Farmer kills himself over debts from unpaid rice money: Thai govt's rice-pledging scheme

[webfact]

Rice farmer kills himself over debts from unpaid rice money

BANGKOK: -- A 36-year-old farmer of Chai Nat province killed himself by drinking coffee mixed with poison.

Supamit Sathong was pronounced dead at Chainatnarentorn hospital in Muang district of Chai Nat province Wednesday.

His father 74-year-old Sawek Sathong said his son was suffering from stress after he sold rice worth 220,000 baht to the government under the rice-pledging scheme.

He said his son received two vouchers from the rice sale with payment due in December last year.

But until now, his son still was not paid.

He said his son went to the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives’ Chai Nat branch every week asking if he could get money from his two vouchers.

But bank officials said the government has not yet transferred money to the bank to pay farmers who have the vouchers.

He said his son has no choice but to pledge the two vouchers as collateral to borrow 100,000 baht to pay for the land rents of 40,000 baht, and the rest as cost to buy grains to do the new planting, and as rent for the plough.

However drought has damaged his new crop while the money he borrowed also was not yet received.

His stress then developed, prompting him to kill himself to escape all the problems, Sawek said.

He also said his son was just married in September last year.

He recalled that on April 29, his son bade farewell to his mother saying “Mom I’m Leaving” and also tried to bid him farewell.

But before his son could say a word, he suddenly fell to the ground with arms and legs bending together and trembling.

He was rushed to Manorom hospital first and later transferred to Chainatnarentorn hospital as his condition deteriorates fast.

Doctors said later he took rodenticide and came too late to hospital. He died later today

He became the 10thth farmers to have committed suicide with reason of suffering stress because of the late payment for their rice.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/rice-farmer-kills-debts-unpaid-rice-money/


-- Thai PBS 2014-05-01

[issanaus]

RIP

another wasted life as a result of political greed and incompetence

Unfortunately more may follow

[NongKhaiKid]

Another thread reports Thailand will take part in World Expo Milan 2015 under the logo ' Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life '.

Will the agricultural aspect of the Thai exhibit being explaining the wonderful benefits of the rice pledging scheme ?

Of yes there are benefits but not necessarily for those it's supposed to reach although YL has said many times the scheme has enriched farmers' lives.

Enriched is definitely an operative word but not sure all the farmers would agree.

[Piichai]

More blood on Thaksin's hands.

[Pimay1]

Very sad. May this young man rest in peace. Condolences to his family. He was a victim of unscrupulous and conniving people through no fault of his own. If one believes there is a hell which I do, I believe there will be a special place for people who plot schemes to take advantage of the poor for their self-enrichment. And rightly so.

[kurnell]

From the numerous videos I keep finding online, Thais have been killing themselves en masse for years.

[WoopyDoo]

I bet Yingluck and the PTP don't bat an eyelid... They have his money in their numerous offshore accounts and sleep in silk sheets and drink the finest of wines...

They don't care about stupid farmers and their problems... Only on election day do they give a shit.... Let's all hope the farmers strike back by voting with their feet.

Alas.... All the staunch red shirt areas all were paid... It's politics and a pathway into the trough... The life of a few farmers????.... small price to pay as far as this regime is concerned.

[Thait Spot]

Tragic on many levels

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[doctorproc156]

This is slave labour

[bulekee]

I bet Yingluck and the PTP don't bat an eyelid... They have his money in their numerous offshore accounts and sleep in silk sheets and drink the finest of wines...

They don't care about stupid farmers and their problems... Only on election day do they give a shit.... Let's all hope the farmers strike back by voting with their feet.

Alas.... All the staunch red shirt areas all were paid... It's politics and a pathway into the trough... The life of a few farmers????.... small price to pay as far as this regime is concerned.

[love1012]

I bet Yingluck and the PTP don't bat an eyelid... They have his money in their numerous offshore accounts and sleep in silk sheets and drink the finest of wines...

