Who Is Really Benefitting From Rice Subsidies?: Thai Editorial

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Who is really benefitting from rice subsidies?

The Nation

A worker carries a bag of rice at a market in Bangkok. Thailand

The taxpaying public deserves answers on the massive sums being spent on the rice subsidy scheme amid new allegations of corruption

BANGKOK: --After three days of the censure debate, the House is scheduled to vote on whether to support Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today. Regardless of the questions raised during the debate, the majority of House members will support the prime minister and her government.

Cabinet members will expect no surprises in the voting. The Pheu Thai Party and its coalition partners command the majority, and MPs of the coalition parties are almost certain to vote in accordance with the instructions of the party whips.

Nonetheless, the public still expects more from politicians. Yingluck may survive the debate but she still has to clear doubts over alleged money laundering by a dummy company involved in the government's rice price subsidy policy.

The government's rice scheme was the focus of the censure debate. The opposition Democrat Party again pointed out the flaws in the scheme, which they say signals the inefficiency of the prime minister, who is responsible for the government's policy.

The Rice Committee, chaired by Yingluck, has spent more than Bt560 billion so far on the rice price subsidy. If the government continues to spend money at this rate, Thailand may see its public debt reaching the worrisome level of 60 per cent of the country's GDP. The loss of more than Bt200 billion annually will wreck the government's fiscal stance.

The government is also hurting the competitiveness of Thai rice by discouraging farmers from improving quality. Moreover, the government distorts the market system by controlling rice trading; it has already stockpiled a massive amount of rice in warehouses.

These criticisms have been pointed out numerous times. But the government has yet to respond adequately. It is not only opposition MPs who are critical of this scheme; many economists have also criticised the government for blindly proceeding with this wasteful populist policy simply because it was what the Pheu Thai Party promised its supporters during the general election.

The debate, however, reveals another serious flaw in the rice scheme: it has created the opportunity for massive corruption. It seems the majority of money spent has gone into the pockets of people with political connections.

The opposition raised the question of why only a small number of farmers have actually benefited from the scheme. According to a government statement, the Cabinet approved a budget of around Bt400 billion to buy 26 million tonnes of rice from 4 million farming households. As it turns out, the programme has so far covered only 1.7 million farming households, opposition party MPs note, with Bt560 billion spent so far. There is thus suspicion about Bt160 billion going unaccounted for.

This is not mention the fresh allegation over a dummy company involved in government-to-government contract sales of rice, which has yet to be answered.

Although the censure debate may be over, the government still has to address serious public concerns over the rice scheme, in particular the charges that the scheme is not benefitting the majority of farmers, and it is failing to improve their wellbeing, as was promised in the election campaign.

The government will be able to survive the censure debate without answering these questions in the House, but that does not mean the taxpaying public will be content with the official rhetoric. This is a lot of public money -taxpayers' money - and the people demand nothing less than a clear explanation from those in power.

-- The Nation 2012-11- 28

[Moruya]

So we are now at the stage where parliament will vote on the censure and the majority will vote in favour. Democracy exists to approve massive theft of taxpayers' money through government corruption for the benefit of ministers' friends and family.

Well done PTP.

Pure Thaksinomics.

Will opponents of the government feel that justice has been done? No.

Will people take to the streets again? Yes.

Will they be subdued again? Sure

Is this fast becoming a one party state? Yes

Where is your democracy Thailand?

[sirchai]

Who is really benefitting from rice subsidies?

As a matter of fact, not the ones who deserve it.

[dcutman]

If this scam scheme is so popular and beneficial to farmers why are so few registered? Is it because the government put to many restrictions for eligibility that poor farmers cannot meet?

[asiawatcher]

Continued refusal by the Government to reverse the policy, the longer the better so more money can be stolen. What do we have to do to bring these idiots/criminals to heel? International confidence in this country is waning fast as the issue of corruption continues to make world headlines. Thailand is fast becoming the number one most corrupt country in the world and the Government refuses to change through continued arrogance and perceived immunity.

[Squigy]

The try hard to be "hi-so's" are the ppl benefiting from this scheme. Nobody in my area of Issan is!!!

[khwaibah]

In the wife's village they allotted some money that a farmer may have with no questions asked and in your hand when you sell, no waiting. They pay at 17 baht per kilo.

