Thai rice farmers fighting debt and loss of land again, group says

[webfact]

RICE PLEDGING SCHEME
Rice farmers fighting debt and loss of land again, group says
PIYAPORN WONGRUANG
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- MANY rice farmers are facing the old problems of indebtedness and loss of farm owner-|ship despite short-term gains from the former government's rice-pledging scheme, accord-ing to research by a non-government organisation.

Pongtip Samranjit, executive director of Local Action Links, a non-profit think tank researching government policies and farmers' problems, said farmers' quality of life has plunged following the end of the rice-pledging scheme.

Increased indebtedness has led to the loss of farm ownership. Pongtip cited statistics collected by the organisation over the past 10 years that the number of farmers who hold less than six rai have increased, while those having to rent farmland have also risen in the past few years.

Pongtip said past and present government rice price intervention programmes, including the last rice-pledging scheme, offered farmers quick benefits as money would directly go to their pockets. But these were temporary, and never tackled the roots of farmers' problems, namely accumulated debts and loss of farmland.

Besides land and equipment, farmers need to invest in pesticide and chemical fertiliser to keep their crop safe from pest attacks.

During the rice-pledging scheme, farmers enjoyed a high guarantee price of up to Bt15,000 per tonne, but their costs also rose, leaving them a smaller margin of profit.

"The rice price now stands at around Bt7,000 per tonne while farmers' costs are up to Bt5,000 to Bt6,000 per rai (one rai generally yields around one tonne of rice). So, how can they survive?"

"In other words, they are being left to face the same old problems of indebtedness and they have to help themselves survive," she said.

Pongtip said the current government had apparently taken the right approach to tackle farmers' deep-rooted problems by cutting farming costs, but she has not seen any concrete actions yet.

Son Sukcharaen, a 66-year-old farmer from Khao Poon village in Ratchaburi's Photharam district, recalled the time when he narrowly obtained money from rice sold under the pledging scheme for the second and last time last year.

He had to go to the district police to file a complaint about the delay in payment and it was the military government that cleared the money for farmers like him.

Son immediately used the funds to clear his debts and withdraw an amount to invest in another crop. But this time, he no longer has any price guarantee, and has to bet on the market, with the price currently offered at Bt7,000 per tonne.

Son said he could not do anything except try to reduce costs as much as possible. But as he has to rent 20 rai of land and to pay off debts, he rushed to invest more in fertiliser. He hoped his rice yield would be higher so he can earn more.

"What I can do now is to keep doing it because if I don't do it, somebody else will take over the rented farmland and leave me with nothing to do or to eat. Can farmers without education, like me, have a choice?" Son asked.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Rice-farmers-fighting-debt-and-loss-of-land-again--30274442.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-07

[trogers]

The crux of the growing problem - reliance on farming and not education.

Dilutions of farmland ownership is guaranteed when you have more than two kids. A farmer with 50 rai can support his family a generation ago. What can a farmer do with 5 rai today? His children needs to be educated and get a full time job. Are they?

[Rocceao]

"Past and present government rice price intervention programmes, including the last rice-pledging scheme, offered farmers quick benefits as money would directly go to their pockets. But these were temporary, and never tackled the roots of farmers' problems, namely accumulated debts and loss of farmland."

That sentance sums it all up.

Short term spin and win for the farmer, that leaves a big hole and long term hardship for the farmer and the industry.

Giving the farmer extra cash, one season just for short term political brownie points, but doing nothing for the people in debt and facing the loss of the farm land doesn't work.

They would have been better off using that money to research what programs to put in place to reduce the costs/expenses the farmers and how to produce a better crop.

Put in place an eductaion program for the children, for those who want to continue in the agriculture industry, or other industries that will benefit them.

[soalbundy]

The crux of the growing problem - reliance on farming and not education.

Dilutions of farmland ownership is guaranteed when you have more than two kids. A farmer with 50 rai can support his family a generation ago. What can a farmer do with 5 rai today? His children needs to be educated and get a full time job. Are they?

