Thai rice farmer hangs himself over mounting debts

[webfact]

Rice farmer hangs himself over mounting debts
By Sayan Chucham
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A 46-year-old rice farmer in Phichit's Muang district committed suicide by hanging himself yesterday morning allegedly due to overwhelming debts.

A police investigation found that Chid Chusri left home on Wednesday night to "check on water pumps" and didn't return. His relatives went looking for him and found his body hanging from a tree in his rice field at 8.30am yesterday.

His older brother, Siplapachai Chusri, told police that Chid had been under a lot of stress because he had debts amounting to Bt700,000 - more than Bt400,000 of which was owed to a local branch of Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BACC). He said Chid had recently borrowed Bt7,000 from a relative to pay the bank's debt interest.

Chid had been among a group Tambon Ban Bung villagers who joined forces two months ago to ask provincial and government officials for relief from their debt burden.

Thitikorn Sansuwan, manager of the Khamang branch of BACC, said Chid owed the bank Bt440,000 and paid Bt4,919 in interest on Monday, so the bank postponed his debt repayment until next year. The bank said it would provide Chid's family with Bt70,000 for funeral assistance, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Rice-farmer-hangs-himself-over-mounting-debts-30256821.html


-- The Nation 2015-03-27

[Ricardo]

Tragic that this still continues even now, the lower market-prices and the accumulated-debts of years are a millstone round their necks, and it will take years for their industry to ever get back to anything like normal again.

Similarly the accumulated-debt run-up by the previous administration hasn't yet been paid-off, merely temporarily rolled-over by the BAAC under government guarantees, the whole thing was a cluster-<deleted> of classic proportions, even without the corruption involved !

"All Thais will be rich after six months" was the mantra ! Never forget, never repeat, never fall for that rhetoric again !

[greenchair]

And the solution is. ...

Give the unsuspecting farmers another loan, to repay the loan that they can't pay.

[Tokay]

The sooner the these farmers stop borrowing money, the better. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and it's an endless cycle.

[Searat7]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

[LuckyLew]

The should charge those responsible for lending him so much money with manslaughter

Seems like no chance he could repay those kinds of loans

[robblok]

The guy was paying quite a lot on his loan.. probably an unsecured one. Our mortgage (about the same amount left) attracts less then half of its interest. Then again banks make you pay more if you are more of a risk.

It looks like bankers don't check to see if people can ever pay back over here.

Sad to hear this but something has to change here.. the farmers are just not as efficient as their Vietnamese counterparts. And if you cant turn a profit you should stop. Of course the rice scam has screwed up prices big time (both lower rice price as higher rent and fertilizers) Cutesy of the previous government. Combine that with the drought... and you get this.

[Artisi]

A tragedy as usual in more ways than one as you can assume the family is still in debt.

The only saving grace is he didn't take another 149 innocent people with him.

[thesetat2013]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

They use their land deeds to borrow.

Last year so many did this to plant their rice crops for that stupid scheme and it will take many more years before we stop seeing articles like this one.

Who will repay that loan now or will the family lose their land?

[rametindallas]

Rice farmer hangs himself over mounting debts

Yingluck's government cost the country more than Bt. 7 Billion to give this man a comfortable living. Surely the farmers should all be rich by now. What happened, Ms Yingluck? Oh, right. Only 20% of all that money actually went to farmers and in the process, the program drove up their expenses for land leases, fertilizer, equipment, rice seedlings, etc. Of course, by making them believe the program would go on for years, they all went into more debt to expand to take advantage of the record prices the government was paying. Too bad you don't have a conscience. Keep telling yourself the program was, 'to help the poor farmers'.

[soalbundy]

The sooner the these farmers stop borrowing money, the better. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and it's an endless cycle.

You are a genius aren't you, what do you think they should do. Traditionally they roll over debt,they borrow to cover the cost of planting rice and living costs until the harvest, the proceeds from which they use to pay back the debt and the cycle starts over again. It's risky because they use their land as collateral. If they have a bad harvest or there is a drought they have to borrow even more. They don't have a pension coming in from Europe every month. This time has been made worse for many,me included, because the government still hasn't released funds to pay many of the farmers for the 2013 Harvest the result is many have had to take on dangerous levels of debt to keep going and get prices from the millers now that don't even cover their planting and harvest costs. I can afford to simply not plant anything anymore although i have been left with a 200,000 Baht overdraft at my German bank for the 2013 costs. Some of you write statements with no idea what these people go through just to put food in their mouths.

