Senate Panel Slams Rice-Pledging Failings, Calls For Urgent Review

[webfact]

RICE PLEDGING

Senate panel slams rice-pledging failings, calls for urgent review

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The near-daily criticism over corruption and losses in connection with the rice-pledging scheme has led a key Senate committee publicly to express grave concern about what it considers the widespread failure of the programme.

The panel regards the pledging project as the worst government policy for 26 years, and one that is taking the country down the road to economic collapse, as it risks sinking under the burden of public debt.

The Senate's Committee on Economics, Commerce and Industry yesterday held a news conference on its study, titled "The Truth on the Government's Rice-Pledging Scheme: Does It Really Benefit Farmers?"

The committee presented eight points of failure in the scheme and called for the government urgently to review it to save the country from further huge losses.

The panel will also submit its study on the pledging scheme, which is part of the government's broader populist policy, for debate in the upper house, as well as passing it to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission and the Office of the Auditor-General, calling for an investigation into the alleged failure of the pledging project.

Committee chairman Maharnnop Dejvitak said the crop-pledging scheme was the worst policy introduced by any government since 1986.

It has not only created huge budgetary losses, but farmers - the intended beneficiaries - have not enjoyed any meaningful benefits from the programme, he said, adding that only some groups of traders and politicians had made gains as a result of loopholes in the scheme.

"The committee does not agree with the government's populist policy, which has led to short-term benefit rather than promoting sustainable growth. This half-political, half-economic policy has had a huge impact on the country's macroeconomy and will result in massive public debt, which could mean Thailand becomes another Greece in the future," Maharnnop said.

If the government continues with the measure, it could push the national public debt to more than 100 per cent of gross domestic product in the next decade, he warned.

According to a Thailand Development Research Institute study, the rice-pledging programme will increase public debt by an average of 4 per cent per annum.

Senator Wanchai Sornsiri said the failure of the pledging policy should be debated and widely acknowledged by the public and involved sectors. The project has led to corruption and huge losses from its inception through to the end of the rice-release process.

He said poor farmers were the major losers, as they had not benefited from the pledging despite what the government had promised, while traders, unscrupulous officials and politicians had enjoyed extensive benefits from pledging and corruption.

SENATE PANEL'S PROPOSALS

To save the Kingdom from racking up even more massive losses from the policy, the Senate panel suggested a number of measures to the government.

First, it must review and change the policy by reducing the pledging price, limiting the volume of pledged rice and focusing the project on small farmers. It should also take serious measures to suppress corruption inherent in the scheme.

The government should also restrict rice-field landlords from participating in pledging, inform the public clearly about its government-to-government rice deals to ensure transparency, and draw up a sustainable plan to promote the farming sector and boost farmers' incomes.

The committee also pointed out eight weak points of the rice-pledging policy as voiced by academics and the private sector. The main criticisms are as follows:

lContinuation of the unlimited rice-pledging policy would mean losses of Bt405 billion for the country by the end of next year, from the current level of Bt300 billion.

lPledging has created huge losses for Thai rice exporters, to the tune of Bt72 billion a year.

lMost medium-sized and rich farmers have benefited from the pledging, while poor, smaller farmers have not really gained from the measure.

lThe government would lose more than Bt100 billion if it sold 10 million tonnes of pledged rice at the market price.

lThe quality of Thai rice continues to suffer, because the pledging policy is focused only on price and does not promote rice-quality development.

-- The Nation 2012-10-23

[asiawatcher]

So? What is going to be done about it?

"... The panel regards the pledging project as the worst government policy for 26 years, and one that is taking the country down the road to economic collapse, as it risks sinking under the burden of public debt."

AND

"... poor farmers were the major losers, as they had not benefited from the pledging despite what the government had promised, while traders, unscrupulous officials and politicians had enjoyed extensive benefits from pledging and corruption."

[LuckyLew]

Everyone says this scheme is wrong and should be stopped

Everyone except the person making the decisions - Thaksin

[TomTao]

More and more voices are speaking out against this scheme, but the voices go unheard, they cannot get through the wall of beaurocracy that is cemented with arrogance.

Sent from my GT-I9003

[otherstuff1957]

focusing the project on small farmers. It should also take serious measures to suppress corruption inherent in the scheme.