[worgeordie]

Well not the people in the street ,thats for sure,the majority have

to suffer for the benefit of the minority. Ah well thats life I suppose!

regards Worgeordie

[Katipo]

If 'only' 160 billion has gone missing, I would be very surprised. This scheme is a complete and utter sham!

[MaxLee]

Who's benefitting???? Is that even a question....

Thaksin Cronies, Chalerm, Plodprasop Kittirat and co... everybody in the Pheu Thai

[OzMick]

Who's benefitting???? Is that even a question....

Thaksin Cronies, Chalerm, Plodprasop Kittirat and co... everybody in the Pheu Thai

While continuing with an expensive policy which comprehensively fails to meet its objectives, has any one member of PTP or coalition partners stated that they are benefitting, and therefore have a conflict of interest?

[jonclark]

" chaired by Yingluck, has spent more than Bt560 billion so far on the rice price subsidy"

If 1 billion = 1'000 million

then

560'000'000'000 baht - <deleted> that is a lot of zeros!!! and a lot of baht in tax!!! and to cap it all Thailand is now importing rice from Cambodia to feed its population

Which means taxpayers money is being used to ensure that Thai rice is unavailable to Thai taxpayers because their tax money has made it too expensive for the average tax payer to be able to buy.

Mental!!

Edited November 28, 2012 by jonclark

[sirchai]

My father and mother in law are obviously NOT benefiting. They're rice farmers and piss-poor. The only money they receive is when they "may" vote.

Then all parties pay between 200 and 600 baht. Life isn't really fair..............

[Skywalker69]

Iam so sick of the robbing of Thailand. May all of the Government MP´s turn to maggots in the next life.

[retarius]

There are massive problems with this rice scheme. My family initially thought it was great, but months after parting with their rice, and having been given a piece of paper to take to the bank, they still haven;t got any cash. The bank says that they haven;t been provided the funds yet by the government. This was scheme to help the little guy and it hasn't helped my little guys at all...they had to borrow money for seed, gas, fertilizer and insecticide for the next crop, because the mortgage scheme hasn't paid out...but has presumably enrich the rich elites still further. It is sickening.

In general I'm a supporter of Yingluck...she won the election fair and square...but she should admit that this scheme is an expensive disaster and withdraw it. The system should be one that by-passes the obators and puyaibans, who simple steal it, and gives money direct to the small farmer. CP is probably the biggest beneficiary of this scheme and given that Yingluck's husband is heir apparent to this empire, I wouldn't expect anything to change any time soon.

[Pimay1]

There are massive problems with this rice scheme. My family initially thought it was great, but months after parting with their rice, and having been given a piece of paper to take to the bank, they still haven;t got any cash. The bank says that they haven;t been provided the funds yet by the government. This was scheme to help the little guy and it hasn't helped my little guys at all...they had to borrow money for seed, gas, fertilizer and insecticide for the next crop, because the mortgage scheme hasn't paid out...but has presumably enrich the rich elites still further. It is sickening.

In general I'm a supporter of Yingluck...she won the election fair and square...but she should admit that this scheme is an expensive disaster and withdraw it. The system should be one that by-passes the obators and puyaibans, who simple steal it, and gives money direct to the small farmer. CP is probably the biggest beneficiary of this scheme and given that Yingluck's husband is heir apparent to this empire, I wouldn't expect anything to change any time soon.

So please correct me if this is a wrong assumption. You would support any person who won an election"fair and square" in your words no matter how corrupt they are and no matter how much damage they are causing the country now and in the future?

[samsara]

eventually CP will have tons of corporate farms around thailand. only a matter of time. this scam is an excellent means to accelerate the process.

[Mosha]

" chaired by Yingluck, has spent more than Bt560 billion so far on the rice price subsidy"

If 1 billion = 1'000 million

then

560'000'000'000 baht - <deleted> that is a lot of zeros!!! and a lot of baht in tax!!! and to cap it all Thailand is now importing rice from Cambodia to feed its population

Which means taxpayers money is being used to ensure that Thai rice is unavailable to Thai taxpayers because their tax money has made it too expensive for the average tax payer to be able to buy.

Mental!!

If it wasn't so tragic it would be funny. From the rice bowl of the world to this.

[AleG]

It would be trivially easy to set up a system that only targets and benefits the Poor Farmer©, this system, on the other hand benefit large land owners, the real power brokers of the political landscape.