[Bluespunk]

"The bank said it would provide Chid's family with Bt70,000 for funeral assistance, he said."

And the debt? I'm guessing that's still owing and the family have to now meet it or lose their land if it was used as collateral.

[wabothai]

The man should not have been able to get further loans any way. Shame on the greedy banks who care less about human suffering.

He should have rented out his fields and get work in the construction field.

Feel sorry fot his family though.

[robblok]

The sooner the these farmers stop borrowing money, the better. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and it's an endless cycle.

You are a genius aren't you, what do you think they should do. Traditionally they roll over debt,they borrow to cover the cost of planting rice and living costs until the harvest, the proceeds from which they use to pay back the debt and the cycle starts over again. It's risky because they use their land as collateral. If they have a bad harvest or there is a drought they have to borrow even more. They don't have a pension coming in from Europe every month. This time has been made worse for many,me included, because the government still hasn't released funds to pay many of the farmers for the 2013 Harvest the result is many have had to take on dangerous levels of debt to keep going and get prices from the millers now that don't even cover their planting and harvest costs. I can afford to simply not plant anything anymore although i have been left with a 200,000 Baht overdraft at my German bank for the 2013 costs. Some of you write statements with no idea what these people go through just to put food in their mouths.

Is a factory job then not better.. I mean after they have completed a harvest successfully. Then just stop with it and work in a factory.. no risk.. steady income. If you can't make it as a farmer IMHO it seems stupid to go on and on and on deeper in debt.

If my current work dries up.. I will have to change to I would not like it and it would be hard.. but else it would be pointless.

[soalbundy]

The man should not have been able to get further loans any way. Shame on the greedy banks who care less about human suffering.

He should have rented out his fields and get work in the construction field.

Feel sorry fot his family though.

because you can get so much money by renting out these days, i rented out 220 rai and got 20,000 Baht. What makes you think everyone is capable of working on the building sites or even if it is so easy to get those jobs these days as plenty of young farmers are having to do just that.

[Neeranam]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

Simple - they have land that the bank pretty well know that will be theirs eventually.

[soalbundy]

The sooner the these farmers stop borrowing money, the better. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and it's an endless cycle.

You are a genius aren't you, what do you think they should do. Traditionally they roll over debt,they borrow to cover the cost of planting rice and living costs until the harvest, the proceeds from which they use to pay back the debt and the cycle starts over again. It's risky because they use their land as collateral. If they have a bad harvest or there is a drought they have to borrow even more. They don't have a pension coming in from Europe every month. This time has been made worse for many,me included, because the government still hasn't released funds to pay many of the farmers for the 2013 Harvest the result is many have had to take on dangerous levels of debt to keep going and get prices from the millers now that don't even cover their planting and harvest costs. I can afford to simply not plant anything anymore although i have been left with a 200,000 Baht overdraft at my German bank for the 2013 costs. Some of you write statements with no idea what these people go through just to put food in their mouths.

Is a factory job then not better.. I mean after they have completed a harvest successfully. Then just stop with it and work in a factory.. no risk.. steady income. If you can't make it as a farmer IMHO it seems stupid to go on and on and on deeper in debt.

If my current work dries up.. I will have to change to I would not like it and it would be hard.. but else it would be pointless.

It would make sense at face value, but he would be inexperienced at such work and would probably be paid the minimum,he would be away from home which means he has two households to run,not much left to save or pay down debts and he would have to save a lot,not just to pay down debt but also to save money to plant the next harvest if he doesn't want to get into debt again. I know many in my village who do just that but it doesn't seem to help much and if he has a young wife that can lead to other forms of trouble. I know a couple who both work on the same building site in BKK in order to send their teenage sons to college,they also grow rice but their debt levels never seem to go down although they seem to live frugally. I have a household with 3 children and don't live the life that one would expect of a farang and yet with school bills health and accident insurances, land taxes high electric bills ( air-con is my one luxury ) Big C food bills,another luxury i suppose i need 60,000 Baht a month.

