Chamber criticises pledging scheme

After meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong yesterday to discuss the chamber’s project to narrow the income gap, TCC vice chairman Chatchai Boonyarat said the government would face a huge burden due to its unlimited subsidy.
The chamber called on the government to consider reducing subsidies by setting high pledging prices to reduce its financial and stockpiling burden. Chatchai said the government would also face difficulty managing huge commodity stockpiles under the pledging scheme to create stability for farm goods.
The government could also face corruption due to the huge budget for subsidising and releasing farm products, Chatchai said.
He added that the government should rather invest more on developing the quality of commodities and farmers’ knowledge to help them increase their incomes and to promote sustainable development for the agricultural sector.
To help increase knowledge, the chamber plans to set up 18 learning centre for farmers next year.
Kittiratt said the government would continue the pledging project for commodities next year as part of its policy to raise farmers’ incomes.
However, he said the government might not start the pledging project for cassava in the upcoming harvest season as it wanted to save funds for the country’s post-flood rehabilitation, while expecting rising crop prices next year.
The Commerce Ministry’s Internal Trade Department has been drafting a plan for the cassava pledging scheme after the price of that commodity shrank to less than Bt2 per kilogram in August. However, as the price has increased gradually to about Bt2.60 per kilo, the ministry has not yet started the pledging project.
Under the subsidy programme, the government plans to spend about Bt40 billion. The pledged price for cassava would start at Bt2.60-Bt2.90 per kilo, rising by 5 satang a month after the project starts.
Kittiratt said that although the government would continue the pledging scheme as a major part of its agenda to boost farmer incomes next year, the project for cassava might not be necessary as the price is expected to increase continuously on high demand for fuel crops in the global market, mainly China, which is Thailand’s major export market for tapioca products.
The Agriculture Ministry reports that the price of cassava rose from an average of Bt2.38 per kilo in November to Bt2.40-2.70 per kilo this month.

Next year, the ministry projects that the production of cassava will increase by 14.58 per cent to 25.1 million tonnes.

In addition, to boost productivity, Kittiratt said the government would cooperate with the TCC to set up cassava-plantation development centres in 10 provinces. The government will provide Bt45 million for this project to develop soil and plantation quality for cassava.