The policy is not a failure, is doing exactly what it was meant to do, buy the allegiance of this pseudo-feudal lords, con people into voting for PTP and enrich the band of crooks "governing" the country.

[Stradavarius37]

The rich benefit - and everyone knows it - what kind of stupid question is that?

[KHR1010]

There are massive problems with this rice scheme. My family initially thought it was great, but months after parting with their rice, and having been given a piece of paper to take to the bank, they still haven;t got any cash. The bank says that they haven;t been provided the funds yet by the government. This was scheme to help the little guy and it hasn't helped my little guys at all...they had to borrow money for seed, gas, fertilizer and insecticide for the next crop, because the mortgage scheme hasn't paid out...but has presumably enrich the rich elites still further. It is sickening.

In general I'm a supporter of Yingluck...she won the election fair and square...but she should admit that this scheme is an expensive disaster and withdraw it. The system should be one that by-passes the obators and puyaibans, who simple steal it, and gives money direct to the small farmer. CP is probably the biggest beneficiary of this scheme and given that Yingluck's husband is heir apparent to this empire, I wouldn't expect anything to change any time soon.

There is no heir to a publicly held company, there are only share holders. The next CP Chairmen has already been selected and it is not Yingluck's husband. Of course CP will benefit from this as their business model has always been to mitigate risk by passing it to the farmers who take the direct risks associated with perishable and live agriculture products. This began way back-when in the 1920's when CP stared as a small seed shop. They learned to vertically and horizontally integrate themselves around the farmers/growers. It matters not if the market is up or down, the farmer/grower must still feed/fertilize their livestock/crop and bring the products to market for further processing. CP is not he vilan here, it is no secret CP has always aligned with The Royal family, this was quite evident during the coup.

Edited November 28, 2012 by KHR1010

[osiboy]

" chaired by Yingluck, has spent more than Bt560 billion so far on the rice price subsidy"

If 1 billion = 1'000 million

then

560'000'000'000 baht - <deleted> that is a lot of zeros!!! and a lot of baht in tax!!! and to cap it all Thailand is now importing rice from Cambodia to feed its population

Which means taxpayers money is being used to ensure that Thai rice is unavailable to Thai taxpayers because their tax money has made it too expensive for the average tax payer to be able to buy.

Mental!!

no Jon, this is thainess !

[GentlemanJim]

" chaired by Yingluck, has spent more than Bt560 billion so far on the rice price subsidy"

If 1 billion = 1'000 million

then

560'000'000'000 baht - <deleted> that is a lot of zeros!!! and a lot of baht in tax!!! and to cap it all Thailand is now importing rice from Cambodia to feed its population

Which means taxpayers money is being used to ensure that Thai rice is unavailable to Thai taxpayers because their tax money has made it too expensive for the average tax payer to be able to buy.

Mental!!

If it wasn't so tragic it would be funny. From the rice bowl of the world to this.

I seem to remember that Zimbabwee truly was the bread basket of Africa, Number 1, numero uno and when another criminal despot took control of the country, he too raped and pillaged it for the personal gain of his family. Zimbabwe is now inruins, a total shadow of its former self thanks to Mugabe. Funny how Thaksin seems to be doing the same to Thailand now, a country going from Rice bowl of the world and is now already at number 3 within 12 months and is about to make a sh*t load of international enemies when it is forced to dump millions of tons of rice on the market next year at rock bottom prices.

Funny how Thaksin and his pack seem to be best bossom buddies with Mugabe AND the other Dictatorial mentor in Cambodia. The scope of the theft from the coffers of the Thai Treasury is so so alarming that I really am doubtful that Thaksin wants to return here anytime soon, he is so vengeful that he wants to break the back and spirit of the country, and when it is on it's knees he will want to be seen as riding back on a white charger as the only way to save the country. Make no mistake, there is so much crap stacked against the PTP ministers and MP's now that they simply cannot lose the next election and will go to any lengths to secure that goal. I do not see a way out in the short term for the country and hope when the dreadful realization hits the Thaksin / Red supporters on this forum they have the courage to eat their words, or preferably my shorts.

