Govt begins buying up rice paddy to help farmers amid slump in prices

[webfact]

Govt begins buying up rice paddy to help farmers amid slump in prices
By THE NATION

 

 

BANGKOK: -- GOVERNMENT agencies have begun implementing measures aimed at helping rice farmers sell their produce amid declining paddy prices.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is buying up paddy of Hom Mali fragrant rice from farmers throughout the country, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister General Chatchai Sarikalya said yesterday, adding that the paddy bought from farmers would be milled and packaged for sale. 

“Consumers will be able to buy quality rice obtained directly from farmers,” he said, with orders available through the Marketing Organisation for Farmers (MOF) website, Ortorkor.com.

Chatchai said that the MOF would also hold a “Thai Rice Festival to Help Farmers” as a channel to distribute the rice output onto the market.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30299017

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2016-11-03

[Balance]

And now, exactly, is this different than the last time the Government bought up the rice crop?  Is the Army going to store it or eat it?  How much is being paid for it?

[worgeordie]

Will they never learn from past mistakes,maybe they should pay half

the farmers to STOP growing rice,instead of buying the rice to keep the

prices high,which results in the rice been too expensive to find an export

market,and paying everyday,for it too be stored.

 

Maybe one day the tax payers will baulk at their tax money been wasted

every year,something has to change.

regards worgeordie

[OMGImInPattaya]

10 minutes ago, Balance said:

And now, exactly, is this different than the last time the Government bought up the rice crop?  Is the Army going to store it or eat it?  How much is being paid for it?

Maybe Thai mommies will get their conscripts back after two years service 20 kilos heavier ?

[phantomfiddler]

6 minutes ago, Balance said:

And now, exactly, is this different than the last time the Government bought up the rice crop?  Is the Army going to store it or eat it?  How much is being paid for it?

 

This is TOTALLY different from the shinawatra system, where promised (and totally unrealistic) high prices were offered PURELY for the purpose of obtaining votes. The existing government do not need votes, they are simply trying to help the farmers, and in cutting out some of the greedy middle men they would be going far in the right direction.

[OMGImInPattaya]

What a bunch of clowns...they've encouraged farmers to over produce rice for decades with their silly subsidy and above-market purchase schemes and then have no clue what to do with the resulting surpluses. Incompetence at its best.

[mercman24]

but now of course they have a piece of paper that precludes them from any wrong doing now or in the future, accountability, nice one and the people voted it in. lemmings spring to mind

[Brer Fox]

Hold a Thai Rice Festival.

The obvious answer to solve the problem. Why didn't anyone think of that before? Because no others have the tactical suppleness and brilliance of mind of military personnel.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Brer Fox

[Ace of Pop]

Will they never learn from past mistakes,maybe they should pay half
the farmers to STOP growing rice,instead of buying the rice to keep the
prices high,which results in the rice been too expensive to find an export
market,and paying everyday,for it too be stored.
 
Maybe one day the tax payers will baulk at their tax money been wasted
every year,something has to change.
regards worgeordie

Don't You go posting Commonsense here,it confuses people.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Ace of Pop]

Considering this lot running the Show Don't claim to be Captains of Commerce like Thaksins Mob ,for bunch of Gun Shooters they rather Shame Thaksins Conmen by a few points.Why they just don't let Toyota and Macro run it,they understand Management and Sales rather well.[emoji383][emoji383][emoji87]


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[alant]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

 

This is TOTALLY different from the shinawatra system, where promised (and totally unrealistic) high prices were offered PURELY for the purpose of obtaining votes. The existing government do not need votes, they are simply trying to help the farmers, and in cutting out some of the greedy middle men they would be going far in the right direction.

they didn't need votes, they were in power

 

[fruitman]

30 minutes ago, Ace of Pop said:

Macro

 

Makro claims to sell "freshly baked every day" bread which is 2-3 days old according to the date of production sticker.

 

So nope, they also don't understand how to keep a reliable name...If Makro still was from Europe it sure wouldn't happen again but they still do it.

[ElPatron]

Is this a joke? Seriously are they doing the same thing Yingluck government did? 

[adhd]

the great leader took an idea from the person he tries now to get billions of baht of corruption money back

 

pot => kettle => black

 

 

[Ace of Pop]

I don't do shopping,but thanks for trying to fog my light post[emoji572]️


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[ElPatron]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

 

This is TOTALLY different from the shinawatra system, where promised (and totally unrealistic) high prices were offered PURELY for the purpose of obtaining votes. The existing government do not need votes, they are simply trying to help the farmers, and in cutting out some of the greedy middle men they would be going far in the right direction.

lol, you think populism was only under Yingluck, do you really think the angry farmers taking the street, and therefore undermining the "99% people are happy with Prayuth polls", may not be the beginning of the end?

