Million Cow Project To Come Under Review

[george]

Million cow project to come under review

BANGKOK: -- The one-million-cow project, a populist project initiated by the deposed Thaksin Shinawatra government, will be reviewed amid a call by the Democrat party for the military-installed government to dig up irregularities in all populist schemes under the previous government. Deputy Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Minister Rungruang Isarankura na Ayudhya said the one-million-cow project would be [... more]

-- Bangkok Post 2006-11-20

[Nikkijah]

Million cow project to come under review

BANGKOK: -- The one-million-cow project, a populist project initiated by the deposed Thaksin Shinawatra government, will be reviewed amid a call by the Democrat party for the military-installed government to dig up irregularities in all populist schemes under the previous government. Deputy Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Minister Rungruang Isarankura na Ayudhya said the one-million-cow project would be [... more]

-- Bangkok Post 2006-11-20

The original project sounds so fishy, typical Thaksin populist handouts..again, it's unvelievable how he got away with selling himself like that

[cdnvic]

The whole thing looked doomed to creating an oversupply in the beef market and spreading poverty to farms that until a million head of cattle flooded the market, were marginally profitable. Unless there were large new export markets opening I don't see how it could have worked.

[chownah]

Does anyone have the actual facts about how this program worked?

Chownah

[sriracha john]

A million cows (22,000 actually procured).... A million Elite Cards (1,700 actually distributed with unknown number actually sold)...

Thaksin sure did like to think in delusionally grandiose, psychotically unrealistic terms.

Edited November 20, 2006 by sriracha john

[chownah]

I'm still wondering how the plan was supposed to work.

Chownah

[kmart]

A million cows (22,000 actually procured).... A million Elite Cards (1,700 actually distributed with unknown number actually sold)...

Thaksin sure did like to think in delusionally grandiose, psychotically unrealistic terms.

He should get in touch with North Korea's Kim Jong Il. They seem to share a common vision.

[Steph1012]

I'm still wondering how the plan was supposed to work.

Chownah

My wife says the cows were only availabe if you paid off the Local Phu Yai who had a waiting list.

She also said that you raised the cows, you didn't own them but could keep any offspring as your own but the cow went back to the Government (Phu yai) when it was meat size. These are only snippets from my failing memory but, I'm working with her all day, so will grill her.

This scheme seemed so open to abuse, I am wondering how it was worked in different areas of the country.

[Tony Clifton]

Could be 250, 000 cows distributed X 4

[sriracha john]

UPDATE..... going.... going..... gone.

Ministry scraps one-million-cows project

Initiative 'impractical and unsustainable'

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has scrapped the one-million-cows project initiated by the deposed Thaksin Shinawatra government, saying it was impractical and unsustainable. ''The target was impractical. And if we pushed the project to achieve the target, it would not have been sustainable because neither farmers or the ministry are ready for such a large-scale scheme,'' said Deputy Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Minister Rungruang Isarankura na Ayudhya. The Thaksin government initiated the project in late 2004, aiming to lend a million cows to farmers to help them raise their income. The ministry later instructed the Livestock Development Department to adjust the project to target a million farming families who would be able to borrow up to five million cows. *ahhh... a million isn't enough... let's get FIVE million.* Critics said the project was a political tool to build popularity among rural residents who in many areas queued up to borrow cows. Under the plan, farmers could borrow cows, raise them and sell meat or calves back to a company set up by the government. It was not clear how the government would force farmers to take care of the cows or sell them back to the company. The project has spent over one billion baht buying cows for the scheme, but this year failed to lend 250,000 cows. It has loaned only about 20,000 cows since the department imposed strict criteria on the selection of farmers, to ensure that they would return the cows.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/29Nov2006_news03.php

--------------------------------------------

hmmm... the math is interesting

1 Billion Baht = cost per cow is _________ baht

20,000 Cows

[Tony Clifton]

50 000 a cow. I wonder if our tv gentlemen farmers could tell us what's the running price for a cow.

[sonnyJ]

I'd like to know the price too. I could see my self running a ranch of Heardforths. So what can I get?

[Scott]

There are many flaws in this government scheme, but one of the big ones is the fact that when each family gets a cow, they have to have them artificially inseminated to produce a calf. Although this isn't all that difficult, it does require expertise that isn't readily available here.

Basically, cattle like to run in herds and one bull can be used for mating, but in this program, it would be difficult to keep the cows bred.

[sriracha john]

50 000 a cow. I wonder if our tv gentlemen farmers could tell us what's the running price for a cow.

Thanks for that…but need your math skills further.

Now then, to extrapolate it out… at 50,000 baht/cow… how much would have the government spent to get 5,000,000 cows like they wanted to under Thaksin?

[Steph1012]

50 000 a cow. I wonder if our tv gentlemen farmers could tell us what's the running price for a cow.

We (The wifes family) bought 4 with one of them being pregnant this October for 48,000 baht at market in Sisaket.

[RamdomChances]

I'm still wondering how the plan was supposed to work.

Chownah

It was supposed to run something like a "cow bank" They would give "poor" people cows and let them keep them for a while to fatten, they would then give them back at a later date and be paid for the difference in weight. Very few cows were ever given out, there were lot's of reports of massive coruption. At a local level it was rumored that you had to prove how "poor" you were by offering the biggest bribes to get the "free" cows

[Steph1012]

I think this is one of the saddest legacies of Thaksin and is an indictment of just how the ruling classes of all parties at all levels strive to keep the poor farmers downtroden.

People were really upbeat about this when it was announced and really thought that their plight may improve, not by a great amount and not for free. They would after all have to work to raise the cows, but this in my experience has never been a problem for farmers (hard work).

Then, as ever, the people in power at every level worked out how to feather their own nests at the expense of the poor farmers, the tax payers and the scheme itself. Everybody including the Thai Government know that the farmers had to pay large bribes to be considered for these cows.

It really would be something to see corruption addressed in Thailand. Not for our sakes and businesses, just for the working farmers of this country. Only when people realise that this money going into corrupt pockets is coming from their pockets (tax revenues) will anybody give a shit and maybe start to do something about it. Thats do, not talk!!

Anybody know the price of a flying pig

[PeaceBlondie]

I'm a city boy, neither a rancher nor a farmer. I live in a partially developed surburb near the Chiang Mai airport. Yesterday, while I was busily typing away on a ThaiVisa post, a Brahma cow or steer walked through my yard, deposited fresh manure, and walked away. I don't think the ranchers here are very sophisticated. Besides, most domestic beef meat is tough and stringy, unsuitable for real meals. Thais don't eat much beef.

This is Thaksin's legacy: cows, laptops for students who can't use them, Elite cards, juvenile arrogant pranks to stifle the press.....what else? At least George Bush has the wisdom to not even grant many interviews or press conferences.

[bannork]

Everyone's in on scams if they get the chance.

Last month a woman in our village arrived in our fields clutching 3 bottles of Leo. She told the wife she had taken out a loan with the bank last year, the Thaksin's converting land to assets scheme and the officials were coming to inspect the cows she claimed she wanted to buy with the loan.

In fact she used the money to pay the downpayment and several instalments on a pickup.

She wanted to borrow our cows.

The Leo was to bribe me- too cheap,eh? And lucky cows can't speak.

A more surprising scam, and I hope this is not true, is the work permit to work as a Thai cook abroad. I was told the Ministry Of Labour require chefs to have worked in 5 star hotels for 3 or 4 years before they will grant this visa, obviously to protect the quality of Thai chefs; but the missus informed me one of the villagers, whose somtam is admittedly excellent, got the visa for 50,000 baht. I'm sure she's never seen the inside of a 5 star establishment.

TIT