They don't care about stupid farmers and their problems... Only on election day do they give a shit.... Let's all hope the farmers strike back by voting with their feet.

Alas.... All the staunch red shirt areas all were paid... It's politics and a pathway into the trough... The life of a few farmers????.... small price to pay as far as this regime is concerned.

Very well put..............red apologists take note!!

[trainman34014]

Just another example of what you get when you vote for thugs in suits.

RIP this latest casualty.

[hawker9000]

From the numerous videos I keep finding online, Thais have been killing themselves en masse for years.

That has got to be the lamest excuse for PTP'S incompetence and irresponsibility I've ever heard.

[wprime]

I bet Yingluck and the PTP don't bat an eyelid... They have his money in their numerous offshore accounts and sleep in silk sheets and drink the finest of wines...

They don't care about stupid farmers and their problems... Only on election day do they give a shit.... Let's all hope the farmers strike back by voting with their feet.

Alas.... All the staunch red shirt areas all were paid... It's politics and a pathway into the trough... The life of a few farmers????.... small price to pay as far as this regime is concerned.

Very well put..............red apologists take note!!

The red apologists believe the PDRC's actions since November caused the government not to be able to pay the farmers since September.

[issanaus]

I do not think that people understand the full impact of the rice scheme. The focus understandably has been on those who have not got paid but the impacts are far wider than that.

The scheme significantly distorted the price of rice but also distorted the price of land (rent or buy) inputs like fertiliser which rose in cost but also debt profiles of the farmers.

As we all know most of the better rice land is owned by a relatively small portion of the Thai population - most of whom are not actively engaged in farming but many of those do have significant involvement in upstream transactions. Much of the land that is farmed by the owners is less fertile, has unpredictable water supplies and usually held in small parcels.

The Rice Scheme (RS) triggered an increase in the rents and in land prices. The rent rises ensure that there was an imitate increase in the derived income for some of the wealthiest in Thailand while providing little increase in the income of poor farmers. The increased rice price increased the return on investment for land resulting in price rises.

This had a number of effects but to concentrate on those that affect the poor farmers who were supposed to be the primary benefices of the scheme will suffice to illustrate more issues. The poor had to compete in the market for additional land with the wealthier in society. Armed with higher accepted values and "granted incomes they financed purchases through the government banks who found that they qualified for loans. It would have been a brave loans manager that said the RS was floored and prices would eventually plummet as they have. These farmers now have the situation where they have to try and make repayments with lower prices or unpaid pledges.

It is common quoted that only 18% of the money from the scheme went to poor farmers; the figure that would be interesting to see is what percentage of poor farmers that benefited from the RS. While it is obvious that while the prices were elevated above the prevailing market price of rice it is equally obvious that the increased price of the inputs also did and impacted more on the farmers’ outside the RS.

There has also been other government policies that have impacted on the poorest farmers which are often portrayed as being positive but have had negative impacts and have added to debt burdens. You could pick the increase of the minimum wage as being a positive as many of the small farmers also have work outside the farm to supplement the income from the farm. N the surface this sounds as if it could only be positive, The reality is that many of the farmers are older, had very limited educational opportunities and others have been more reluctant to employ at the higher wages. In addition many of the farmers were also employers at planting and harvest times so the increased wages added to productions costs. One of the obvious strategies that could be used to address this using the higher borrowing power created by the scheme was to invest in more plant and equipment financed loans. The same factors that apply to other loans also apply here.

One of the distortions caused by the scheme was the significant increase in the amount of land that was used for rice production. The distortion has impacted on the cost of the RS, the size of the stock pile that is creating downward pressure on prices. Many parts of Thailand are suffering from drought which is a natural occurrence and one that needs to be factored into farming decision. However there is a relation between the drought and the RS that is worth exploring. The ability of farmers to withstand the drought has been reduced due to debt resulting from non and late payments. In addition farmers would normally receive higher prices for products in these conditions than in normal years but will not because of the stock pile. The further relationship between the drought and the RS is that the scheme encouraged the allocation of more land so more water was used in irrigation leading to the lower dam level so that stored water will not cushion the impact.

