If they ran rice farms and other things efficiently then they'd have nothing to fear. This kind of market protection is a bad sign anywhere. Alarm bells are ringing.

In all honesty there should be nobody better at growing and selling rice from Thailand than Thai people.

oh my god, some competion on the lowest of levels and thais are screeing bad farang stealing our rice...

I don't know what model would work best for them but certainly the politicians haven't improved anything.

Communism? Failed everywhere else.

Cooperatives? Probably but would need to be overseen by someone that was not corrupt.

The current small-holding model will just give them more of the same

Who could make this happen? People from the village head to the provincial governor to PM Yingluck herself.

Who will make it happen..............

They should put it all in the hands of the Australians!!

Well, it is pretty obvious that the buying market is a very tight oligopoly. The prices offered to the farmers have been rigged for many many years. Now, that doesn't mean that the pledging/subsidy system is the right way either.

The be all and end all of the system should not be to allow the buyers/exporters and middle men to collude to manipulate the price as low as possible. The biggest issue with allowing foreign buyers into the market would probably be, were they to offer 1 baht/kg more than the local buyers, it probably wouldn't be very good for their longevity.

I do feel for the rice farmers, but in the rest of the world things have a chance to level themselves out. These guys are not meant in life's order to be managing farms; they are to be working on them. Real competition comes in and all the farms are bought up and huge farms exist and they are employed on these farms. Well, the hard working ones do. But this is what the government is scared of; having unemployed people who have sold their farm land (they would take the money, drink it, then get sacked, as the Chinese farm owners bring in their own hard working people.

Rice farmers are a tragedy really - they are at the blunt end of this elitism driving economy (everything to protect a small group of uber rich families). The comparison to communisim is quite apt as really the life of the rural people is not that different to China 30 years ago. China woke up though. Thailand plans to sleep for ever and ever and ever mumbling mai mee mai mee as soon as anyone asks them something.

The Singapore business people bring a lot more than just money to the table, the wealthy (Chinese- or native) Thais will need to really up their game, so used to protectionism and they really don't want to bother having to compete but one way or another it's either that or the country really slides downhill in the future.

And yes I pity the rice farmers, they will be the ones to really bear the brunt, tens of millions tossed off their lands and turned into slum-dwelling factory workers - if they're lucky. Pretty inevitable in the coming decade or two, and (the common people of) Thailand won't really be better off for it until maybe 40-50 years down the road, and that's only if everything works out.

First cracks in the ASEAN community showing here, lot's more to come I'm sure.

Improving efficiency means putting farmers out of work and off their small-plot lands, turning them into minimum-wage factory workers.

Probably inevitable but will rock the foundations of Thai society, huge upheavals coming.

not far the fishing net company hire workers, 350-470thb/day...requirement pratom 4....

not sure the mentioned small family farmer on his/her avarage 5 rai can make a comperative earning, let alone from cultivating rice.

as for one, i think some more one factory would profit the rural areas, where now little to do but farming, as employment...there is mosly only 1 man operated shops disguised as family operation where in fact all is a 1 man biz if run efficiently as a biz.

i think Thais as well do export what they do best in Pattaya, as a steady supply of not so very legal bar dancers, or whatnot to Singapore, HK, Bali...

so, call it a fair trade?

they want to only take from the pot of ASEAN, without giving...the thai style, when comes to anything "foreign" involved.

"Those foreign investors tend to be Singaporeans, as they can easily come here to do business since their country is one of the Asean members, the source said.

The Asean Economic Community has now created challenges for Thai rice farmers and traders. Singaporean investors are exploiting free trade within Asean to deal in the grain, which should be restricted to Thais, he said."

What on earth does this mean? Is this character trying to say that Singaporeans are involved in illegal business or that they are legally taking advantage of a free trade agreement which he doesn't like because he wants to be free to ruthlessly exploit Thai farmers without any foreign competition. Sounds like he is spitting out his dummy.

Next stop, trade war.

Oh! That's why there is inflation. Got it.

Thais have absolutely no sense of cooperation. Multilateral deals need to be honoured, but they want to make deals with other countries, then refuse to honour any part of the deal that they consider negative. As if Thailand has special rights in the international community.

Either they join the coming ASEAN community, or they give up now and become isolationist fools.

they are the latter already , they expect europeans to allow them to do what they deny europeans to do in thailand.........what goes around comes around !, i dont fancy their chances in competing with the rest of the Asean countries who DO have a work ,AND a bussiness ethic !

Edited June 15, 201214 yr by osiboy

Thailand is not ready for ASEAN.

Oh! That's why there is inflation. Got it.

Thais have absolutely no sense of cooperation. Multilateral deals need to be honoured, but they want to make deals with other countries, then refuse to honour any part of the deal that they consider negative. As if Thailand has special rights in the international community.

Either they join the coming ASEAN community, or they give up now and become isolationist fools.

they are the latter already , they expect europeans to allow them to do what they deny europeans to do in thailand.........what goes around comes around !, i dont fancy their chances in competing with the rest of the Asean countries who DO have a work ,AND a bussiness ethic !

I agree Thailand has a poor work ethic, but thats what I like about it best, a slow, lazy Thai life.