Yes many are getting higher education thanks to enormous sacrifices by their parents, in my village anyway. The farmers may be uneducated but they aren't stupid, they can see the writing on the wall. This transition period is difficult and full of problems, when the children have finished their education there is often no jobs suitable for their newly gained knowledge at least not in their home province which means leaving their elderly parents to fend for themselves while they move to the expensive cities to start a new life, not easy.

[SOTIRIOS]

...how many years of revenue were they bilked out of by the preceding government and their 'scheme'.....

[Emster23]

meanwhile farmers are urged not to plant another crop.....

[tuanku]

So Thai farmers get 7000 baht per tonne, while the export price of Thai Jasmine rice is about 36,000 Baht per tonne. Looks like there is room for a bit of good old fashioned socialism here to take control of the milling, warehousing and distribution and ensure the producers get their fair share. Might it be done by forming a giant co-operative of small farmers who would also have ownership of the rest of the supply chain?

The alternative is to have giant mechanised farms as in USA and EU which would be socially disruptive and change the nature of the Thai landscape.

[oneday]

Don't bother the government with this tedious stuff. They have much more pressing matters to concern themselves with rather than be concerned about the poor farmers and their unimportant fight to make a living.

[maoro2013]

Tell me who gets a tonne of rice per rai. I just got 500kg from 1.7 rai which exceeded the producytion of other farms near here including other land which I rent to others. Even with two crops the tonne a tonne per rai is very ambitious.

[BSJ]

On the wife's 20 rai we lost 3 rai because of black mold, the 20 didn't get enough water until the last 2 weeks. Overall it was just over 10 ton of paddie at the weigh bridge.

72.000 baht with production cost of 39k baht. She kept a ton for next year. It could have been worse!

[shirtless]

This has happened in many countries , big buyers have screwed primary producers , maybe they should find more viable crops,and yes set up a farmers co-op

[Ricardo]

meanwhile farmers are urged not to plant another crop.....

... because it will die due to lack of irrigation-water, before it matures, what's wrong with warning the farmers about that ?

[MobileContent]

So Thai farmers get 7000 baht per tonne, while the export price of Thai Jasmine rice is about 36,000 Baht per tonne. Looks like there is room for a bit of good old fashioned socialism here to take control of the milling, warehousing and distribution and ensure the producers get their fair share. Might it be done by forming a giant co-operative of small farmers who would also have ownership of the rest of the supply chain?

The alternative is to have giant mechanised farms as in USA and EU which would be socially disruptive and change the nature of the Thai landscape.

I believe the rice is not cut yet.

[LivinLOS]

meanwhile farmers are urged not to plant another crop.....

... because it will die due to lack of irrigation-water, before it matures, what's wrong with warning the farmers about that ?

While at the same time northern sluice gates are commanded open so as to push saline water out of the chao praya.. So bangkoks water processing has an easier time of it..

[NeverSure]

Wheat, rice and similar cereal grains are low value crops. The reason they are grown is usually because the soil, water conditions and weather dictate that this is the only solution. If it weren't for those limitations the farmers would grow something a lot more valuable such as fruits and vegetables. These are reasons that much of Asia became a rice culture and also why those people are mostly poor.

In the best conditions, you can get 20+ tons of oranges per acre/50 tons ha. You can get .4 metric tons of apples from one good apple tree in prime orchard conditions. You can easily get 500 trees on an acre (2,000 dwarf trees) and that means big money.

I grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch and I'm convinced that the only way to make money on grains at modest prices per acre is to go big.

Cheers.

[trogers]

So Thai farmers get 7000 baht per tonne, while the export price of Thai Jasmine rice is about 36,000 Baht per tonne. Looks like there is room for a bit of good old fashioned socialism here to take control of the milling, warehousing and distribution and ensure the producers get their fair share. Might it be done by forming a giant co-operative of small farmers who would also have ownership of the rest of the supply chain?

The alternative is to have giant mechanised farms as in USA and EU which would be socially disruptive and change the nature of the Thai landscape.

I believe the rice is not cut yet.

Perhaps one should first understand how those golden stalks of paddy swaying in the fields end up in 5kg plastic wrapped bags as displayed in the supermarkets.