This is only a snap shot of some of the issues with the rice scheme ……

There were/are better alternatives that could have been employed if the intention of the scheme had been to help the poor rather than add to the wealth of the rich.

[Mosha]

I bet Yingluck and the PTP don't bat an eyelid... They have his money in their numerous offshore accounts and sleep in silk sheets and drink the finest of wines...

They don't care about stupid farmers and their problems... Only on election day do they give a shit.... Let's all hope the farmers strike back by voting with their feet.

Alas.... All the staunch red shirt areas all were paid... It's politics and a pathway into the trough... The life of a few farmers????.... small price to pay as far as this regime is concerned.

Very well put..............red apologists take note!!

The red apologists believe the PDRC's actions since November caused the government not to be able to pay the farmers since September.

Given they have the attention span of a gold fish, I'm not surprised.

[antimedia]

From the numerous videos I keep finding online, Thais have been killing themselves en masse for years.

Suicides has jumped ten fold since Thaksin and his family arrived on the scene - see, I can make an ambiguous and pitiful statement too.

[Maggusoil]

All so hard to believe. Politicians. . . and then we're expected to vote for them. . .

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Another thread reports Thailand will take part in World Expo Milan 2015 under the logo ' Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life '.

Will the agricultural aspect of the Thai exhibit being explaining the wonderful benefits of the rice pledging scheme ?

Of yes there are benefits but not necessarily for those it's supposed to reach although YL has said many times the scheme has enriched farmers' lives.

Enriched is definitely an operative word but not sure all the farmers would agree.

You've gotta be joking

[renaissanc]

In spite of the hardships, which Thaksin & Co. Ltd. have caused, the farmers will still take the 300 Baht at election time and vote the crooks back into power. Som num na.

[WhizBang]

Yingluck, et al., all need to be brought up on charges of manslaughter. Their ignorance, greed, uncaring and selfishness goes beyond the pale.

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I do not think that people understand the full impact of the rice scheme. The focus understandably has been on those who have not got paid but the impacts are far wider than that.

The scheme significantly distorted the price of rice but also distorted the price of land (rent or buy) inputs like fertiliser which rose in cost but also debt profiles of the farmers.

As we all know most of the better rice land is owned by a relatively small portion of the Thai population - most of whom are not actively engaged in farming but many of those do have significant involvement in upstream transactions. Much of the land that is farmed by the owners is less fertile, has unpredictable water supplies and usually held in small parcels.

The Rice Scheme (RS) triggered an increase in the rents and in land prices. The rent rises ensure that there was an imitate increase in the derived income for some of the wealthiest in Thailand while providing little increase in the income of poor farmers. The increased rice price increased the return on investment for land resulting in price rises.

This had a number of effects but to concentrate on those that affect the poor farmers who were supposed to be the primary benefices of the scheme will suffice to illustrate more issues. The poor had to compete in the market for additional land with the wealthier in society. Armed with higher accepted values and "granted incomes they financed purchases through the government banks who found that they qualified for loans. It would have been a brave loans manager that said the RS was floored and prices would eventually plummet as they have. These farmers now have the situation where they have to try and make repayments with lower prices or unpaid pledges.

It is common quoted that only 18% of the money from the scheme went to poor farmers; the figure that would be interesting to see is what percentage of poor farmers that benefited from the RS. While it is obvious that while the prices were elevated above the prevailing market price of rice it is equally obvious that the increased price of the inputs also did and impacted more on the farmers’ outside the RS.

There has also been other government policies that have impacted on the poorest farmers which are often portrayed as being positive but have had negative impacts and have added to debt burdens. You could pick the increase of the minimum wage as being a positive as many of the small farmers also have work outside the farm to supplement the income from the farm. N the surface this sounds as if it could only be positive, The reality is that many of the farmers are older, had very limited educational opportunities and others have been more reluctant to employ at the higher wages. In addition many of the farmers were also employers at planting and harvest times so the increased wages added to productions costs. One of the obvious strategies that could be used to address this using the higher borrowing power created by the scheme was to invest in more plant and equipment financed loans. The same factors that apply to other loans also apply here.

