Farmers' problems need to be tackled at the very root

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
Farmers' problems need to be tackled at the very root
PIYAPORN WONGRUANG

BANGKOK: -- LAST WEEKEND, I met 66-year-old Son Sukcharoen. He was busy covering his newly harvested rice with plastic as his village of Khao Poon in Ratchaburi's Photharam was being hit by unseasonal rain.

This was the fourth time Son had tried drying his rice in the sun, and if his crop ended up getting drenched and damaged, he would stand to lose a lot.

Son is among the thousands of farmers who took part in the rice-pledging scheme that was reintroduced by the Yingluck Shinawatra government a few years ago. The scheme offered an unprecedented amount of Bt15,000 to Bt20,000 per tonne of rice.

During that time, farmers enjoyed high payments without having to bother about the costs for chemical fertilisers, pesticides, farm labour, farm rental and such, which have been quietly and consistently on the rise.

This large-scale scheme, with practically every grain of rice invested under it, was heavily questioned from the very start.

Eventually, the rice-pledging scheme came to an abrupt end, with Yingluck being impeached and now facing investigation for allowing corruption and for the state incurring losses of up to Bt500 billion.

Meanwhile, farmers like Son have been left to face the reality. The price for rice has dropped by more than half, standing at just about Bt7,000 per tonne, while farming costs have not dropped simultaneously.

With many farmers mired in debt, Local Action Links - a non-profit think tank researching the plight of Thai farmers - has realised that the situation is worsening compared to the results of studies previously conducted.

I met the organisation's director Pongtip Samranjit and while discussing the situation, we realised that government policies to help farmers have remained more or less unchanged. Government policies, so far, have only touched the tip of the problem, instead of tackling it at the root and addressing issues like the cost of farming, education and boosting farmers' self-reliance capabilities. Not a single government, so far, has addressed these issues.

With the rice-pledging scheme coming to an end, farmers have found themselves shouldering the same old burdens that have only become tougher over time.

Besides the tragic plight of the farmers, there is also plenty of politics at play.

It is undeniable that policies on agriculture are political, as they have a direct impact on an administration's popularity and the number of votes it can garner.

As such, we often see a lot of agriculture policies based on assessments of popularity, rather than the plight of the farmers themselves. That's why we often see unreasonable populist policies initiated, such as the rice-pledging scheme.

With the damage incurred becoming increasingly clear, policies on agriculture are in desperate need of reform so they can truly become responsive to farmers' needs. They need to take into account farmers' fundamental problems and come up with measures to make them self-reliant and better educated.

If such steps are not taken soon, we will continue hearing stories of farmers killing themselves all in the name of yet another extravagant government farm policy.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Farmers-problems-need-to-be-tackled-at-the-very-ro-30274691.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-11

[trogers]

At the very root - small plots of farmland are not economically viable to support families, especially with their yearn for a modern lifestyle.

[Lunchbob]

Why does the government buy all the rice? Can farmers just sell to whkmever they want?

[Thian]

If rice is too expensive to grow then buy imported rice and grow something else in Thailand.

I bought white peppercorns yesterday in Big C, 111 baht for 100 grams peppercorns! That would cost 20-30 baht in Europe where it's imported. In Thailand you can grow them easy.

Something is going very wrong here in Thailand.

[worgeordie]

Why does the government buy all the rice? Can farmers just sell to whkmever they want?

They sold to the Government,as it was paying well above World market prices

for the rice,resulting in massive loses for ALL Thai taxpayers.

regards Worgeordie

[bassman]

Poor article, addresses a problem but does not offer a solution.

[NeverSure]

The problems are that rice is a low value crop, the farms are too small for mechanization, and there is much too much labor put into them. There is nothing the government can do about prices as rice is a global commodity. They found that out during the rice scheme when they tried to hold rice off the market to drive the price up.

When you're stuck with a low value crop in a flood plain in tropical heat, and it's broken up into small farms there's no way to make money.

Canada and the US both have massive amounts of farmland and wheat is grown only where nothing else is practical. It's also a low value crop. But it is done in huge amounts with mechanization and it's profitable.

I don't know about Canada but only 2% of the US population works on farms despite the huge amount of farmland. It's mechanized. LINK

A large amount of land is needed to justify mechanization because the machines are so expensive. The machines can't be trapped in small fields surrounded by fences either. I've seen as many as 24 combines running in tandem, each with a header 48 feet (about 15 meters) wide. That's about 200 yards/200 meters wide in the cut per pass.

I don't know the answer but there's never going to be any real money in those small farms.