[lucky11]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

Borrowing money for rice seed, fertiliser, machinery, labour costs etc: and then growing 1 or 2 crops of rice only to be told there is no money left to pay them for their rice (now) sitting in government stockpiles rotting away goes some way towards explaining where the money has gone. Now food and essentials cost money, so where, other than a bank, do you expect them to get this from to feed themselves and their families, plus pay off the interest on the original loan?

Thaksin really helped his beloved farmers (key to his amnesty attempt), didn't he!!!

[soalbundy]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

Simple - they have land that the bank pretty well know that will be theirs eventually.

The banks aren't actually all that keen on farmland, it's difficult to sell, when you use the land as collateral you can only borrow around 20% of what the land is worth on paper. My wife tried to sell some of her farmland but the prices offered were so ridiculously small she soon gave up the idea.

[JOC]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

Borrowing money for rice seed, fertiliser, machinery, labour costs etc: and then growing 1 or 2 crops of rice only to be told there is no money left to pay them for their rice (now) sitting in government stockpiles rotting away goes some way towards explaining where the money has gone. Now food and essentials cost money, so where, other than a bank, do you expect them to get this from to feed themselves and their families, plus pay off the interest on the original loan?

Thaksin really helped his beloved farmers (key to his amnesty attempt), didn't he!!!

Oh, please give us a break!!

Keep Thaksin and his gang out of this.

Farming for small scale farmers here have not been viable for decades or even centuries here!!

Thai farmers are simply not very good at what they are doing!!

So maybe the governments (present and future) instead of allotting land to landless people, which doesn't make them farmers, should teach the "farmers" how to farm, how to diversify crops and make a budget and follow it!!

A lot of the problems the farmers are facing can IMO be blamed on "the sufficiency economy" recommended by the powers. 50 years ago maybe, but not today!!

[robblok]

The sooner the these farmers stop borrowing money, the better. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and it's an endless cycle.

You are a genius aren't you, what do you think they should do. Traditionally they roll over debt,they borrow to cover the cost of planting rice and living costs until the harvest, the proceeds from which they use to pay back the debt and the cycle starts over again. It's risky because they use their land as collateral. If they have a bad harvest or there is a drought they have to borrow even more. They don't have a pension coming in from Europe every month. This time has been made worse for many,me included, because the government still hasn't released funds to pay many of the farmers for the 2013 Harvest the result is many have had to take on dangerous levels of debt to keep going and get prices from the millers now that don't even cover their planting and harvest costs. I can afford to simply not plant anything anymore although i have been left with a 200,000 Baht overdraft at my German bank for the 2013 costs. Some of you write statements with no idea what these people go through just to put food in their mouths.

Is a factory job then not better.. I mean after they have completed a harvest successfully. Then just stop with it and work in a factory.. no risk.. steady income. If you can't make it as a farmer IMHO it seems stupid to go on and on and on deeper in debt.

If my current work dries up.. I will have to change to I would not like it and it would be hard.. but else it would be pointless.

It would make sense at face value, but he would be inexperienced at such work and would probably be paid the minimum,he would be away from home which means he has two households to run,not much left to save or pay down debts and he would have to save a lot,not just to pay down debt but also to save money to plant the next harvest if he doesn't want to get into debt again. I know many in my village who do just that but it doesn't seem to help much and if he has a young wife that can lead to other forms of trouble. I know a couple who both work on the same building site in BKK in order to send their teenage sons to college,they also grow rice but their debt levels never seem to go down although they seem to live frugally. I have a household with 3 children and don't live the life that one would expect of a farang and yet with school bills health and accident insurances, land taxes high electric bills ( air-con is my one luxury ) Big C food bills,another luxury i suppose i need 60,000 Baht a month.

Your far higher as me with what you spend.. I spend only about 45.000 a month.. but my gf pays the rest (2 income streams) Got all the luxury I want. Big bike.. car health insurance.. aircon good food... ect. (only no kids.. never wanted them and still don't) I make about 3-4 times what i spend. So that is not so bad.

I mean stop totally with farming.. those farmers. Seriously I don't see why a government would have to support something that is not economical viable. Vietnam does it better so I buy Vietnamese rice.. if rice gets too expensive people can start farming again. I believe in the market.

But of course they would earn not much if they work in a factory.. but rice farming is even worse.. seems like its a negative income stream. Its never nice.. but I don't see why the government should pay for it .

[Thaddeus]

Thai farmers are simply not very good at what they are doing!!