[apetley]

Tell me who gets a tonne of rice per rai. I just got 500kg from 1.7 rai which exceeded the producytion of other farms near here including other land which I rent to others. Even with two crops the tonne a tonne per rai is very ambitious.

Wifey managed 2 tonnes from 4 rai at 7,800 bht a tonne. Talking to other farmers in our village it's about average.

[h90]

A friend, motorbike taxi and his wife also very active buys land and let some labor (former owner??) work on it and from the money he buys the plot of land. I guess meanwhile our motorbike taxi is richer than us but works hard and lives a humble life.

Asking him why he can get the cheap land: Farmers buy mobile phone, motorbike, car, etc etc all on credit and look at borrowed money like they never have to pay it back again. And Guarantee with the land for the new mobile phone

[Lampang2]

Farmers are outsmarted by lenders of money. (Chinese dominated)

Same loan sharks who buy the rice later at drop dead low prices just for farmer to avoid to default the loan, it will of course default at the same moment as crop time with a surplus of rice on sale.

Some good old socialism probably is needed to regulate this jungle.

Most capitalist systems need regulation.

Regulate the process of lending towards land.

Make that a government program instead of a loan shark territory.

Not ideal I know. But got to do something.

Probably are some better solutions if one ponder this a day or 2.

[Lampang2]

On the wife's 20 rai we lost 3 rai because of black mold, the 20 didn't get enough water until the last 2 weeks. Overall it was just over 10 ton of paddie at the weigh bridge.

72.000 baht with production cost of 39k baht. She kept a ton for next year. It could have been worse!

Yes.

But you probably helped her to stay away from loan sharks, thus avoiding to get land gobbled up.

72K - 39K - 7.2K = 25.8K

Hard to survive a year on that.

Possibly you look forward for a second harvest or have other land.

20 rai with a yield of about 1500 baht per rai and year.

Possibly world's most low yielding land.

She only needs a monthly income of 2K to match the rice growing hobby.

[slapout]

One farmer says she/he had 39,000 baht in expenses on 20 rai of paddy, She sold 10 ton for 72,000 baht, kept 1 ton

for seed or to eat. Another farmer says his rice costs about 7000 baht a ton to produce..

Different rice strains produces different yied per rai, 1 ton of sticky rice per rai is common under normal growing conditions,

in given areas, other areas this does not hold true.

Some farmers are better at what they do than others and the profit margin can vary from even adjoining fields farmed by different

folks. Some folks throw out numbers to make things look bad when they want a free ride. The same person may try to impress other by increasing the numbers vs actual, especially after a few drinks of whiskey.

Throw in a newsreport written by a non farmer which may be or may not be what was actually said and take it from there.

[elgordo38]

The crux of the growing problem - reliance on farming and not education.

Dilutions of farmland ownership is guaranteed when you have more than two kids. A farmer with 50 rai can support his family a generation ago. What can a farmer do with 5 rai today? His children needs to be educated and get a full time job. Are they?

Yes many are getting higher education thanks to enormous sacrifices by their parents, in my village anyway. The farmers may be uneducated but they aren't stupid, they can see the writing on the wall. This transition period is difficult and full of problems, when the children have finished their education there is often no jobs suitable for their newly gained knowledge at least not in their home province which means leaving their elderly parents to fend for themselves while they move to the expensive cities to start a new life, not easy.

My g/f's brother was a mechanic getting 15,000 bahts a month and he worked "free" overtime with the promise of a managership down the road (ha ha ha) He and his g/f borrowed money from her sister in Japan and they took off for greener pastures in Korea. They started off at 69,000 bahts a month for both and a small room to sleep in plus rice and a shared kitchen and bath. In two years they will be making that much each after gaining experience on a mushroom farm. Almost 150,000 bahts a month vs 15,000 a month here as a mechanic plus she was working odd jobs for about 8,000 bahts a month. She never had a steady job. Not to shabby.

[Saan]

I know of one case where the Government would not have to go far too fix the problem.

A government employee wanted to transfer to her home province from Chiang Mai to look after her ailing parents. The cost - 300,000 baht for the position, the money going straight into her new bosses pocket. Her rice farmer parents had to sell part of their small farm to provide the money.

