Stress drives another farmer to suicide

[Lite Beer]

RICE-PLEDGING SCHEME
Stress drives another farmer to suicide
THE SUNDAY NATION February 16, 2014 1:00 am

BANGKOK: -- Bigger protests planned over delay in payments; govt to sell 10 million tonnes of rice

AS PROTESTING farmers eye organising a bigger rally in Bangkok tomorrow over the government's failure to pay them under the rice-pledging scheme, another farmer has reportedly committed suicide due to financial stress.

The farmer took his life in Pathum Thani yesterday. His death is believed to be the ninth such suicide.

Deputy Minister of Commerce Yanyong Phuangrach, meanwhile, inspected a pledged-rice warehouse in Ayutthaya and revealed the caretaker government planned to sell 10 million tonnes of pledged rice.

He also affirmed the nationwide rice storage facilities were transparently managed and still had complete rice stocks. Rice in 10 warehouses had been damaged by fires or high humidity, he said.

Farmer Anan Saiprayong, 49, was found hanging at his home in Pathum Thani's Muang district at 11am.

His wife Chanthana told police that Anan headed a farmers' group that bought Bt600,000 in seeds, fertilisers and pesticides from an investor to fund the next rice-growing season while waiting for the rice-pledging scheme's overdue payments.

She said stress over the debt combined with not being able to pay his home mortgage possibly led him to kill himself.

In the meantime, Kittisak Rattanawaraha, speaking for northern farmers, said some 5,000 farmers would be mobilised from the North, West and Northeast to join the farmers' rally outside the Ministry of Commerce in Bangkok tomorrow.

The other group, made up of farmers from Phichit, Nakhon Sawan, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet and Phitsanulok, said they would not join others yet, until a meeting of protest leaders is held on February 24-25 to determine their next move.

In related news, the Lawyers Council of Thailand, representing affected farmers, has started documenting farmers' complaints in Phrom Phiram, Phitsanulok, in a bid to sue the caretaker Prime Minister Yimgluck Shinawatra and others involved in the rice-pledging scheme. Some 100 farmers have filed complaints.

The council's Phitsanulok branch president, Saroj Chansiri, said the organisation's provincial branches would gather complaints and documents to demand justice for the affected farmers.

-- The Nation 2014-02-16

[EricBerg]

They plan to sell 10 million tons. Why didn't they already sell? How many more desperate people have to die?

If the government retires money can be borrowed for paying the farmers. The game is over for the shinas anyway. Do they need the extra time to cover up their wrong doings?

[Skywalker69]

They tried to sell but there is no buyer. PTP and Yingluck should be held responsible for farmers killing them selfs.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Skywalker69

[Robby nz]

As I get round the district on my bike I see paddy that is getting close to harvest and wonder what is going to happen to that rice.

The farmers here are protesting about not being paid, obviously from the previous harvest.

When, in the next few weeks, the new harvest comes in will the farmers again trust it to the pledging scheme or sell it privately ?

If they pledge it then it will mean that there are 2 harvests they must be paid for, if they sell it privately then the traders will pay as little as possible and will no longer need the 10 million tons of old seasons rice the Govt is trying to sell.

The farmers lose out whichever way they go.

[harada]

This is not something unique to Thailand its happening in Australia.

[aimbc]

This is not something unique to Thailand its happening in Australia.

Really? The govt not paying the farmers for months and need to keep borrowing money while there is still inventory? And do countries need to be like Australia? And what other countries does it happen to? Only a fool follow a fool.

[Somtamnication]

Truly sad. These farmers are not rich. They are used as pawns in a political circus circle with no end in sight.

RIP.

[neverdie]

This is not something unique to Thailand its happening in Australia.

Really? The govt not paying the farmers for months and need to keep borrowing money while there is still inventory? And do countries need to be like Australia? And what other countries does it happen to? Only a fool follow a fool.

Talk about bitter.

Perhaps what Harada was trying to say was that ATM, there are farmers in Australia committing suicide because of the difficulties and isolation they face, as various parts of the country face very severe drought. Many of the farmers there feel they have little or no support from the government, it might be the case that the government reacts far too slowly, many farming families hit the wall long before the pollies get motivated and start touring the regions to work out how to respond to and support farmers.

WITHOUT farmers, people around the world would have nothing to eat. Australia is particularly harsh as it can be very remote place for people on the land. Australia is almost 80% the size of the USA, yet only 23 million odd people, most of which are in the cities and costal areas. Farmers, especially ones in remote areas, in this circumstance are very vulnerable to depression and suicide.

