Farmers plead for compromise over chemicals ban

[webfact]

Farmers plead for compromise over chemicals ban

By The Nation

 

 

Farmers of economic crops have backed a move by Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Srion to reconsider the ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos.

 

The farmers asked Chalermchai to file a letter with the National Hazardous Substances Committee (NHSC), asking for a limit on usage rather than a ban, said Sukan Sangwanna, Safe Farming Confederation chief and a representative for 19 agriculture associations.

 

The deadline for farmers to hand over their stocks of both chemicals passed on Saturday (August 29), 90 days after the June 1 ban came into effect.

 

Farmers complained the ban had forced them to switch to pricier alternatives that do not kill weeds and pests effectively.

 

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry and Department of Livestock Development still used paraquat while demanding that farmers not to use it, they said. Alternatives such as glufosinate and glyphosate were also hazardous, they added.

 

Farmers also complained of double standards designed to benefit big businesses, since both substances can still be imported.

 

However, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul insisted that the chemicals had to be banned to protect public health.

 

Today the ministry also underlined the findings of a five-year study that showed more than 40,000 farmers had suffered serious illness due to the use of the substances.

 

Anutin admitted the ban was going to affect the economy but he said wanted people to be as serious about toxic substances as they were about Covid-19.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30393804

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-09-01

 

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[asean]

How can people take them seriously when they ban glyphosate?

[Geoffggi]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Farmers of economic crops have backed a move by Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Srion to reconsider the ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos.

Which part of NO do they not understand? I do believe this has been passed by law - I suppose like every other law it should not apply to Thai's .............!!!!!

[nobodysfriend]

 

I just lost my appetite ...

Yes , use cancer causing chemicals to grow food for humans ... go get your brain checked , greedy ugly idiots .

[shaemus]

What happened to the tractor subsidy of 90% off to compensate the affected farmers? 

[SOTIRIOS]

....sorry...hard to believe...better health and lower costs..

 

...what forces are really behind this...

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Farmers plead for compromise over chemicals ban

Farmers don't want compromise, they want the freedom to continue to spray harmful poisons on crops because [yes] they're effective, but hang the health of all the consumers.

Illogical.

[douglasspade]

13 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

I just lost my appetite ...

My family do not eat my own grown paddy rice. I harvest and sell it wet. I cultivate 2 Rai of raised land separately where the flood line can not reach so it grow with the weeds and all chemical free. I cut it once late in the season as it does not dam water and because of that we harvest late in the season. Last year we had to cut it by hand as all the harvesters were already parked, broken or moved on to other villages.

 

After harvest and dry, a rice de-husker split the rice seed from the husks, broken rice and other foreign seeds. I usually end up with a 40-50% broken rice.

I mix the broken parts for chickens and duck feed, as I eat my own produced eggs and meat I dare not let those animals eat bad rice.

 

Although the rice is a poorer quality, it tastes way better than what is grown in the paddies. The paddy rice have a bitter after taste, like licking a new metallic spoon. Everybody in the village has that problem but to achieve a low broken rice percentage we blast the rice with "killer grass" to kill the weeds inside. My  herbicide is approved though, cannot speak for other farmers here.

Also my own fish from the ponds get sold of as I do not believe that it is safe to eat during and directly after the rain season as it fills with paddy water. I restock after we have pumped the ponds to sell the fish and water naturally refills.

 

If we do not kill the weeds we would need 2 times the amount of land to make a profit, then it will not be economically viable to farm rice in Thailand anymore. 50% broken rice fetch 6.2K Baht and 10% fetch 14.5K baht yesterday at our local silo.

 

Just banning these substances do not solve the Problem. I believe that random samples of the every delivery of rice to sell at the silo need to be checked for chemicals and priced accordingly. Only then there will be change.

 

If you'd see what some farmers spray to kill weeds on the sugarcane, which water washes up into the rice paddies, you will not eat Thai rice forever. The sugarcane debate in our village is heating up the past years as some farmers has had enough of crop failures next to the sugarcane fields. That is why leased land in some villages is so cheap next to sugarcane. I have 1.5 Rai that rarely produces, it is next to sugarcane.

 

Sugarcane is very resilient to chemicals especially when they are already rooted, so that land can continuously be blasted with chemicals. More farmers are turning to Sugarcane as the monsoon outcome has become so unpredictable and the price for rice continuously sinking.

 

That's my 1 Baht's worth for today, sue me!

 

[sweatalot]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Farmers plead for compromise over chemicals ban

Why do they do that?

 

Because they are poor and see no other way to survive?

because they are uneducated?

because they are stupid?

because they are paid for it?

because they have no scrupel to cause other people problems sickness and death?

 

I am not sure about the first one. The rest seems clear to me

 

 

[TigerandDog]

Finally Anutin has said something that is correct instead of his usual bs

[Grumpy John]

3 hours ago, shaemus said:

What happened to the tractor subsidy of 90% off to compensate the affected farmers? 

The money is in the bank.....Prayuts bank that is! ????

[Bender Rodriguez]

they don't even know what they spray or health effects, unless like most, they don't spray the crop they eat themselves

[natway09]

I bet if you dig deep enough you will find a behind the scenes chemical company lobby

The newer less harmful chemical sprays do the job just as well and are cheaper

And yes, my wife's family use them