Unconscionable.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Saan

[Lunchbob]

You do not need chemicals, fertilizers, even tractors. Plant in last year's stubble. Follow the new theory plan of thirds. Dont buy cars, televisions, sofas, etc...take out student loans for college. You cannot pay back money you do not have. What will happen?

[Bluespunk]

"Pongtip said past and present government rice price intervention programmes, including the last rice-pledging scheme, offered farmers quick benefits as money would directly go to their pockets. But these were temporary, and never tackled the roots of farmers' problems, namely accumulated debts and loss of farmland."

Not actually paying them for the rice didn't help too much either.

[h90]

Farmers are outsmarted by lenders of money. (Chinese dominated)

Same loan sharks who buy the rice later at drop dead low prices just for farmer to avoid to default the loan, it will of course default at the same moment as crop time with a surplus of rice on sale.

Some good old socialism probably is needed to regulate this jungle.

Most capitalist systems need regulation.

Regulate the process of lending towards land.

Make that a government program instead of a loan shark territory.

Not ideal I know. But got to do something.

Probably are some better solutions if one ponder this a day or 2.

They are overspending and produce low quality product....you can't blame that on the loan sharks....Some of the smart farmer do very well.

[Srikcir]

"Pongtip said the current government had apparently taken the right approach to tackle farmers' deep-rooted problems by cutting farming costs, but she has not seen any concrete actions yet."

That about sums up the Prayut regime's approach to reform of the agricultural industry.

Form committees, devise strategies, conduct a tour, revise strategies, announce success in sustaining the economy.

But no actual action that truly changes or accomplishes anything.

Thailand needs to shift away from a large agricultural industry charaterized by small farmers and a feudal distributorship to a more consolidated, direct-to-market system. Japan has already set the precedence to the same problem. But it won't be "Thainess."

[icare999]

Taksins great work again yet some still dont get it

[Leung Falang]

One percent of US is working in agriculture. Wikipedia says 49% in Thailand now versus 70% in 1980.

Young farmers would be better served by learning trades such as tile laying, brick laying, painting, plumbing, small engine repair.

Wiki:

Forty-nine per cent of Thailand's labour force is employed in agriculture.^[111] This is down from 70% in 1980.^[111] Rice is the most important crop in the country and Thailand had long been the world's leading exporter of rice, until recently falling behind both India and Vietnam.^[112] Thailand has the highest percentage of arable land, 27.25%, of any nation in the Greater Mekong Subregion.^[113] About 55% of the arable land area is used for rice production.^[114]

Agriculture has been experiencing a transition from labour-intensive and transitional methods to a more industrialised and competitive sector.^[111] Between 1962 and 1983, the agricultural sector grew by 4.1% per year on average and continued to grow at 2.2% between 1983 and 2007.^[111] The relative contribution of agriculture to GDP has declined while exports of goods and services have increased.

[SABloke]

On the wife's 20 rai we lost 3 rai because of black mold, the 20 didn't get enough water until the last 2 weeks. Overall it was just over 10 ton of paddie at the weigh bridge.

72.000 baht with production cost of 39k baht. She kept a ton for next year. It could have been worse!

Yes.

But you probably helped her to stay away from loan sharks, thus avoiding to get land gobbled up.

72K - 39K - 7.2K = 25.8K

Hard to survive a year on that.

Possibly you look forward for a second harvest or have other land.

20 rai with a yield of about 1500 baht per rai and year.

Possibly world's most low yielding land.

She only needs a monthly income of 2K to match the rice growing hobby.

Well that's exactly the point: small plots of land should be considered a bonus NOT full time employment. (I'm not talking about your wife BSJ...) 4 rai does not keep you busy 24/7 for the year and you shouldn't label yourself a ''farmer''. That's how this country has 10 million people that say they are farmers. I'd say most are in fact labourers, a large part are small plot land owners like BSJ's wife and a small percentage are real fulltime farmers. I think a lot of complaints come from farmers/land owners but the hordes that come out to protest are often the labourers.