The government should also restrict rice-field landlords from participating in pledging, inform the public clearly about its government-to-government rice deals to ensure transparency, and draw up a sustainable plan to promote the farming sector and boost farmers' incomes.

Exactly! The project should be limited to farmers who have small plots of land & the big landowners (who are the main beneficiaries of the current scheme) should be excluded. The program's cost would be greatly reduced and it would would then be a sustainable project, rather than one that will collapse under the weight of its debt within a year or two.

[Roadman]

Even their own Senate is telling this pack of Pheu Thai mafia that their trough snorting is not affordable. And the poor Isaan farmers who it was supposed to help as predicted are getting left on the scrap heap while those who don't need it rout the system and all the time while the Pheu Thai lay out their bull crap scenario's that everything is fine - more white lies for the countries (read the Pheu Thai / Red thievies) benefit. The Isaan Khwai has the government they deserve for their ฿500 purchase.

[belg]

1997 part 2

[rubl]

"the widespread failure of the programme"

Unbelievable! The program worked, we spent THB 400 billion with 280 on rice price pledging alone. That's success! People got rich as promised. The 2012/2013 budget has another 400 billion, approved by the parliament (in which we have a majority). More people will be rich(er).

Obviously [sic] anyone against this program must be a slave of the undemocratic, feudalistic elite.

[koolbreez]

The real purpose of this scheme has never been to benefit farmers, it has been to destroy the economy. Thaksin sees this as the quickest way to devalue the baht down to what he considers the right level to regain labor intensive manufactoring, and increase exports. While he was PM none of his programs were designed to increase the baht's value. In all his time in office the baht stayed right around 40 to the dollar. Not until the Democrats came to power has the baht increased in value. After Thaksin, and before the Dems the baht was even artificially controlled to keep it's value low, even to the point that off-shore trading was established to reflect the true market value, with Thailand not having enough financial clout to prevent it, as China can with the Yuan.

Thaksin operates under the principle that cheap labor keeps the most people working, and to maintain cheap labor the people have to remain poor. Everything he does is designed to maintain this labor advantage on the world market. Thaksin does not care about the people, only with making money, as he has shown many times.

[drdoom6996]

The same Senators that voted 94 to 2 to allow a fellow Senator to get away with muder in public?

[SICHONSTEVE]

Everyone says this scheme is wrong and should be stopped

Everyone except the person making the decisions - Thaksin

.......and he wouldn't contemplate losing face by admitting his ideas are stupid to the extreme!!

Isn't it just ironic that all the people that are benefitting are the rich(er now) elite that so-called red shirt sympathisers detest. They are the ones that are making fist fulls of money when the poor farmers are even more indebted through the implementation of this rediculous and wasteful scheme.

What is wrong with giving the poor farmers the money directly (as suggested by Abhisit)?? Actually, I can answer this - it has been put forward by Abhisit and not one of the ignoramuses that make up this government!!!

[Pimay1]

Everyone says this scheme is wrong and should be stopped

Everyone except the person making the decisions - Thaksin

.......and he wouldn't contemplate losing face by admitting his ideas are stupid to the extreme!!

Isn't it just ironic that all the people that are benefitting are the rich(er now) elite that so-called red shirt sympathisers detest. They are the ones that are making fist fulls of money when the poor farmers are even more indebted through the implementation of this rediculous and wasteful scheme.

What is wrong with giving the poor farmers the money directly (as suggested by Abhisit)?? Actually, I can answer this - it has been put forward by Abhisit and not one of the ignoramuses that make up this government!!!

Here here now no review is permitted until all the pigs have licked the money trough dry.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Everyone says this scheme is wrong and should be stopped

Everyone except the person making the decisions - Thaksin

.......and he wouldn't contemplate losing face by admitting his ideas are stupid to the extreme!!

Isn't it just ironic that all the people that are benefitting are the rich(er now) elite that so-called red shirt sympathisers detest. They are the ones that are making fist fulls of money when the poor farmers are even more indebted through the implementation of this rediculous and wasteful scheme.

What is wrong with giving the poor farmers the money directly (as suggested by Abhisit)?? Actually, I can answer this - it has been put forward by Abhisit and not one of the ignoramuses that make up this government!!!

Here here now no review is permitted until all the pigs have licked the money trough dry.

Surely they have had their fill and can retire in comfort now!!!

There again, we all know what greed begets............