Tahi Farmers Urge Govt to Solve Declining Rice Price

The Thai Rice Mills Association has arranged to have rice mills in seven northern provinces of Thailand buy rice from farmers at fair prices, while farmers in Kamphaeng Phet Province held a protest to demand that the government address the problem of declining rice prices.

Two hundred farmers from Kamphaeng Phet Province gathered in front of the entrance of the province's administrative office and submitted their petition to PM Abhisit Vejjajiva through the provincial governor.

They urged the government to solve declining rice prices. The provincial security officers were present to prevent a third hand from using the gathering to stage violence.

The protest leaders took turns delivering speeches, criticising the government for how ineffective its price guarantee program has been.

The farmers said they are able to sell a ton of rice at 5,500 to 6,000 baht, while the standard price announced by the government is 10,000 baht per ton and the reference price is at 9,997 baht per ton.

They revealed that after selling the rice they receive only three baht in subsidy per ton of rice they sell, while the middlemen, their only other option, offer to buy their produce at even lower prices.

Provincial authorities assured the farmers that their plight will be forwarded to the government immediately.

In Pichit Province, Thai Rice Mills Association Deputy Chairman Banjong Tangjitwattanakul said rice millers in seven northern provinces including Pichit, Phisanulok, Utaradit, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Phetchabun, and Nakhon Sawan held a meeting to find a solution to the dropping rice price.

Eight to ten rice mills in each province have agreed to act as agents to buy rice from the farmers at reference prices, in order to stabilise the price of rice and prevent it from declining further.

Banjong attributed the declining rice price to premature price cuts by the rice exporters.

He proposed that the government adjust the reference price for rice more frequently, in order to stay up to date with the market price.

Currently, the reference price for rice is adjusted once every fifteen days.