They really want to tackle the Thaksin's out, but if the farmers start to starve and get angry it will turn bloody

[Ricardo]

51 minutes ago, alant said:

they didn't need votes, they were in power

 

 

I'm afraid that you're mistaken about that.

 

Yingluck's government launched the scheme in October-2011, to fulfil the promises which had been made during the election campaign, when she/they were not in power.

 

There are plenty of sources to confirm this, unfortunately some of the better ones are in the newspaper we cannot link to, but perhaps the Economist will suffice ?

 

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21583281-increasingly-unpopular-government-sticks-its-worst-and-most-costly-policy-rice-mountain

 

"The rice subsidy was classic Thaksin populism. Two-fifths of Thais work in agriculture, most of them as rice farmers. Ms Yingluck promised that, if she were elected, her government would buy unmilled rice directly from farmers at about twice the market rate, or 15,000 baht (about $500) per tonne. This would put money into poor farmers’ pockets and stimulate domestic demand. Naysayers warned that the scheme would be impossibly expensive. But Thaksin advisers said that withdrawing rice from world markets in this way would force up the price. Since Thailand was the world’s biggest exporter, the government would be able to cash in later by selling its stockpiles of grain at a profit.

So much for the weird theory."

[snowgard]

40 minutes ago, fruitman said:

 

Makro claims to sell "freshly baked every day" bread which is 2-3 days old according to the date of production sticker.

 

So nope, they also don't understand how to keep a reliable name...If Makro still was from Europe it sure wouldn't happen again but they still do it.

The fresh bread you can find in Makro Sukhumvit Jomtien. In North Pattaya they sale the old one.

[Ace of Pop]

Seems there a lot of My Wife Told Me Posters about in this topic


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[yellowboat]

"Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it".

Lao Tzu .    This phrase pops into one's mind when government and rice are mentioned in the same sentence in Thailand.  

 

If those manipulating the price of rice are not the well connected Thai elite or the military lead government, they should be prosecuted of course. 

[sujoop]

2 hours ago, ElPatron said:

Is this a joke? Seriously are they doing the same thing Yingluck government did? 

 

No. However, although the present Govt's program is very limited and  a much lower subsidy (and necessary in reaction to an almost emergency need),  the Govt should just give a subsidy direct to poor farmers and follow-up with extensive re-training programs. Meanwhile, must also un-plug all the Thaksin/Red leaders network of collusive rice millers some way.

Here's just a sample amongst 853 Yingluck/Thaksin rice scheme corruption cases - this one involves:
Faked rice deal  links a red-shirt leader and a Yingluck Pheu Thai party MP and a Thaksin crony insider:
 
Dummy firm tied to govt figures
*Guangzhou-based GSSG Import and Export Corporation, was actually represented by a Thai man called Rathanit Sojirakul, who later authorised Phichit-based Nimon Rakdi to (sign) a contract to purchase 5 million tonnes of rice on the company’s behalf. ...Rathanit was a close aide to Pheu Thai MP Rapeephan Phongruangrong, who is the wife of red-shirt leader Arisman Phongruangrong. ...Rathanit, who claimed to be the authorised representative of the Chinese firm, only has Bt64.63 in his bank account...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/politics/aec/30195106
 
Telling comment from Yingluck's (Thaksin's) Commerce minister:
“(After buying the rice) I won’t be investigating what buyers do with it,” he said.
 
So what did happen to the rice in this supposedly 'innocent normal subsidy deal'?
 
*The G-to-G deal was a fake because no rice was exported to the Chinese firm. Instead, the huge amount of milled rice was sold locally at below market price by the Foreign Trade Department to a ghost buyer who then sold the rice at market price to the two Thai firms which have their own rice mills and later on the same amount of rice were pledged with the government at pledging prices which are about 40 percent above market price. The gang, it was alleged, made double profits from the same amount of rice.
http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-yingluck-probed-connection-fake-rice-deal/
 
*And ultimately the poorest farmers weren't even part of their program. Yingluck's/Thaksin's  program was a calculated fraud from the outset.
 

[alant]

5 hours ago, Ricardo said:

 

I'm afraid that you're mistaken about that.

 

Yingluck's government launched the scheme in October-2011, to fulfil the promises which had been made during the election campaign, when she/they were not in power.

 

There are plenty of sources to confirm this, unfortunately some of the better ones are in the newspaper we cannot link to, but perhaps the Economist will suffice ?

 

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21583281-increasingly-unpopular-government-sticks-its-worst-and-most-costly-policy-rice-mountain

 

"The rice subsidy was classic Thaksin populism. Two-fifths of Thais work in agriculture, most of them as rice farmers. Ms Yingluck promised that, if she were elected, her government would buy unmilled rice directly from farmers at about twice the market rate, or 15,000 baht (about $500) per tonne. This would put money into poor farmers’ pockets and stimulate domestic demand. Naysayers warned that the scheme would be impossibly expensive. But Thaksin advisers said that withdrawing rice from world markets in this way would force up the price. Since Thailand was the world’s biggest exporter, the government would be able to cash in later by selling its stockpiles of grain at a profit.

