Thai report: Farmers need more than just 'rhetoric'

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SPECIAL REPORT
Farmers need more than just ‘rhetoric’
PIYAPORN WONGRUANG
THE NATION



Activists say structural changes and political will needed to end cycle of debt and poverty

BANGKOK: -- IT'S AN ENDLESS cycle. Year after year, the story of Thai farmers generally goes like this. First, farmers are uneducated and getting older. They know nothing about anything except growing rice so they grow rice and sell it without any knowledge or controls over the market.

As the price of their rice keeps falling, they make less profits. And when they get less profits, they become more indebted. Over time, their debts do not decrease at all because investment costs keep increasing.

As their debts keep increasing, farmers desperately try to pay off their debts. The easiest and most popular way to do this is to mortgage their land with loan sharks. But as they still cannot pay off their debts, their land is seized. Without land, farmers are plunged deeper into debt. Life becomes less secure and more futile, and some decide to end it all.

"We have interviewed four farmers who tooked loans provided by loan sharks, and all of them have attempted to kill themselves," said Pongtip Samranjit, director of Local Action Links, a non-profit research think tank on the plight of Thai farmers.

Her latest study on the farm debt trend last year revealed that Thai farmers generally bear debts on their shoulders and this has become heavier over time because of increasing farm investment costs. They have also lost their farmland following their inability to pay off debts, increasing insecurity in life.

As a farm advocate who has been monitoring the plight of Thai farmers for many years, Pongtip has tried to sum up this endless cycle in order to address its causes and present them to policy makers.

Pongtip believes these are structural problems that need a serious political will to address. For instance, she said, most farm materials are in the hands of giant companies, and farmers have no choice but to buy these items at the set price.

Surprisingly, the government has failed to address this problem seriously despite the fact that it is so obvious and blatant, even to ordinary people.

Pongtip wondered if this was because some companies have connections to political parties or have made donations that could encourage political leaders to turn a blind eye to the plight of the farmers.

Instead, she said, they tend to go for increasing yield policies or come up with price guarantees offered, which are often seen as tools to win votes.

"I personally believe that they can think of all these as they have a lot of officials with doctorate degrees. The question is why they don't do it. Is this because it would affect their political bases? If they do, it would change everything and help lift farmers' incomes and quality of life," said Pongtip.

Pongtip sees no difference between these and the controversial rice-pledging scheme, which was exciting at first but did not change anything fundamentally. She said the military-installed government seems on the surface to be addressing the farmers' plight and its causes, but so far no concrete actions have been taken.

For instance, she said, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha keeps talking about reducing farm investment costs, which appears to be a step in the right direction. However, it is not enough to just ask for cooperation from companies.

The reality is that farmers are still facing high farm production costs, which unreasonably went up after the launch of the rice-pledging scheme.

Pongtip urged Prayut to immediately to help farmers by lifting the burden of debt off their shoulders because most of their debtors are under the government's directives.

The government should also help control the cost of farm materials in the market so that farmers would not be additionally loaded with farm investment costs.

In the long run, Pongtip said, the government must address the loss of farmland issue as this is directly linked with the insecurities of farm life. And last but not least, it must also address farmers' education and learning, so that farmers can be empowered and become more self-reliant.

"In the end, it's down to addressing the right policy, what kind of farming we are going to proceed with," said Pongtip. "But I must tell you that it's not all about farm production and yields. We must also take care of the farmers' lives. The question is, what kind of life do we and farmers want to see in the future?"

Krissana Kaudlim, leader of the Photharam Agri-Nature Learning Group in Ratchaburi's Photharam district, urged the government to focus on empowering farmers.

Krissana views farmers' learning and establishing groups to increase their bargaining power as an effective approach to break the cycle.

However, based on his own experiences during the last few years, government policies such as the rice pledging scheme have killed the farmers' learning process.

Local leaders, he said, are particularly influential in addressing government policies in local areas and they are still in favour of quick gains from policies.

To make farmers' empowerment successful, Krissana said, we must make these leaders understand the point, but he acknowledged that it won't be easy.

"When it comes to money-driven policies, it's very highly politically charged," Krissana said.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya on Thursday explained to the National Legislative Assembly's meeting about the ministry's latest agenda to address the farmers' plight.

He said to increase farmers' incomes and quality of life, the ministry has come up with four main approaches. The ministry is working in collaboration with the Commerce Ministry to reduce farm production costs, he said, without elaborating on the details.

He said the ministry has also instructed its own agencies to integrate their work to improve farmers' fundamental materials such as quality of soil as well as quality of seeds in the hope of increasing production yields.

In addition, it has come up with over 200 pilot farm plots, under which integrated and modern farm management will be implemented. In 2009, he expects to see at least one such farm plot in every province.

The ministry conceded that farmers involved in single crop production cannot stand on their own feet easily anymore because they earn only a narrow profit from the same old farm practice while their living expenses keep increasing.

So, the ministry is trying to come up with integrated farming practices to increase farmers' chances of survival.

"We will look at farmers' life with a new and different vision," said the agriculture minister. "We will not focus only on high farm prices. We will rather see how to help farmers earn enough income, while being able to stand on their own two feet."

This is the last part of a series on rice-pledging scheme.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Farmers-need-more-than-just-rhetoric-30275339.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-21

[halloween]

What do we do with businessmen who cannot make a living in their chosen industry? If the industry id farming, the answer is usually "Give them a handout for political reasons." The much more logical "encourage them to leave the industry so that other businessmen can use the resources more efficiently" is decried for many reasons, none of which have any economic credibility or lead to lifestyle improvements for those involved.

