all the banned chemicals I could....Stocking up with a 10 year supply....Show me a better way and I will gladly ditch the chemicals....

Sold out weeks ago in our area. Farmers have no idea what they will be doing next month as the alternatives are hugely more expensive.

I asked for the glyphosate replacement and it was over 10 times the cost of Roundup.

[islandguy]

On 11/9/2019 at 10:17 AM, Cadbury said:

Average farm size in Thailand is about 30 rai with maybe two or three 1 horsepower buffaloes.

http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&style=type&id=20110726143050

Has anyone on this forum actually seen in the last 10 years buffalo used for plowing by real farmers in their fields?

[ICELANDMAN]

"""" Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture will study the possibility of shipping remaining stocks of the banned chemicals before December 1 to countries that still use them to avoid the high disposal cost of up to Bt100,000 per tonne. """"

 

 Everyone knows this country US, orange man will not happy

[farmerjo]

1 hour ago, islandguy said:

Has anyone on this forum actually seen in the last 10 years buffalo used for plowing by real farmers in their fields?

Iron buffalo's he means.

A small walk behind tractor usually 10-14 horsepower.