Farmers' plight forgotten amid political maelstrom: Thai opinion

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VENUS' VISION
Farmers' plight forgotten amid political maelstrom
Veena Thoopkrajae

BANGKOK: -- Reports this week of the death of a 59-year-old farmer from Pichit signal a deepening failure of the government's rice-pledging scheme. His wife said the death was caused by stress due to delayed rice-pledge payment. The tragedy adds a further dimension to the ongoing hardship being suffered by farmers under the policy.

His wife discovered her husband dead in his hut by the rice field. She said he had borrowed Bt100,000 from a loan shark as he could not wait for the Bt200,000 he had been promised from the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BACC). The pressure was on as he was due to start planting a new crop. That same pressure is being felt by many others whose payment has failed to come through. Farmers in Pichit are calling on those in other provinces to join their protest.

The death of one farmer well illustrates the plight of rice-scheme farmers around the country. Under a normal circumstance, they would now be busy with preparations to plant the new crop. But things are different this year, with money for plants and fertiliser drying up. Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government.

At first glance, it looks like the administration has been backed into a corner. Yet for a long time now the farmers have been in a far worse position. For almost five months they have waited for the money due to them. Faced with ruin, they have no way out but to fight for their money.

Just how bad is the problem?

In Surin, of the 61,999 farmers owed rice-pledge money by the BACC, only 8.6 per cent of them have been paid. It's a similar picture in the North for farmers in Pichit, Nakhon Sawan and Phitsanulok. In the Central Region, their counterparts in Suphanburi province are still waiting for BAAC money. Such a widespread problem illustrates the magnitude of the rice-pledging scheme's failure.

In many provinces farmers are planning to block roads or lay siege to City Halls as part of simultaneous protests on Wednesday. The date is significant in coinciding with major anti-government rallies in Bangkok.

The caretaker government is trying desperately to raise fresh cash for the scheme, but their efforts, whether successful or not, are too little too late. The hardship being suffered by farmers should have been taken seriously much earlier.

The government should not use this as a political issue. Farmers might be protesting at the same time as the anti-government rallies but that does not mean they share the same cause.

Long before the government arrived at this desperate juncture, it was warned by economists and international organisations that such a scheme would not work and would be wide open to corruption. Despite mounting evidence that the rice-pledging scheme was in trouble, the government did not scale down or drop the programme.

Now in its third year, it is clear that scheme's supposed beneficiaries have actually become its victims. Despite the Bt600 billion spent on rice-pledging by the Yingluck government, the farmers are still suffering. Studies indicate that only 30 per cent of the budget has been paid to farmers, leaving the majority without cash. In the meantime, those who have benefited are millers, traders and unscrupulous officials and politicians.

Needless to say, as things stand now, the rice scheme is likely to be scrapped or at least heavily modified when the new government arrives. That is good news for farmers. In the meantime they can only hope that the caretaker government makes an effort to depoliticise the scheme in order to lift them out of this nightmare.


-- The Nation 2014-01-11

[NongKhaiKid]

PTP have neatly painted themselves into a corner with the pledging scheme and with an election just around the corner can't afford to upset one of their core supporters but equally they can't afford the scheme and are struggling to raise more cash.

If as expected they are re- elected will they really sort the scheme out and annoy the farmers or will they simply roll on as usual with lies, including the one about needing to wait for accurate figures etc, and creative accounting ?

I know which option I believe.

[noikrit]

The only people that have " forgotten" about the Farmers Plight is the Shin Government ....

[Jay Sata]

Thailand's agriculture is around 200 years behind Europe hence the farmers plight.

Farmers ploughing rice fields with Japanese two wheeled Kubota tractors will not even get them in to the 20th century let alone 21st!

[chainarong]

The farmers plight was never on the agenda , the People talk Party did not care one Iota about the rice farmers or all the other farmers, all they wanted was the vote , end of story, if the famers plight had been noticed, all this pledging scheme would have been first, costed and payed out , bear in mind that Abhisit /Democrats had a policy for helping Farmers and this was met and it was far superior than this corrupt pledging scheme, which has not seen one BHT being given to the rice farmers , the PTP are a disgrace to the good People of Thailand.

