Farmer hangs self because he has no money to pay creditor's bank



SUKHOTHAI: -- An aging rice farmer committed suicide by hanging himself at his house for being unable to settle his debt with the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

The tragic incident took place this morning at house No 100/5 in Village 5, Tambon Ban Mai Sookkasem, Sukhothai’s Kong Krailat district. The victim was identified as Mr Duangchan Uttamano, 66.

Mr Duangchan’s wife, Mrs Sanim told Kong Krailat police that her husband was taking a bath while she was cooking in the kitchen this morning. But after finishing with the cooking, she went out through the front door to water plants but found the victim’s body dangling with a rope around his neck and tied to the ceiling beam.

She said she screamed for help and neighbours rushed in to untie the rope but it was too late to save Mr Duangchan.

Two last letters written by the victim were found inside the room. One reads: “no rice farming and hence no money to repay the debt with the BAAC. No water in the well and, therefore, no rice farming and no money to repay the debt on March 20. Pity for my own fate, there is no way out and don’t know where to find the money. Good bye. No need to take dad to see doctor because I did it myself.”

Mrs Sanim said her husband owed the bank 350,000 baht and on March 20 he has to pay the bank at least 100,000 baht.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/farmer-hangs-self-because-he-has-no-money-to-pay-creditors-bank

-- Thai PBS 2015-03-19

No better way to illustrate this tragedy than a map of Sukhothai!!

It was Prayuth who ordered them not to plant additional crops.

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

It was Prayuth who ordered them not to plant additional crops.

Because there was no water.. the guy did not have water in his well. Did you actually read it or not ? Not a word to blame Prayut.. the guy himself blames the drought. But no you had to drag Prayut in. Says a lot about you.

. No water in the well and, therefore, no rice farming

Its hard to grow rice without water (impossible) so he would have lost even more if he had.

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

Try something new!!

Read the OP before you reply.......................

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

I do not see any mention or connection with the previous administration in the OP

As " robblock" says in the preceding post ( and it is not often that I can say I agree with him!)" No water in the well and, therefore, no rice farming"

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

This has nothing with the previous government to do. Many rice farmers have two harvest a year but Prayut ordered to cut down on the water and not release water for the 2nd harvest. He wanted to have one harvest a year for all farmers.

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

This has nothing with the previous government to do. Many rice farmers have two harvest a year but Prayut ordered to cut down on the water and not release water for the 2nd harvest. He wanted to have one harvest a year for all farmers.

That's because there isn't enough water.... dohhhh!

Very sad Mr.Farmer. Sad your life ended in this way. You did your best........

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

Try something new!!

Read the OP before you reply.......................

The debt was incurred when?

Siampolee is spot on.

A very sad story and outcome for those left to pick - up the pieces.

Would be interesting to know why he had such a massive debt before making any further comments.

Very sad story ... my heart goes out to the farmers wife ... must be terrible for her.

but worse may be that the debt is still outstanding and the farm is probably mortgaged as security. The BAAC will still go after the money .. so now the wife has the sadness of her husbands death and the BAAC will hound her until they get there 100,000 payment ... until the next one is due.

It was Prayuth who ordered them not to plant additional crops.

typical , where was the water to do it with or he is miraculously going to start dry farming rice, you really need to grow a brain to be taken seriously. Simply trying to blame the govt for all the crap is getting beyond a joke, now you are trying to blame them for the drought, mate you are really clutching at straws here.

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

Someone has already provided a reply and it applies to you and your uninformed comment

Because there was no water.. the guy did not have water in his well. Did you actually read it or not ? Not a word to blame the previous government.. the guy himself blames the drought. But no you had to drag the previous government in. Says a lot about you.

. No water in the well and, therefore, no rice farming

Its hard to grow rice without water (impossible) so he would have lost even more if he had.

thanks robblok.

A very sad story and outcome for those left to pick - up the pieces.

Would be interesting to know why he had such a massive debt before making any further comments.

They borrow ahead of harvest time to finance purchase of seed crops, fertilizers, pesticides etc. They also use the future crop to pay past debts. If he's like most farmers, he's still in debt on plantings from a few years ago. It's a never ending cycle of debt.

But the rice pledging scheme enriched all the farmers. After all, as we are told ad infinitum, it was designed to lose money and the poor farmers were paid double the market price for all that rice sitting in storage, so how could he have been in debt? Or, just maybe, the whole scheme was a scam from the top down, and the vast majority of the poor farmers received not one sataeng extra from it, but instead had to borrow heavily to pay for the fertiliser and other necessities that mysteriously increased in price the same time the scam scheme began?

I can't believe how quick some posters are to politicize this tragedy. In doing so-- whichever camp they cheer-- they join in a long (and bipartisan) tradition: taking advantage of the sad circumstances of the Thai farmer to further their own interests.

I give up. Some here are determined to pin the blame for this unfortunate souls suicide on one or other of the sides un Thailands political conflict.