Edited December 11, 2015 by NeverSure

[Thian]

The problems are that rice is a low value crop, the farms are too small for mechanization, and there is much too much labor put into them. There is nothing the government can do about prices as rice is a global commodity. They found that out during the rice scheme when they tried to hold rice off the market to drive the price up.

When you're stuck with a low value crop in a flood plain in tropical heat, and it's broken up into small farms there's no way to make money.

Canada and the US both have massive amounts of farm land and wheat is grown only where nothing else is practical. It's also a low value crop. But it is done in huge amounts with mechanization and it's profitable.

I don't know about Canada but only 2% of the US population works on farms despite the huge amount of farmland. It's mechanized. LINK

A large amount of land is needed to justify mechanization because the machines are so expensive. The machines can't be trapped in small fields surrounded by fences either. I've seen as many as 24 combines running in tandem, each with a header 48 feet (about 15 meters) wide. That's about 200 yards/200 meters wide in the cut per pass.

I don't know the answer but there's never going to be any real money in those small farms.

05.jpg

Those machines need very good mechanics and maintenance. They don't have them in Thailand so it won't work here.

[trogers]

The problems are that rice is a low value crop, the farms are too small for mechanization, and there is much too much labor put into them. There is nothing the government can do about prices as rice is a global commodity. They found that out during the rice scheme when they tried to hold rice off the market to drive the price up.

When you're stuck with a low value crop in a flood plain in tropical heat, and it's broken up into small farms there's no way to make money.

Canada and the US both have massive amounts of farm land and wheat is grown only where nothing else is practical. It's also a low value crop. But it is done in huge amounts with mechanization and it's profitable.

I don't know about Canada but only 2% of the US population works on farms despite the huge amount of farmland. It's mechanized. LINK

A large amount of land is needed to justify mechanization because the machines are so expensive. The machines can't be trapped in small fields surrounded by fences either. I've seen as many as 24 combines running in tandem, each with a header 48 feet (about 15 meters) wide. That's about 200 yards/200 meters wide in the cut per pass.

I don't know the answer but there's never going to be any real money in those small farms.

05.jpg

Those machines need very good mechanics and maintenance. They don't have them in Thailand so it won't work here.

Don't have them because pampering kills off the spirit to strife. Body no go when brain not engaged... Edited December 11, 2015 by trogers

[selftaopath]

Why does the government buy all the rice? Can farmers just sell to whkmever they want?

They sold to the Government,as it was paying well above World market prices

for the rice,resulting in massive loses for ALL Thai taxpayers.

regards Worgeordie

Thai farmers et. al didn't care about the taxpayers/Kingdom of Thailand but wanted more and more profits. Now they still don't care but want the taxpayers to subsidize them. Thai society is me me me me me. Thais love Thais? lol lol lol Thais love Thailand? lol lol lol

[FritsSikkink]

Poor article, addresses a problem but does not offer a solution.

it isn't a newspapers task to solve problems.

[Wanderer555]

The agricultural situation in Thailand, with low value crops, small family holdings and a traditional workforce, is in someways similar to the the Hawaiian islands dilemma when Big Sugar exited some 25 years ago and left the local workforce without a viable source of agricultural based income. A partial solution there was to break the larger tracks of sugar cane land into smaller holdings that were then farmed by small groups with a focus on intensive farming and higher value crops such as organic greens, and other vegetables.

With the growing awareness & demand among the Thai's for healthy pesticide free vegetables, and the advances in technology that can help make small holdings profitable, I can envision that in time there is a solution to the problem. This would be in the form of intensively farmed small holdings that are organic and use techniques such as vertical farming and shade structures to help increase yields and produce consistently high-quality crops without the energy, water and other overhead costs associated with traditional farming thus improving the net profit for the local farmer.

This effort would benefit from governmental assistance, but at the end of the day it will only come from a re-education of the farming community to see the value of these types of farms. This transition is similar to what the Western World has gone through in the past 50 plus years as we transitioned away from agriculture to technology.

Easy, no, possible I say yes....

Cheers!

Troy

[sawadee1947]

well, it's impossible to support rice farmers in the way it was before. Because if any govt will support those then others as rubber farmers or fishermen will follow. And who will be next?

So every group has to find their place in economy. To grant subsidies will not solve the problem (see EU).

PM said it 2 weeks ago when it came to droughts: farmers should find other crops and plants to grow. In this way he was right.

It will hit farmers however unprepared. So the govt has a duty of care and find solutions for a certain time, maybe create programms for alternative agricultural products......as the King did it long time ago...!