[Pimay1]

" chaired by Yingluck, has spent more than Bt560 billion so far on the rice price subsidy"

If 1 billion = 1'000 million

then

560'000'000'000 baht - <deleted> that is a lot of zeros!!! and a lot of baht in tax!!! and to cap it all Thailand is now importing rice from Cambodia to feed its population

Which means taxpayers money is being used to ensure that Thai rice is unavailable to Thai taxpayers because their tax money has made it too expensive for the average tax payer to be able to buy.

Mental!!

If it wasn't so tragic it would be funny. From the rice bowl of the world to this.

I seem to remember that Zimbabwee truly was the bread basket of Africa, Number 1, numero uno and when another criminal despot took control of the country, he too raped and pillaged it for the personal gain of his family. Zimbabwe is now inruins, a total shadow of its former self thanks to Mugabe. Funny how Thaksin seems to be doing the same to Thailand now, a country going from Rice bowl of the world and is now already at number 3 within 12 months and is about to make a sh*t load of international enemies when it is forced to dump millions of tons of rice on the market next year at rock bottom prices.

Funny how Thaksin and his pack seem to be best bossom buddies with Mugabe AND the other Dictatorial mentor in Cambodia. The scope of the theft from the coffers of the Thai Treasury is so so alarming that I really am doubtful that Thaksin wants to return here anytime soon, he is so vengeful that he wants to break the back and spirit of the country, and when it is on it's knees he will want to be seen as riding back on a white charger as the only way to save the country. Make no mistake, there is so much crap stacked against the PTP ministers and MP's now that they simply cannot lose the next election and will go to any lengths to secure that goal. I do not see a way out in the short term for the country and hope when the dreadful realization hits the Thaksin / Red supporters on this forum they have the courage to eat their words, or preferably my shorts.

Of course there is no way out in the short term for the country. Anyone with half a brain knows this but Thaksin/red supporters on this forun having the courage to eat their words is only wishful thinking for sure 100%..

[Rancid]

It is a scheme to enrich politicians and their mates the middle man, just like every goverment scheme. Governmnets distort markets and invariably make things worse and open the door for rampant corruption, so where is the surprise? Abbhi had his own running as well, the parasite conga line has to be fed.

[ridkun]

There are massive problems with this rice scheme. My family initially thought it was great, but months after parting with their rice, and having been given a piece of paper to take to the bank, they still haven;t got any cash. The bank says that they haven;t been provided the funds yet by the government. This was scheme to help the little guy and it hasn't helped my little guys at all...they had to borrow money for seed, gas, fertilizer and insecticide for the next crop, because the mortgage scheme hasn't paid out...but has presumably enrich the rich elites still further. It is sickening.

In general I'm a supporter of Yingluck...she won the election fair and square...but she should admit that this scheme is an expensive disaster and withdraw it. The system should be one that by-passes the obators and puyaibans, who simple steal it, and gives money direct to the small farmer. CP is probably the biggest beneficiary of this scheme and given that Yingluck's husband is heir apparent to this empire, I wouldn't expect anything to change any time soon.

I don't call it fair. PTP offered something that looks nice for majority of voters only for getting their votes despite that it would obviously cause an 'expensive disaster'. It might be legal but it's far from what called fairness when you take advantage of people's ignorance like that.

[Mosha]

More bad news for Thailand. Burma before the military took over, was Asia's rice bowl. They now want that role back. (BBC news)

[quandow]

One of the biggest problems is how to get out of this situation while saving face. That won't happen in this current administration.

[lujanit]

In the wife's village they allotted some money that a farmer may have with no questions asked and in your hand when you sell, no waiting. They pay at 17 baht per kilo.

Maybe my math is pretty crook however 17 baht a kilo should be 17,000 baht per ton, at least the last time I went to school 17 x 1000 equalled 17000. If the rice pledge is for 15,000 baht per ton (right???) what's the problem? I would think that the farmers would lining up in droves to get that sort of cash in hand.

Something smells here and it ain't the fish in Denmark

[Moruya]

In the wife's village they allotted some money that a farmer may have with no questions asked and in your hand when you sell, no waiting. They pay at 17 baht per kilo.

Maybe my math is pretty crook however 17 baht a kilo should be 17,000 baht per ton, at least the last time I went to school 17 x 1000 equalled 17000. If the rice pledge is for 15,000 baht per ton (right???) what's the problem? I would think that the farmers would lining up in droves to get that sort of cash in hand.

Something smells here and it ain't the fish in Denmark

Not if it's Hom Mali rice which they were promised 20B a kilo for.

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