Ir only makes the whole affair more tragic. He was in debt.He despaired. It was neither Thaksin, Yingluck or the Juntas doing.

There is a great deal of farmers who have been in debt and they didn't qualify to join the Missmanaged and ineptly handled rice scheme, but that doesn't suit many people as its always about politics.

People need to think before they post at times, NOBODY here knows what and how his debts occurred and for how many years he's had those debts.

He couldn't diversify from rice as he still needs water for cultivation of whatever crop was to replace it.

There is a great deal of farmers who have been in debt and they didn't qualify to join the Missmanaged and ineptly handled rice scheme, but that doesn't suit many people as its always about politics.

People need to think before they post at times, NOBODY here knows what and how his debts occurred and for how many years he's had those debts.

He couldn't diversify from rice as he still needs water for cultivation of whatever crop was to replace it.

But some crops use a LOT LESS water!

What crops use NO water ? As this was the case with this poor bloke!!

There is a great deal of farmers who have been in debt and they didn't qualify to join the Missmanaged and ineptly handled rice scheme, but that doesn't suit many people as its always about politics.

People need to think before they post at times, NOBODY here knows what and how his debts occurred and for how many years he's had those debts.

He couldn't diversify from rice as he still needs water for cultivation of whatever crop was to replace it.

But some crops use a LOT LESS water!

You are clearly ignorant. Paddy land is only suitable for rice. You cannot just switch to a less water intensive crop.

What crops use NO water ? As this was the case with this poor bloke!!

Sorry. That you can't read my comment.. I said less water. And if farmers changed last year when they were told. He / they would have had water.. but that's just semantics!

Thailand as a whole needs to do more for the agriculture sector. Prayuth, agricultural ministry and department of irrigation are trying to sector farming to ensure manageable water supplies. Eg lower water consumption crops in areas that tend to have drought and also build more local water storage sources. This problem didn't just occur within the last 10 months!

What part of the OP hasn't quite caught on to you yet when rhe poor blokes stated he had NO water in his well?

That's not a little bit less for a different crop, that's NO water for any crop, hence why I asked you what crops don't need water?

But the rice pledging scheme enriched all the farmers. After all, as we are told ad infinitum, it was designed to lose money and the poor farmers were paid double the market price for all that rice sitting in storage, so how could he have been in debt? Or, just maybe, the whole scheme was a scam from the top down, and the vast majority of the poor farmers received not one sataeng extra from it, but instead had to borrow heavily to pay for the fertiliser and other necessities that mysteriously increased in price the same time the scam scheme began?

And for the tens of thousands of farmers NOT in the scheme what do you say to them?

To be fair...and let's at least try... we know he had a large unpaid debt to BAAC... But we don't know what led to him accumulating that unpaid debt -- buying for a future crop that never came because of the drought, unpaid past money owed from BAAC, buying a car/truck under the tax promotion scheme, gambling, drinking, or any and all of the above. No one here really knows why he owed what he owed. Though we do apparently know why he wasn't going to be able to make the upcoming payment that was due.

But what I'd like to know is -- what would have happened if he had stayed and missed the upcoming 100,000 amount owned to the bank. What would BAAC have done about it? Presumably not killed the guy. Can't even tell from the OP article whether he actually owned his own house and land, or was just renting/leasing it.

Indeed we see yet again the tragic inheritance from the Great Rice pledging Scam Scheme.

The previous administration indeed do have ''blood upon their hands.''

Someone has already provided a reply and it applies to you and your uninformed comment

Because there was no water.. the guy did not have water in his well. Did you actually read it or not ? Not a word to blame the previous government.. the guy himself blames the drought. But no you had to drag the previous government in. Says a lot about you.

. No water in the well and, therefore, no rice farming

Its hard to grow rice without water (impossible) so he would have lost even more if he had.

thanks robblok.

How much money did the previous gov't allocate for water management systems to be put in place?

What was done with that money?

Has their inaction helped matters

Yes TS and TS have blood on their hands

I give up. Some here are determined to pin the blame for this unfortunate souls suicide on one or other of the sides un Thailands political conflict.

Ir only makes the whole affair more tragic. He was in debt.He despaired. It was neither Thaksin, Yingluck or the Juntas doing.

I often wonder why these type of news articles are even posted here other than to antagonize people. People commit suicide all the time and they are not recognized. IMO threads like this should not be posted if for no other reason than common courtesy and respect for the deceased family.

I give up. Some here are determined to pin the blame for this unfortunate souls suicide on one or other of the sides un Thailands political conflict.

Ir only makes the whole affair more tragic. He was in debt.He despaired. It was neither Thaksin, Yingluck or the Juntas doing.

I often wonder why these type of news articles are even posted here other than to antagonize people. People commit suicide all the time and they are not recognized. IMO threads like this should not be posted if for no other reason than common courtesy and respect for the deceased family.

In the last 2 weeks how many topics has there been about farangs leaping off buildings committing suicide for many various reasons and they never turn into finger pointing political blame sessions?