Thailand swears off subsidies in bid to cut crop surpluses

[webfact]

Thailand Swears Off Subsidies in Bid to Cut Crop Surpluses
Supunnabul Suwannakij

- New policies promote higher value crops, cost-cutting
- Farmers have inadequate water to plant dry-season crops

BANGKOK: -- Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter, vowed not to reintroduce subsidies in the face of a worsening drought as it pushes ahead with plans to eliminate crop surpluses.

Restoring market balance and improving farm income are key planks of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha’s policy as the government seeks to restructure the farm sector and to eliminate the stockpile of 13 million metric tons of rice built up by former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at a cost of 885 billion baht ($25 billion).

“This government will definitely not interfere with product prices,” Chatchai Sarikulya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said last week in an interview in Bangkok. “We want prices to move in line with the market mechanism. We focus more on strengthening farmers.”

Full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/thailand-swears-off-subsidies-in-bid-to-cut-crop-surpluses

-- BloombergBusiness 2015-10-28

[ezzra]

That is until a bob of 10,000 farmers will march on Bkk and the government will fold like a cheap

lawn chair....

[jacky54]

Or start shooting them

[jerojero]

Well THAT really ought to bring happiness to the millions of farmers! Way to go Government!

[tbthailand]

there goes all your support from the rural voters

oh wait, forgot...

[Thai at Heart]

Guess they've never heard of quotas have they.

[cooked]

Here we go again. The small farmers didn't benefit from the rice scheme, I don't know of anyone around here that did. There was a family called Toxin or something that received a lot of subsidies. It was mostly big landowners that made money out of the scheme. The red shirts were victims of political manoeuvring in a few places in Isaan. That won't happen again.

It's a different case with the small rubber farmers that were encouraged and subsidised to slash, burn and cultivate using large amounts of fertilisers and pesticides. They are having big problems now that there is a huge world surplus of synthetic and natural rubber. They have every right to be annoyed at government policies that obliged them to cut down their fruit trees and all the rest of it.They probably will march to Bangkok.

[jaywalker]

Unfortunately, when a gov't spokes person says:

“This government will definitely not interfere with product prices,” Chatchai Sarikulya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said last week in an interview in Bangkok. “We want prices to move in line with the market mechanism. We focus more on strengthening farmers.”

It usually means exactly the opposite of their intentions.......kinda like the single internet gateway that they have said yes/no/yes/no/yes/no so many times that nobody has a clue.

Next week they will probably introduce some sort of "Price Controls", and every bleeding heart, anti-capitalist on this forum will cheer them on.

[Eric Loh]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

[Thai at Heart]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

That would be populism....

[Eric Loh]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

That would be populism....

No, that will be pracharath. It's different if subsidies from the junta.

[Thai at Heart]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

That would be populism....

No, that will be pracharath. It's different if subsidies from the junta.

Seems so. But as it sits, they have said no more. They don't have a way to control the volume of production or limit the subsidies.

Which is odd, because I worked in an agribusiness in Thailand and told each farmer we would only pay for a given volume according to his declared land size.

And amazingly, we got what we asked for at a reasonable volume and the farmers were content. These major agricultural crops have no mechanism to effect what the farmers do on a daily basis to limit the volume. It's crazy.

[elgordo38]

No problem the drought will take care of the surpluses soon enough.

[Ricardo]

“This government will definitely not interfere with product prices,” Chatchai Sarikulya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said last week in an interview in Bangkok. “We want prices to move in line with the market mechanism. We focus more on strengthening farmers.”

So it's not just because the government is short-of-cash, and there are no elections due, then ?

[halloween]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

Fuel, health, education are for everybody, not just a select group that don't understand farming is a business. It seems the penny has finally dropped with the government.

BTW the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy is for people to start producing enough to satisfy their own needs, instead of relying on handouts from those who do.

[Eric Loh]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

Fuel, health, education are for everybody, not just a select group that don't understand farming is a business. It seems the penny has finally dropped with the government.

BTW the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy is for people to start producing enough to satisfy their own needs, instead of relying on handouts from those who do.

The current circumstances with the drought, low price and poor demand, there are really not much reasons to produce. Putting money in farmers will generate spending and back to the government in terms of taxes. As I said, it's not a zero sum game.

[RubbaJohnny]

The article avers Thailand the world's leading rice exporter, after that errror

How can you take anything else seriously?.

No intervention, but high prices

in 2013 India exported 15% more, while China was the largest producer

It is however the hub for PMs subverted for rice subsdies

http://www.statista.com/statistics/255947/top-rice-exporting-countries-worldwide-2011/

Edited October 29, 2015 by RubbaJohnny

[Joe Brennan]

Wait till the rice farmers, rubber farmers, fishermen, lottery retailers start to combine for a common cause and we will see fire works. Anyway, paying a subsidy is not a zero sum game. It is the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy. The government already paying subsidies for fuel, health, education etc. Why not the farmers.

Fuel, health, education are for everybody, not just a select group that don't understand farming is a business. It seems the penny has finally dropped with the government.

BTW the fastest way to revitalize the domestic economy is for people to start producing enough to satisfy their own needs, instead of relying on handouts from those who do.

Quite right.

The best way to revitalise the economy is to stop giving money to people.

Well, *some* people anyway.

Great advice, it seems a shame Thai pooyay will ever read it.