[worgeordie]

You can be sure the money will be found to pay the farmers

BEFORE the election,the Government cannot afford to upset

the voters in Isan and the North.

Yesterday a friend had his 100,000 bht repayment on first car

scheme ,will have to wait a few days to see if cheque is honored

or if it bounces.

regards Worgeordie

[ramrod711]

Long before the government arrived at this desperate juncture, it was warned by economists and international organisations that such a scheme would not work and would be wide open to corruption. Despite mounting evidence that the rice-pledging scheme was in trouble, the government did not scale down or drop the programme.

If it looks to good to be true, it most likely is. The PTP lied to these people to get their vote, when PTP realized that the rice scheme was not sustainable they told the farmers that the government could not afford to continue the scheme, the farmers protested, and the government backed down and agreed to continue, even though they were losing huge amounts of money. Why would PTP do this, they knew it couldn't last? My theory is that they planned to spend the infrastructure loan money to prop up the scheme. That is why the provision was included in the bill that the money could be spent with no parliamentary oversight.

[pedro01]

So is this only farmers in certain areas that remain unpaid?

[Cnxforever]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

[darren84310]

PTP have neatly painted themselves into a corner with the pledging scheme and with an election just around the corner can't afford to upset one of their core supporters but equally they can't afford the scheme and are struggling to raise more cash.

If as expected they are re- elected will they really sort the scheme out and annoy the farmers or will they simply roll on as usual with lies, including the one about needing to wait for accurate figures etc, and creative accounting ?

I know which option I believe.

They would use the infrastructure money to pay the farmers..... it's obvious.

[WitawatWatawit]

The writer provides no source for her information. It would be nice to know where it came from. Also, no info on farmers in the south, the Democrats stronghold. Why? Anyway, this situation with the rice farmers is shaping up to be a disaster of unmitigated proportions. If the farmers organise themselves and take advantage of the chaos (expected chaos) in Bkk to attack the govt, then the military, who no doubt have already drawn up their coup plans, may find themselves fighting "battles" on two fronts. With luck it won't happen, but nobody can say that these aren't worrying times.

[Halion]

I find this article ridiculous. The farmers plight is as a direct result of a corrupt and failed Government and yet they still continue to support an inept and incompetent Government. Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wake up Isan people.

[theslime]

600 million baht, 180 million given to Farmers, 420 million baht taken by others, some scheme.

[IMA_FARANG]

The whole crux of the problem is that the Rice scheme is buying Rice at a higher price than they can sell it at (if and when and if they sell it) .

Therefore the scheme is always going to lose money.

There is no way to "correct" that until the rice the government buys is sold for a higher price than it is bought for. (The pledge price they purchase it for).

Any Thai street trader in his or her street market stall knows that, because they live or die by the profit they make from their stall.

They have a grasp of everyday "street economics" that all the highly paid government economic "experts" have seemingly forgotten.

[Thait Spot]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

Really? 5 months ago?

Are you sure?

Or just mindlessly trolling about

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ratcatcher]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

There is no government, and the caretaker government has no money.They've shot themselves in the foot. so to speak.

[robblok]

It is not that the scheme was costing money, if they had given the money directly to the farmer things would have gone better. However that would not have let them steal as much (the reds are famous for that).

A helping hand to farmers is one thing (and will invite some corruption too) but this scheme was just made to steal from. Plus super stupid as it ensured that rice would be rotten and such. So a triple loss. Paying the farmers (a good thing in a way) Rotting rice (bad of course) Storage fees (bad unless your one of those with storage to rent out.. would be nice to know what political alliance those have i guess i don't even have to ask).

They should just have come up with a scheme where the farmer sells his rice to the trader and they get extra money from the government. On what criteria I don't now as there will always be some corruption but some smart farmers could think off things that are hard to cheat. But i doubt they (red government) want something that is hard to cheat from.

[robblok]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

There is no government, and the caretaker government has no money.They've shot themselves in the foot. so to speak.

Not really... because as you see now red supporters have someone else to blame as the government.

The whole problem of the government was that they did not get that 2 trillion loan it would have been so easy to use that money (no checks and balances) to pay of the rice.

[slapout]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

This response , first blaming Suthep then the EC for the disgruntled farmers/rice program could not have been uttered by a more PT informed source. Even the PT government has admitted that its not a viable plan, proposed reduced/capped payments, investigation of corruption (by their own) etc.