In Thailand it must be very difficult, although the circumstances are different, I bet little is done for farmers facing stress and depression. I wouldn't be too quick in judging people without having walked at least a few yards in their shoes. Red snakes comment takes none of this into consideration & whilst I do feel sorry for the families of the farmers who suicide, it wouldn't take much effort to choose words more carefully and not be some damn critical of the farmers that have taken this course of action. Clearly his words wouldn't support the respective families, one iota. Yet another example of internet heroism at its best....err worst.

It's very clear certain people responsible for this failed government policy have a lot to answer for, but we already knew that, didn't we?

Edited February 16, 2014 by neverdie

[noitom]

Do the Thai farmers committing suicide leave notes indicating the financial stress? Or is this just easily disposable speculation? Maybe they were murdered with the big loan payoffs due for the rice.

[edwinchester]

Where are all these bitter inhuman unsympathetic remarks about suicide coming from?

Are you so removed from reality? Are you so lacking in compassion to realise the depth of despair some individuals sink into that their only feeling is to take their own life as a relief?

[chooka]

Believed to be a result of the rice pledging scheme. Um I believe in the tooth fairy also. The whole scheme has been a complete disaster no argument there but lot of farmers are trying to plant additional crops to cash in. A lot of it is greed and if they just stuck to their normal season they wouldn't find themselves in so much debt. From what my wife tells me anyway who owns numerous fields in the Chai Nat area. Farmers aren't giving the land time to recover after a crop before they are planting more and purchasing fertilisers to keep it producing as fast as possible.

[edwinchester]

Believed to be a result of the rice pledging scheme. Um I believe in the tooth fairy also. The whole scheme has been a complete disaster no argument there but lot of farmers are trying to plant additional crops to cash in. A lot of it is greed and if they just stuck to their normal season they wouldn't find themselves in so much debt. From what my wife tells me anyway who owns numerous fields in the Chai Nat area. Farmers aren't giving the land time to recover after a crop before they are planting more and purchasing fertilisers to keep it producing as fast as possible.

Without doubt farmers are growing too much rice. Where we live 3 sometimes 4 crops a year are grown. The paddy itself is lifeless and that sort of cycle is only possible through the use of pesticides and fertilisers.....alot of.

However that was going on before this debacle as it was still profitable to do even without a 15k subsidy.

[zydeco]

They plan to sell 10 million tons. Why didn't they already sell? How many more desperate people have to die?

If the government retires money can be borrowed for paying the farmers. The game is over for the shinas anyway. Do they need the extra time to cover up their wrong doings?

They "plan" to sell 10 million tons. One might ask why they don't "plan" to sell it all. As for whether their "plans" eventually pan out? Not likely, I'd say, based on their track record. They'll still be "planning" to sell this 10 million tons a year from now.

[kuiburi]

When u think ur at the bottom of the pit , just to find out that there is no bottom could be a trigger to kill urself .

Pitty to see that some posters have no respect for the man and his lovedones .

R.I.P.

[spirit47]

Sorry for these who dont see a way out of their problems, but money is no reason for suicide, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. High time for a arrest warrant for negligent homicide against PM, finance and commerce-minister. If they are to stupid to make their job, they should resign now or go to prision for murder, these thugs.

[timewilltell]

I wonder if people realize that many farmers have borrowed money in order to continue given they haven't been paid for months. Without income from what they have sold because of the failings of the government, they really don't have much choice unless they want to stop farming.

These money lenders charge somewhere between 50% a year, if loan backed by property! interest and registration fees charged up front and added to the loan. Failure to pay and the asset, usually valued at several times the amount borrowed, goes to the lender. Too much to repay and too much to lose snares the farmer into the cycle of debt because they are too ignorant to see where the cycle will lead.

For others pledging no assets the rates are multiples higher and utterly unfeasible, yet when there is no hope in sight or maybe medical or vets bills to pay, can seem the way to go if you have no money.

Thailand has a law capping interest for private lenders at 15% precisely to stop this sort of thing, but for some reason the courts do not seem to do much to enforce or punish money lenders who basically steal property through this opportunity even though it is illegal.

This form of moneylending should be exposed and stopped with harsh penalties meted out to those who continue to take advantage of people this way. Thai justice is not being done.

[edwinchester]

I wonder if people realize that many farmers have borrowed money in order to continue given they haven't been paid for months. Without income from what they have sold because of the failings of the government, they really don't have much choice unless they want to stop farming.

These money lenders charge somewhere between 50% a year, if loan backed by property! interest and registration fees charged up front and added to the loan. Failure to pay and the asset, usually valued at several times the amount borrowed, goes to the lender. Too much to repay and too much to lose snares the farmer into the cycle of debt because they are too ignorant to see where the cycle will lead.