One of the distortions caused by the scheme was the significant increase in the amount of land that was used for rice production. The distortion has impacted on the cost of the RS, the size of the stock pile that is creating downward pressure on prices. Many parts of Thailand are suffering from drought which is a natural occurrence and one that needs to be factored into farming decision. However there is a relation between the drought and the RS that is worth exploring. The ability of farmers to withstand the drought has been reduced due to debt resulting from non and late payments. In addition farmers would normally receive higher prices for products in these conditions than in normal years but will not because of the stock pile. The further relationship between the drought and the RS is that the scheme encouraged the allocation of more land so more water was used in irrigation leading to the lower dam level so that stored water will not cushion the impact.

This is only a snap shot of some of the issues with the rice scheme ……

There were/are better alternatives that could have been employed if the intention of the scheme had been to help the poor rather than add to the wealth of the rich.

A very good article, I think Abhisit and the dems had a better understanding of the farmers in general , they had implemented some good policy that the PTP dismantled, to buy votes, as you say there are plus and minus, the government must insure when implementing policy that it never has a negative effect, something that the PTP seem to introduce in everything they do.

[NongKhaiKid]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Another thread reports Thailand will take part in World Expo Milan 2015 under the logo ' Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life '.

Will the agricultural aspect of the Thai exhibit being explaining the wonderful benefits of the rice pledging scheme ?

Of yes there are benefits but not necessarily for those it's supposed to reach although YL has said many times the scheme has enriched farmers' lives.

Enriched is definitely an operative word but not sure all the farmers would agree.

You've gotta be joking

Absolutely Not, Absolutely Serious

[kennypowers]

Very sad. But, this is happening all over Thailand, rice scheme or not. The poor are perpetually in debt to loan sharks and land owners, regardless of not being paid for their rice last year.

Yes, this government has to go, but god help Thailand if Suthep the dictator gets in - the poor will be worse off than they've ever been.

Edited May 1, 2014 by kennypowers

[marko kok prong]

Poor bloke,expect tomorrow we will have another announcement that everyone will be paid by the end of the month AGAIN!

[onlycw]

Okay, it's good to get some facts. Non-payment since 2013. Now read the other thread and consider the Commerce minister's quote: "With the good rice sales, he said the ministry therefore planned to request another 40 billion baht from the government to pay rice farmers joining the rice pledging program."

While the government has been unable to pay its obligations, they keep signing up new farmers, taking on rice they plan to sell at about 1/3 the purchase price? Amazing Thailand! Talk about kicking the can down the road!

What about total clarity and transparancy regarding this scheme?

* how much rice is there

* how much had been paid so far / how much remains to be paid?

* how will they raise the money to meet all obligations?!?

RIP, poor man. What a pity, his poor wife!

Hope they will impeach the head from which this fish has been stinking.

Edited May 1, 2014 by metisdead
Font reset to default forum font.

[Mr Yim]

I bet Yingluck and the PTP don't bat an eyelid... They have his money in their numerous offshore accounts and sleep in silk sheets and drink the finest of wines...

They don't care about stupid farmers and their problems... Only on election day do they give a shit.... Let's all hope the farmers strike back by voting with their feet.

Alas.... All the staunch red shirt areas all were paid... It's politics and a pathway into the trough... The life of a few farmers????.... small price to pay as far as this regime is concerned.

Very well put..............red apologists take note!!

That's politics the world over. Politicians only care about your vote.

[Valentine]

I do not think that people understand the full impact of the rice scheme. The focus understandably has been on those who have not got paid but the impacts are far wider than that.

The scheme significantly distorted the price of rice but also distorted the price of land (rent or buy) inputs like fertiliser which rose in cost but also debt profiles of the farmers.