So maybe the governments (present and future) instead of allotting land to landless people, which doesn't make them farmers, should teach the "farmers" how to farm, how to diversify crops and make a budget and follow it!!

There is a very simple answer to that.

The government don't know how to do it either, not a scooby.

RIP fella, I hope things improve for your family.

[noosard]

Thats the idea get rid of all these farmers

import all the food from China and Vietnam

the banks will own all the land with no-one farming it

what is it worth then

I would say basically nothing

[rubl]

And the solution is. ...

Give the unsuspecting farmers another loan, to repay the loan that they can't pay.

and provide a credit card to 'manage' the new wealth.

[rubl]

For many years many governments here have announced debt moratoria, debt refinancing, but no real reduction.

It would seem an inventarisation needs to be made of debt and their history. At the same time maybe the tragic case of the OP can be investigated, maybe serve as example what goes wrong. Without any real insight in the how and why any relief measures are only ad-hoc and based on scientific method called 'wishful thinking'. IMHO

[Srikcir]

This suicide happened on Prayut's watch. So shouldn't Prayut be charged with dereliction of duty?

No different than all the sad events that occurred during Yingluck's regime.

[lucky11]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

Borrowing money for rice seed, fertiliser, machinery, labour costs etc: and then growing 1 or 2 crops of rice only to be told there is no money left to pay them for their rice (now) sitting in government stockpiles rotting away goes some way towards explaining where the money has gone. Now food and essentials cost money, so where, other than a bank, do you expect them to get this from to feed themselves and their families, plus pay off the interest on the original loan?

Thaksin really helped his beloved farmers (key to his amnesty attempt), didn't he!!!

Oh, please give us a break!!

Keep Thaksin and his gang out of this.

Farming for small scale farmers here have not been viable for decades or even centuries here!!

Thai farmers are simply not very good at what they are doing!!

So maybe the governments (present and future) instead of allotting land to landless people, which doesn't make them farmers, should teach the "farmers" how to farm, how to diversify crops and make a budget and follow it!!

A lot of the problems the farmers are facing can IMO be blamed on "the sufficiency economy" recommended by the powers. 50 years ago maybe, but not today!!

I totally agree 100% with what you say on the farming aspect - I have been stating the need for radical changes for ages!!

I don't think that Thaksin can be left out of the debate though as he masterminded this appalling rice scheme that has destroyed so many farmers lives. You know, the ones he promised to make rich by cutting out the middle man (the self same ones that prospered at their expense). I wonder what the suicide rate is for the millers and rice exporters. Admittedly, this might shoot up as they are reeled in one by one, as they are being, if they can't bear a thought of a lengthy spell behind bars!!!

[Jeffreyake]

it's so sad he didn't realize that no money in the world worth human life. his own ego distorted his view, turned unimportant things into the meaning of life...

so sad there were no friend around to tell him how wrong he was...

[Bluespunk]

This suicide happened on Prayut's watch. So shouldn't Prayut be charged with dereliction of duty?

No different than all the sad events that occurred during Yingluck's regime.

Actually, while I agree tragic, it is very different.

[louse1953]

I don't understand how farmers have been allowed to run up so much debt. The indebtedness of many farmers is so high there is little chance they will be able to repay the loans. I doubt that small business owners would be allowed to become so indebted.

Borrowing money for rice seed, fertiliser, machinery, labour costs etc: and then growing 1 or 2 crops of rice only to be told there is no money left to pay them for their rice (now) sitting in government stockpiles rotting away goes some way towards explaining where the money has gone. Now food and essentials cost money, so where, other than a bank, do you expect them to get this from to feed themselves and their families, plus pay off the interest on the original loan?

Thaksin really helped his beloved farmers (key to his amnesty attempt), didn't he!!!

Oh, please give us a break!!

Keep Thaksin and his gang out of this.

Farming for small scale farmers here have not been viable for decades or even centuries here!!

Thai farmers are simply not very good at what they are doing!!

So maybe the governments (present and future) instead of allotting land to landless people, which doesn't make them farmers, should teach the "farmers" how to farm, how to diversify crops and make a budget and follow it!!

A lot of the problems the farmers are facing can IMO be blamed on "the sufficiency economy" recommended by the powers. 50 years ago maybe, but not today!!

There is training going on and some well meaning people helping,but it all costs money to setup.Money they haven't got.