For others pledging no assets the rates are multiples higher and utterly unfeasible, yet when there is no hope in sight or maybe medical or vets bills to pay, can seem the way to go if you have no money.

Thailand has a law capping interest for private lenders at 15% precisely to stop this sort of thing, but for some reason the courts do not seem to do much to enforce or punish money lenders who basically steal property through this opportunity even though it is illegal.

This form of moneylending should be exposed and stopped with harsh penalties meted out to those who continue to take advantage of people this way. Thai justice is not being done.

Where we live the moneylenders are paying a percentage to the police maybe thats why nothing is ever done to solve the problem. Edited February 16, 2014 by edwinchester

[cooked]

Believed to be a result of the rice pledging scheme. Um I believe in the tooth fairy also. The whole scheme has been a complete disaster no argument there but lot of farmers are trying to plant additional crops to cash in. A lot of it is greed and if they just stuck to their normal season they wouldn't find themselves in so much debt. From what my wife tells me anyway who owns numerous fields in the Chai Nat area. Farmers aren't giving the land time to recover after a crop before they are planting more and purchasing fertilisers to keep it producing as fast as possible.

Without doubt farmers are growing too much rice. Where we live 3 sometimes 4 crops a year are grown. The paddy itself is lifeless and that sort of cycle is only possible through the use of pesticides and fertilisers.....alot of.

However that was going on before this debacle as it was still profitable to do even without a 15k subsidy.

In this part of Isaan we only get one crop of hom mali a year, there isn't enough water to cultivate much outside of the rainy season. My son in law is trying to keep his vegetable garden alive but few people here bother. His wife might sell for 100B a day if she's lucky. I get a bit tired of ignorant comments about rice farmers.

Sent from my GT-S7500 using Tapatalk 2

[supaprik]

This is not something unique to Thailand its happening in Australia.

one word....Bullshit...

[chooka]

This is not something unique to Thailand its happening in Australia.

one word....Bullshit...

actually it is not bullshite, farmers do commit suicide in Australia also. I have personally investigated suicides of farmers and completed reports for the coroner.

[Blackmirage2013]

Look, people commit suicide everywhere, all the time....

Maybe this farmer would have committed suicide even if we did not have this rice pledging fiasco. Who says it is linked to rice pledging.

I bet there are other suicides in Thailand by people other than farmers, but they are not reported because there is no correlated event associated with them. Say, for example, students were not granted loans. Then every student who committed suicide during this period would be associated with no loan grants regardless if there was an association or not.

I feel sad for the suicide, but it is a stretch to think every bad thing that happens to farmers is a result of rice pledging. Correlation, not causation!!!!

Makes for a dramatic story though - which Thais love.

[edwinchester]

Believed to be a result of the rice pledging scheme. Um I believe in the tooth fairy also. The whole scheme has been a complete disaster no argument there but lot of farmers are trying to plant additional crops to cash in. A lot of it is greed and if they just stuck to their normal season they wouldn't find themselves in so much debt. From what my wife tells me anyway who owns numerous fields in the Chai Nat area. Farmers aren't giving the land time to recover after a crop before they are planting more and purchasing fertilisers to keep it producing as fast as possible.

Without doubt farmers are growing too much rice. Where we live 3 sometimes 4 crops a year are grown. The paddy itself is lifeless and that sort of cycle is only possible through the use of pesticides and fertilisers.....alot of.

However that was going on before this debacle as it was still profitable to do even without a 15k subsidy.

In this part of Isaan we only get one crop of hom mali a year, there isn't enough water to cultivate much outside of the rainy season. My son in law is trying to keep his vegetable garden alive but few people here bother. His wife might sell for 100B a day if she's lucky. I get a bit tired of ignorant comments about rice farmers.

Sent from my GT-S7500 using Tapatalk 2

I should have added that we live in Kanchanaburi which has a fantastic irrigation system of canals which makes 3 or 4 crops a year possible.

My Thai family are also rice farmers.

[sean in udon]

The various posters who are saying suicide is selfish, suicide isn't the answer, there's always another way. You are entitled to your opinion and you probably have a very strong survival instinct, but that's part of how you are wired.

We are not all wired the same as you and we all deal with stress differently. Most people that successfully commit suicide have gone down a spiral of depression until they hit rock bottom and can see no way out. Consider the poor level of education as well, it generally isn't conducive to 'thinking out of the box' and finding an alternative solution. And there's that Thailand favourite 'losing face'. Maybe facing up to the problems you have means you lose face, not something the Thai's seem to be good at.