As we all know most of the better rice land is owned by a relatively small portion of the Thai population - most of whom are not actively engaged in farming but many of those do have significant involvement in upstream transactions. Much of the land that is farmed by the owners is less fertile, has unpredictable water supplies and usually held in small parcels.

The Rice Scheme (RS) triggered an increase in the rents and in land prices. The rent rises ensure that there was an imitate increase in the derived income for some of the wealthiest in Thailand while providing little increase in the income of poor farmers. The increased rice price increased the return on investment for land resulting in price rises.

This had a number of effects but to concentrate on those that affect the poor farmers who were supposed to be the primary benefices of the scheme will suffice to illustrate more issues. The poor had to compete in the market for additional land with the wealthier in society. Armed with higher accepted values and "granted incomes they financed purchases through the government banks who found that they qualified for loans. It would have been a brave loans manager that said the RS was floored and prices would eventually plummet as they have. These farmers now have the situation where they have to try and make repayments with lower prices or unpaid pledges.

It is common quoted that only 18% of the money from the scheme went to poor farmers; the figure that would be interesting to see is what percentage of poor farmers that benefited from the RS. While it is obvious that while the prices were elevated above the prevailing market price of rice it is equally obvious that the increased price of the inputs also did and impacted more on the farmers’ outside the RS.

There has also been other government policies that have impacted on the poorest farmers which are often portrayed as being positive but have had negative impacts and have added to debt burdens. You could pick the increase of the minimum wage as being a positive as many of the small farmers also have work outside the farm to supplement the income from the farm. N the surface this sounds as if it could only be positive, The reality is that many of the farmers are older, had very limited educational opportunities and others have been more reluctant to employ at the higher wages. In addition many of the farmers were also employers at planting and harvest times so the increased wages added to productions costs. One of the obvious strategies that could be used to address this using the higher borrowing power created by the scheme was to invest in more plant and equipment financed loans. The same factors that apply to other loans also apply here.

One of the distortions caused by the scheme was the significant increase in the amount of land that was used for rice production. The distortion has impacted on the cost of the RS, the size of the stock pile that is creating downward pressure on prices. Many parts of Thailand are suffering from drought which is a natural occurrence and one that needs to be factored into farming decision. However there is a relation between the drought and the RS that is worth exploring. The ability of farmers to withstand the drought has been reduced due to debt resulting from non and late payments. In addition farmers would normally receive higher prices for products in these conditions than in normal years but will not because of the stock pile. The further relationship between the drought and the RS is that the scheme encouraged the allocation of more land so more water was used in irrigation leading to the lower dam level so that stored water will not cushion the impact.

This is only a snap shot of some of the issues with the rice scheme ……

There were/are better alternatives that could have been employed if the intention of the scheme had been to help the poor rather than add to the wealth of the rich.

Your intimation of the true intent of the scheme is quite good. It would have been easy enough to keep fertiliser prices down, identify the truly poor farmers, whether they own land or not & assist them which would not have been detrimental to the economy & Thailand would still be exporting large volumes of rice. However, that would not have helped the true intent aside which was on top of the vote buying factor.

[Eric Loh]

Paying the farmers was not a problem before Suterp started his personal crusade. Agree rice scheme must be reviewed but it has nothing to do with payment which has been hampered by the PDRC intimidation tactics.

[Gunna]

Very sad. But, this is happening all over Thailand, rice scheme or not. The poor are perpetually in debt to loan sharks and land owners, regardless of not being paid for their rice last year.

Yes, this government has to go, but god help Thailand if Suthep the dictator gets in - the poor will be worse off than they've ever been.

One of the many problems of the Rice Scam was that the farmers believed Thaksin/PT when they were told they would be better off , so they went and borrowed more than usual. Many rent their land they forgot to factor in the increase in land rents by the owners, plus others rented more land or borrowed to plant an extra crop . So now lots of farmers have found they they are actually further in debt than they previously before the Scam started, especially if they put a deposit down on a new car as well with it's monthly repayments and expenses.