Commerce Ministry: THB500,000 cap held for each farmer joining rice-pledging scheme

BANGKOK, 2 April 2013 (NNT) – The Commerce Ministry has asserted its determination to carry out the state-sponsored rice-pledging scheme to help small farmers.

Permanent Secretary for Commerce Ministry Vatchari Vimooktayon, on Monday, revealed that the latest round of state-initiated rice-pledging scheme has experienced no hurdle, to date.

Mrs. Vatchari stated that while most participating farmers have received their money as promised, some might see some delays caused by procedural complication.

She assured that related ministry officials have been urged to speed up their work to allow farmers to get the money as soon as possible.

The Permanent Secretary for Commerce Ministry also stressed that each participating farmer will be allowed to pledge their paddies for the maximum worth of 500,000 baht, as the scheme is intended to help small growers to get by.

Mrs. Vatchari added that more measures have been implemented to prevent subrogation.

She went on to say that the sales of paddies pledged with the government will be gradually made while reckoning that the Commerce Ministry will make enough money to completely pay up the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, which has paid participating farmers, as planned.

The Commerce Ministry’s Permanent Secretary also assured that there are not a lot of pledge paddies in the state stock and that the government will not lower prices despite pressure from buyers.

-- NNT 2013-04-02

"The Commerce Ministry’s Permanent Secretary also assured that there are not a lot of pledge paddies in the state stock......"

So where did all the bloody rice go?

The Permanent Secretary for Commerce Ministry also stressed that each
participating farmer will be allowed to pledge their paddies for the
maximum worth of 500,000 baht, as the scheme is intended to help small
growers to get by.

I dont believe this was the original intended purpose of this scam scheme. I do believe Thaksin Yingluck promised the farmers a, much richer, happier life. Furthermore, this very expensive investment fraud would lead to, much expanded purchasing power by these "poor farmers" thus putting back into the economy.

So, with a cap of 500,000 Baht, that's 25 tonne of Hom Mali, 34 tonne of normal paddy, or more for lesser quality.

Does this mean that larger co-operatives and farmholds will invent Thai-style constructions to bypass this hurdle? If this cap was implemented and enforced from day one (i.e. 2011-10-07) how much less rice could have been pledged, how much less money would have been involved?

BTW if there's not much pledge rice in State Stock, does the Commerce Ministrys Permanent Secretary suggest lots is sold already (e.g. G2G deals), lots is stored as non-state-stock, or a wee bit of money may have been spent in other ways?

500k is a lot of money by Thai rice farming standards. Are they all eligible for it? How do they apply? More importantly, will they actually see anything from it.

IMHO anybody growing 25-30 tonnes of rice is not a small scale farmer

The lions are fed and now the focus switches to the small farmers..(at least that's what they say)

IMHO anybody growing 25-30 tonnes of rice is not a small scale farmer

average yield = 450 kilos of patty per rai

An average farm is 15 rai.

http://www.ldd.go.th/EFiles_html/main%20page/Ea0400.htm

Ok, a quota of a sort.

as it is the rice miller who always wins and do least of the job....

Thai schemes and paddies. Sounds like a winning combination to me.

So a limit on how much each farmer can pledge, when they deliver their rice to the mill, but surely the point is that the extra profits are being made largely by the millers/storage-warehouses/intermediaries, not the farmers ?

Don't forget the rich Thai farmers also have families plus drivers, gardeners, maids, security staff etc who could also "qualify" for a brown envelope.

With the numbers being floated around in the rice scam its getting more amazing each month,

Presently 60 warehouses full so government trying to find 180 more ro store what is on ground and infields to be harvested

Those confidential sales mentioned earlier must have been more MOU's (about as good as used bum wipe)

The world bank estimates that the first years program will lose 1400.+ dollars per ton and this years 1340+/ton

Rice trade groups figure only 5% of the program cost got to poor farmers

Experts calculate a 10% lose per year of saleable rice due to poor handling, storage, treatment, etc

The guesstimates to amount in storage vary by 15 to 30%, depending on who is giving the info out

The need for a 2 trillion baht loan is probably real, half just to pay what will be owed on the rice program. Someone might consider the Ministry of Commerace being placed on perment vaction, just to save the country from economic ruin.

I love the way the spin doctors keep trying to justify this ridiculous scam. Now excuses for slow payment due to 'procedural' issues.