Some also consider it an 'easy' way out. Easy? Could you put a rope around your neck and hang yourself? I couldn't.

Financial stress in particular, seems to be a male dominated field and I've been there. Not at the same level as the farmers but enough for it to be consuming my thoughts almost constantly day and night. It's not a nice place to be.

I empathise with the farmers and dearly wish that those in authority will be held accountable for the devastating result of their actions. If not in this life, then maybe the next.

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Edited February 16, 2014 by sean in udon

[slapout]

What a selfish self absorbed act to commit suicide.

To judge someone's act, whose situation, personality, health, family etc are unknown to you, with such a statement is a indication of several failures in your throught process, in reguard to social and fellow human sympathy.

[seajae]

What a selfish self absorbed act to commit suicide.

obviously you have never been in that position to be so crass about it. When you see your whole life crashing down around you, everything you have worked for simply dissapearing before your eyes you tend to get very disheartened. Watching your family struggle to survive, knowing your house will be taken away, losing all your self respect/blaming yourself tends to push some people over the edge, anyone that can put them down is simply a total self absorbed moron. These people need help, I suggest you pull your head out of your arrrr.... and show some sympathy but then any shin supporters wouldnt give a sh*t anyway.

[geriatrickid]

What a garbage story. No opinion from a forensic psychiatrist, no autopsy results to rule out an underlying organic factor, no investigation to determine if there are other factors involved such as alcoholism, misadventure or existing mental illness.

The conclusion of suicide from stress is made solely upon the wife's statement that stress over the debt combined with not being able to pay his home mortgage possibly led him to kill himself. Next time a westerner takes a leap off a balcony keep that in mind, when considering the contributing factors. The money issues are probably one of many other contributing factors. In any given year, long before the rice pledging program, farmers were killing themselves, just as other Thais do every year in Thailand.

BTW, suicide is a reportable activity under WHO protocols .20 and 30 years ago, Thai suicide rates were significantly higher. The decrease coincided with the period when Thaksin became PM and it reached its lowest point in the final year of Thaksin's administration. It increased slightly under the military junta and Democrat governments. Using the logic of some people, the Thai governments of the 80's and 90's should be condemned because the suicide rates were significantly higher during that period and Thaksin should be praised.

The reality is that as all governments since 2001 have provided some mental health services. Drug and alcohol addiction/dependency is not as bad as it was 30 years ago, some HIV and cancer patients have hope, and the population is more prosperous compared to the 80's and 90's. These changes are reflected in the suicide rate.

Edited February 16, 2014 by geriatrickid

[Scamper]

The tragedies ensuing from the rice scheme have embedded themselves in the consciousness of the Thai people. It has effective changed the nation. The country will not the same because of this. And it will forever alter historians' view of the Pheu Thai party. And yet, not once have Pheu Thai ever offered an apology, not one gesture of contrition. They have never owned responsibility for this debacle. They have expended much energy blaming everyone else, however. Everyone but themselves. It is something they seem biologically incapable of doing. They will never take responsibility for this. For that reason alone, they have forfeited their right to govern.

[zydeco]

The Yingluck PTP government's treatment of its own most prized constituency puts me to mind of Mark Twain's remark about Bret Harte, who also had a rather troublesome history with creditors to the point he abandoned his family. Twain referred to Harte as, "The Immortal Bilk."

[Bluespunk]

Look, people commit suicide everywhere, all the time....

Maybe this farmer would have committed suicide even if we did not have this rice pledging fiasco. Who says it is linked to rice pledging.

I bet there are other suicides in Thailand by people other than farmers, but they are not reported because there is no correlated event associated with them. Say, for example, students were not granted loans. Then every student who committed suicide during this period would be associated with no loan grants regardless if there was an association or not.

I feel sad for the suicide, but it is a stretch to think every bad thing that happens to farmers is a result of rice pledging. Correlation, not causation!!!!

Makes for a dramatic story though - which Thais love.

Not a stretch at all.

Clear reason for this unfortunate man's suicide was financial stress [his wife's words more or less, not speculation on my part]. That is linked to the non payment for his rice.

I'm not saying that PT are directly responsible, could well be other factors, but the botched job they have made of paying for the rice is creating a lot of misery in farmers lives and that is too much to cope with for some of them.

[Skywalker69]

Where are all these bitter inhuman unsympathetic remarks about suicide coming from?

Are you so removed from reality? Are you so lacking in compassion to realise the depth of despair some individuals sink into that their only feeling is to take their own life as a relief?

It's mostly the so called red supporters, you know the ones whom say they support the poor.

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