You can potty train a 2 year old quicker than some people will admit that they have been conned. Of course those who receive part of the booty/benifet would proclaim all the way to the jail that they are innocent and it was someone else who should be blamed. (those pesky men in black, third parties or even the neighbor kids)

[edwinchester]

So is this only farmers in certain areas that remain unpaid?

We live in Kanchanaburi. Farmers are being kept waiting here too.

[LuckyLew]

Who cares about the farmers ... in a crisis they can just eat their crops 555

[aimbc]

600 million baht, 180 million given to Farmers, 420 million baht taken by others, some scheme.

That is unbelieveable! Where did the 420million go to. I knew it was bad, but not this bad.

[Scamper]

Even long before the election was called, the Pheu Thai administration was behind in its payments to the farmers. The problem they've had - not surprisingly - is that they found it increasingly difficult to come up with the money. What seemed like a terribly good idea prior to 2011's election has now turned into an Achilles Heel. But Pheu Thai deserve no sympathy for the quandary they are now in. They're finding that corruption has great rewards - up to a point. But like loan sharks, they are prepared to bite you in the end.

[aimbc]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

Are you being funny. EC or Suthep has nothing to do with this. You no doubt have been listening to Red Shirt Propaganda. There is no money to pay and they already exceeded their budget. This is the reality of a govt. That has no agenda to help the people, but rather help themselves.

[noitom]

Thai farmers have always been forgotten.

[aimbc]

It is not that the scheme was costing money, if they had given the money directly to the farmer things would have gone better. However that would not have let them steal as much (the reds are famous for that).

A helping hand to farmers is one thing (and will invite some corruption too) but this scheme was just made to steal from. Plus super stupid as it ensured that rice would be rotten and such. So a triple loss. Paying the farmers (a good thing in a way) Rotting rice (bad of course) Storage fees (bad unless your one of those with storage to rent out.. would be nice to know what political alliance those have i guess i don't even have to ask).

I wouldn't put it pass TS to make sure the rice seems like it would rot. This way they have an albi for the mssing rice that already left out the backdoor or double or triple purchased the rice. And I will go as far as to say that most of the 180Billion Baht paid to the farmers for the rice, were actually farmers acting as proxies for the corrupt politicians. How sad and does YS understand or does she care about the enormous corruptions she has created. I say this because she is not that cleaver to come up with such a scheme. Will stupidity be her final defense?

[icare999]

lets be honest most could not give a dam about farmers plight and only reason Taksins regime would help is to buy votes. Myself in long run it would be a good thing if some of poor Issan woke up and started to understand Taksin his clan and cronies could not care less about them and have/are simply using them to gain power and if possible make thailand a one party Taksin police state.

I am all for helping genuine small farmer not just for them selves but because otherwise all farming will be done by huge companies on thousands of acres of land. Maybe that inevitable but it will destroy many families who will seek out a better life in cities only to find they become total wage slaves and will have lost most forms of freedom.

The way to help is directly to the farmer not thorough some stupid buying scene designed so Taksin and rest can rob everyone even more.

[tingtongteesood]

"Disgruntled farmers are stepping up the pressure on the caretaker government."

another great The Nation Piece!

Maybe they should step up the pressure on Suthep and the EC - the first causing this crisis - and as the government can not release payment without the EC authorizing it!

The EC didn't cause a damn thing, it is entirely 100% the government's own doing.

[Yunla]

RIP to the honest hard-working gentleman, and my prayers and deepest condolences to his wife and family.

This should not happen in 2014 Thailand for any reason, and while PTP's disastrous policy is to blame specifically, it is only hot on the heels of decades of neglect by other equally-corrupt public figures including some of those involved in the current overthrow-movement. Tragic, needless, and shameful mismanagement by those trusted with power on all sides of the political sphere. I hope they read this story and feel ashamed. Heart-breaking.

[icare999]

600 million baht, 180 million given to Farmers, 420 million baht taken by others, some scheme.

That is unbelieveable! Where did the 420million go to. I knew it was bad, but not this bad.

​ really you did not know this is tip of iceberg compared with total stolen by Taksin his clan and cronies.