[Thian]

Then grow banana's, the big banana's are expensive in BKK.

[oneday]

The Thai government needs to setup farming assistance and education centers throughout Thailand.

This, at least, would be a beginning or encourage cooperatives guided and assisted by the government.

[timber]

In a variety of place in North America and I imagine Europe have community government representatives that are well educated in their fields

and have good experience that work with the local agricultural people. These people are not only knowledgeable in their own right, but

form a pipeline from research centers and Universities to solve problems and bring them new procedures and techniques.

[Srikcir]

Making farmers' empowerment successful?

That wasn't very acceptable to the anti-Yingluck/Thaksin regimes by the autocracy. While the current government will unabashedly use farmers to cooperate with the government with soft loans, loan foregiveness, direct compensation and subsidies, it will not respect their sovereignty when it comes time for regime change.

Empowerment comes with trust. Trust comes with accomplishment.

[scorecard]

Making farmers' empowerment successful?

That wasn't very acceptable to the anti-Yingluck/Thaksin regimes by the autocracy. While the current government will unabashedly use farmers to cooperate with the government with soft loans, loan foregiveness, direct compensation and subsidies, it will not respect their sovereignty when it comes time for regime change.

Empowerment comes with trust. Trust comes with accomplishment.

And I guess your saying that the farmers / all the good Thai people could trust madam the puppet / madam the fake pm / madam the clone (as said by her controller) / and the farmers and all Thai people could trust her controller and trust his get rich quick club members, all with no ethics or morals or capability or sincerity?

Edited December 21, 2015 by scorecard

[seajae]

again they try to blame the govt when they need look no further than the farmers themselves, they refuse to change the way they do things and could stop a lot of the expense if they stopped using chemicals but they simply refuse to do so and want the govt to bail them out once again because it is easier than having to do a bit of extra work. In an article above there is a woman using no chemicals at all and her costs are 2000 baht a rai, trouble is these farmers simply refuse to do the same thing, if they dont want to change then the only ones at fault are them, they use pitiful farming practices because they simply try to make a fast baht, either they change their attitude or perish.

[pookiki]

The stats on land ownership are a bit confusing. If over half of farmers are working less than 5 rai of land and the majority are growing rice, what kind of yield does that represent? With incomes of 156,000 baht per year minus at least 23,000 baht for investment costs, that leaves 123,000 baht per year for all income. That sum represents a monthly income of approximately 10,250 baht. Compare that monthly income to that of a government worker who makes a minimum of 15,000 baht a month for a five day workweek and an 8 hour day! Factory workers will earn approximately 15,000 baht per month with overtime (12 hours a day, six days a week).

When you consider the monthly income for a farmer working less than 5 rai of land, the only way to survive is to send their children off to work in the factory. Educating and empowering farmers is nice sloganism. The government could be doing much more than it is now. Take soil samples of each farmer's land and provide the results and recommendations for the best crop to plant. The upcoming drought will only make matters worse. If subsidies are logically applied, it can help those who need it the most. One size fits all won't work.

[djjamie]

If the farmers were self sustainable they would be free of political manipulation when elections came. That is the last thing some would ever want.

Keep them poor, keep them desperate so they vote for you and the spoils go to the ones that offer the best deal funded by the tax payer.

If Kermit the Frog offered 51% above market value at the last election Thailand would have been run by muppets instead of puppets.

The famers deserve better and the scheme that Khun Korn introduced is certainly on the mark.

[hansgruber]

Farmers need to stop farming for a season or two completely and create a shortage.

Thats one way to raise the prices.

[billd766]

The Thai government needs to setup farming assistance and education centers throughout Thailand.

This, at least, would be a beginning or encourage cooperatives guided and assisted by the government.

They should have done that 10, 15 even 20 years ago.

Now it will only be of limited help to farmers.

Edited December 21, 2015 by billd766

[rubl]

Making farmers' empowerment successful?

That wasn't very acceptable to the anti-Yingluck/Thaksin regimes by the autocracy. While the current government will unabashedly use farmers to cooperate with the government with soft loans, loan foregiveness, direct compensation and subsidies, it will not respect their sovereignty when it comes time for regime change.

Empowerment comes with trust. Trust comes with accomplishment.

It would seem that it was in fact the Yingluck/Thaksin RPPS that wonderful self-financing scheme which killed self-reliance and empowerment.

""Farmers' learning and establishing groups is very important as that is a strength that farmers can have when dealing with others. And this closely connects to the economy at a fundamental level, which is community-based economic development. All have gone in the name of the scheme," said Krissana, who now is trying to rebuild his group."

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/878406-the-heavy-burden-of-farm-life-after-rice-pledging-scheme/

[halloween]

Making farmers' empowerment successful?

That wasn't very acceptable to the anti-Yingluck/Thaksin regimes by the autocracy. While the current government will unabashedly use farmers to cooperate with the government with soft loans, loan foregiveness, direct compensation and subsidies, it will not respect their sovereignty when it comes time for regime change.

Empowerment comes with trust. Trust comes with accomplishment.

Buying farmers' votes with handouts doesn't lead to trust when the unsustainable scam collapses, leaving them unpaid.

What was accomplished by the rice scam - other than allowing a pack of criminals into office? What did the Thai taxpayers GET for their B500+ billion?