Thai rice farmer hangs himself over mounting debts

[billd766]

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.

So are making a wild and stupid assumption that ALL of this debt occurred in the last 10 months of this government and it is ALL the fault of Prayuth and NOBODY ELSE.

I think that you are a (10 expletives deleted by the poster) and ARE as stupid as you post.

[billd766]

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...

Having mounting debts and no income makes it a little difficult to obtain the basic things in life such as food and looking after your family. I suspect that he had NO ego just mounting despair at being unable to look after his family and took what to him was the ONLY way out.

Without ANY money to feed, shelter and clothe your family, mounting debts and nowhere to turn to what would you do in his position?

[bangon04]

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

at a very special sympathy rate of only 10 per cent interest

[djjamie]

Firstly may he RIP.

Another victim of the PTP. It's a shame that these poor people were only counted at vote time yet straight after that the rice policy excluded this man and 2.59 million of his peers in a similar position. The promises broken, ignoring farmers, threatening farmers if they protested.

Some might say "Farming for small scale farmers here have not been viable for decades or even centuries here!!" That comment hits the nail on the head. Smartest comment yet, BUT the PTP still made the promises, still ignored the small scale farmers still suggested everyone will be rich.

​The person that said the above comment is in fact inadvertently showing the PTP have shown nothing but contempt for the farmers after the election and ignored the small scale famers after promising them wealth.

One might take a leaf out of the unselfish DEM minister Khun Korn's rice project initiative I say unselfish as it was implemented with no fan fair, no promises and no rewards if anyone voted for him or the DEM's. It is an example of putting the people first. Especially the poor people like the desperate farmer described in this article. his project is so robust and beneficial to the small scale Thai farmers that it has taken him to major conferences to speak about the merits of it.

Lets hope this sustainability for rice farmers is fostered so no more victims of failed policies are witnessed in the future.

RIP to the poor soul. I am so sorry no one listened to you when you protested in 2013.

It really is time for people to stop the hollow promises to win votes and understand "Farming for small scale farmers here have not been viable for decades"

[mike324]

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!!!

To add to that, PTP introduce the "Farmers Credit Card". Although not many joined the program, the folks who joined are in more debt as well. They were require to purchase supplies at authorize stores only to be able to use the credit card, whats worse is that all these authorize store sell these supplies at a higher cost compare to elsewhere. So for the folks who says its not the TRT/PTP fault for famers debt, do you think they really try to help farmers at all? Did they have to screw the farmers even more by upping the cost of supplies?

Rice farming is not profitable unless you own big plots of land, and one of the reasons farmers fail is because their efficiency is so low and they don't look for alternative things to do to supplement their income. Plus the government don't

The DEM's Rice Scheme was the most fair and would work very nicely, but again corruption is at the center of the problem hence the schemed fail and was not popular. If they can enforce the corruption problem, then their Rice Scheme would have been the most balance and sustainable scheme to date.

I do not see why farmers can't get factory jobs as well, minimum wage is 300 baht per day but most Thai workers are being paid 400 + per day in Bangkok and no experience is needed. I hear about companies all crying about shortage of labor, where are all the Thai workers? It beats sitting at home and being in debt. On the other hand, I'm guessing most of these farmers are old and probably can't work factory jobs for 8 hours per day.