So much for the weird theory."

Thank you for putting me right. However may I ask if you believe every promise a politician looking for your vote has made. I am English and I know there has been more than the occasional porky used in politics where I come from.

No matter how many years pass, the Shin family gets the blame. Little is said of the beneficial effects they had in perhaps rural education and healthcare. A lot of this criticism is from non t#Thais who seem to know an awful lot more than I do about just why they carry the blame for all thing bad.

I am neither a supporter or an opposer to the Shin family but I am at a loss as to why they can be continually blamed or associated with such matters.

[bentarm44]

The last time the "authorities" promised a good price to the rice farmers round my way, vast amounts of the stuff was trucked away with the promise of payment at end of month.

 

8 months later, some farmers started to get some money from the banks.

No interest paid, or recompense for the damaged family lives and suicides.

 

Over the last year, many families have been selling off their paddy to the local land stripper company.

After they have taken the soil and gravel away, a new sort of mini desert is created.

 

The families celebrate their cash windfall, and seem not to care or consider the permanent loss of the asset that has maintained and fed their family for generations.

New house and/or pickup, motor cycle, mia noi or iphone for all; and then a party.

 

Still, all in all probably a better bet than ever expecting fair and proper treatment from anything to come out of Bangkok.

 

 

[Ricardo]

1 hour ago, alant said:

Thank you for putting me right. However may I ask if you believe every promise a politician looking for your vote has made. I am English and I know there has been more than the occasional porky used in politics where I come from.

No matter how many years pass, the Shin family gets the blame. Little is said of the beneficial effects they had in perhaps rural education and healthcare. A lot of this criticism is from non t#Thais who seem to know an awful lot more than I do about just why they carry the blame for all thing bad.

I am neither a supporter or an opposer to the Shin family but I am at a loss as to why they can be continually blamed or associated with such matters.

 

You're welcome  ...  it is a frequently-posted misconception, that Yingluck only made the promise once she'd already been elected, I don't know why since this was only five years ago. Memories can be so short sometimes !

 

One of Yingluck's own ministers referred, after they had won power, to some committments having been 'mere pre-election promises', as though that absolved them (or indeed others in other countries) from having to keep them.  And many of the PTP pre-election promises were cancelled, or only partly kept, once they had achieved their purpose.

 

No, I don't believe politicians bearing promises, which is perhaps why it's important to remember what ones were made, and to watch whether they are subsequently kept or not. If I (and other farang posters) were here, and remember (or sometimes say) what went on, it is perhaps a very small step towards keeping the politicians more honest.

 

Those who forget their history are often condemned to re-live it !

 

The PTP/Yingluck government was still in-power some three years ago, we're not talking ancient history regarding the rice-scheme, I do accept that Thaksin achieved things in-his-time, the 30-Baht health-scheme was one such improvement, such a pity that it wasn't matched by sufficient increased-funding to enable it to be delivered. Similar things do happen elsewhere, you will be familiar with the similar ongoing problem of funding the NHS, in the UK.

 

As to why the Shin family continues to attract such comment, well one must remember that they had three different political-parties & were in-power for almost a decade over the past 15-years, and they remain a force in Thai politics, such as it is.  They are therefore partly responsible for where things stand today.  In particular Thaksin's original idea of the rice-scheme, as promised (pre-election) and delivered (post election) by Yingluck & PTP, has undoubtedly done long-term damage to the Thai rice-growing industry. 

 

The military-government struggles to manage (not necessarily very well) the consequences of that policy, the damage to the global reputation of Thai rice and the remaining undisposed-of stocks of ageing rotting rice, also much of the debt that the scheme incurred was merely rolled-over, and even now still remains to be paid-off.

 

This is an on-going story, have the lessons of past mistakes been learned, that's an on-going debate and recent-history remains an important part of that IMO.

 

 

[Grubster]

There is only one way that Thai farmers will be able to compete in world markets with any farm crop, and that is with subsidies. Uk farmers get billions of pounds, US farmers tens of billions,  Nearly all countries have subsidies, a few don't allow or charge tariffs on imports. If Thailand doesn't want to participate in world markets then they will have a huge surplus of farm land.  Buying vote's? Well yes as in america Farmers are over 90% Republican and those Republican elected officials make damned sure they don't lose that base. It is very unpopular for an official there to oppose any farm program, except food stamps which are attached to the farm bill. China, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, etc. are all scrambling to find crops to replace rice, so take your pick and it will surely be a loser. 

              Good luck Thai farmers, you will need it until the Hi-So's own the land and get huge subsidies from their friends at the top. If you are able to hang on to your farm somehow you will be OK then, most of you will lose your farms before then.