[Kasset Tak]

The problem is their way of thinking!
I try to teach my students to think outside the box and look how farmers have solved similar problems in the other tropical/subtropical areas like AEC and Asia. But the Thai teachers tells me, "That is not the Thai way to do it."!

I found several researches made The Philippines, Vietnam, Colombia and Somalia about the use of the banana plant as animal feed. As the research was not made in Thailand it was deemed as not suitable for Thai agriculture by the faculty of the college. However they are willing to start a research project about the use of banana plants as feed if they get a OK from The Ministry of Agriculture.

The same goes for the use of crop rotation, "It's not applicable in Thailand because they are rice farmers and can thereby only grow rice!". That's the comment I got from farmers, teachers and so on!

[Enoon]

The problems are that rice is a low value crop, the farms are too small for mechanization, and there is much too much labor put into them. There is nothing the government can do about prices as rice is a global commodity. They found that out during the rice scheme when they tried to hold rice off the market to drive the price up.

When you're stuck with a low value crop in a flood plain in tropical heat, and it's broken up into small farms there's no way to make money.

Canada and the US both have massive amounts of farmland and wheat is grown only where nothing else is practical. It's also a low value crop. But it is done in huge amounts with mechanization and it's profitable.

I don't know about Canada but only 2% of the US population works on farms despite the huge amount of farmland. It's mechanized. LINK

A large amount of land is needed to justify mechanization because the machines are so expensive. The machines can't be trapped in small fields surrounded by fences either. I've seen as many as 24 combines running in tandem, each with a header 48 feet (about 15 meters) wide. That's about 200 yards/200 meters wide in the cut per pass.

I don't know the answer but there's never going to be any real money in those small farms.

05.jpg

The "answer" existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

A huge expansion of industry/manufacturing that absorbed rural workers and population growth.

But that was at the start of the consumer "dream", when populations were realatively low and industry was more labour intensive.

What can you do in a country whose population has grown from 20million in 1950 to nearly 70million today and whose leaders have spent that time as Internal Imperialists, doing nothing but milking and screwing every aspect of the nations economy/finances for their own benefit?

But they couldn't do anything else could they? Because that's the way they are.

That is one of the primary characteristics of Tragedy:

"A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances."

[Ulic]

Why don't they do what the US has done? Legislate an rice alcohol content for gasoline and

subsidize the rice farmers that way. Who cares that the farms are two small and inefficient.

"Just Do It"

[tuanku]

Self sufficiency!

Forget about growing food for others if they don't appreciate it enough to pay enough to make a living.

Get together with your neighbours. Grow food for yourself and your village

Sell only the surplus

Diversify your farm and form co-operatives

They will soon be knocking on your collective doors asking "where has all the rice gone?"

Then you can get paid a sensible amount .

[GOLDBUGGY]

Farmer sells 1,000 Kilograms of Rice for 7,000 Baht.

Walmart in Canada sells it in 5 kilogram plastic bags where 1,000 kilograms of Rice fetches 32,654 Baht.

Even if Walmart's Profit Margin was 25% which is quite high for non-perishables, they would still pay 26,123 Baht per tonne. Or 3 times the price the Farmer gets.

Seems to me that the Middle Man has got some wrong numbers here when it comes to buying it, putting it in a plastic bags, and then shipping it to the stores. Especially with these low fuel costs.

At Walmart Prices, Farmers should be getting around 20,000 Baht per 1,000 Kilograms and not 7,000 Baht.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Why don't they do what the US has done? Legislate an rice alcohol content for gasoline and

subsidize the rice farmers that way. Who cares that the farms are two small and inefficient.

"Just Do It"

Biofuel???

I like your idea!

Convert all the Buses here to run on it and that should be more than enough.

[Strangebrew]

My family been farming over a 100 years yet they seem to do very well maybe because they never grew one type of crop never relied on government help. My grandfather told me long ago never put all your eggs in one basket. He not only had several crops growing a year he also raised chickens sold eggs had walnut trees, almond trees, watermelons he would always say never know which crop will fetch the best price. He was also smart enough to dig several wells he said never can predict a dry spell. Funny thing is too never took out a loan to buy seeds or fertilizer either not to mention farm equipment to make his job easier. Oh did he once buy a new car but always had that old pickup. But of course the hours were long, days off never known him to have one spent plenty of my summers alongside him working the fields. Oh he had a 6th grade education but managed to put his kids through college. He said if you take care of the land the land will take care of you.