Projects to help rice farmers approved

[rooster59]

Projects to help rice farmers approved

By The Nation

 

Permanent Secretary of Commerce Ministry, Boonyarit Kalayanamit

 

The National Rice Policy Committee has approved maintaining the price of unmilled rice for the production year 2019 to 2020 with a budget of Bt31.49 billion in order to help rice farmers, Permanent Secretary of Commerce Ministry, Boonyarit Kalayanamit, said following the meeting on Friday (December 6).

 

 

“This measure will be operated in parallel with the project of income guarantee for rice farmers,” he said.

The measures are divided into the following categories:

 

1. Payment of harvest fee and improving rice quality: Bt27.45 billion. This project will help farmers who registered in the first planting of the production year 2019 to 2020 and involves 4.57 million households who are entitled to Bt500 per rai, but not exceeding 20 rai or Bt10,000 per household. The committee will offer only one right per household.

 

2. Loans for rice collection by the Farmers Institute and compensation for rice traders to keep the stock. The committee approved the additional budget allocation of Bt1.37 billion for Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC)’s loans to delay the sale of unmilled rice.

 

The committee also approved the project to support the production cost for rice farmers by increasing the target to 4.57 million households, up by 0.26 million households from the previous 4.31 million households.

 

3. The committee extended the payment period for farmers in other regions from December 31 to April 30 next year, and approved an additional budget of Bt2.66 billion to reduce costs for farmers.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30379176

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-12-07

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[edwinchester]

So they've halved the financial support from 1000bht per rai to 500bht per rai.

No wonder they're disliked so much in the village.

[Srikcir]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

the project of income guarantee for rice farmers,

I'm sure the rest of the agriculture sector would like the same treatment, as well as all other sectors operated by individual owners-operators.

But more fundamentally why this program?

• In 2014 TDRI proposed a negative income tax system to reduce inequality and raise people above the poverty line. https://tdri.or.th/en/2014/09/the-nation-report-tdri-pushes-a-negative-tax-system/ .
• The negative income tax plan was estimated to cost 56 billion baht per fiscal year as of 2015. Considering it would be applied irrespective of what business sector (ie., agriculture) people worked in, it would replace the myriad and sometimes limited-term Prayut populist policies.
• In 2017 the Finance Ministry proposed the negative tax plan again to help people out of poverty (30,000 baht/year). https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30316875

Yet here Thailand is today with another complicated and limited-term populist plan for only part of the agriculture sector.

Still no negative income tax system? Too much of a good thing that eliminates inequality and government's arbitrary power over people?

 

[Burma Bill]

After consultation with Yingluk?????

[BigBadGeordie]

I have to admit I know nothing about rice (except how to cook and eat it).

The family of her indoors grow rice, they have 2 large "rice houses" on their property, around 4Km from where we live, which are full.

I, at the last count, have 170 large sacks of Paddy in my car port, my drive, my garden.

So, I ask, why, when in the last 18 years rice was grown, harvested and gone. They got paid, not my business. So what has changed.

The response, "Now, people who know nothing about anything are in control".

I take the comment with a pinch of salt, or should I say, Nam Pla.

[Isaan sailor]

Here's a novel way to help rice farmers (and especially those rice farmers with farang husbands;-) ….lower the Baht, please.