Farmers left in lurch after Napier grass project cancelled
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The military regime has scrapped a plan initiated by the Yingluck Shinawatra government to provide financial support to 10 companies to pilot a programme to fuel power plants with Napier grass, leaving farmers involved in the project in an uncertain posit
The project was cancelled after the junta's Monitoring and Auditing Committee on Fiscal Expenditures decided the money could be spent more productively on other alternative-energy projects.
"Now, a number of Napier growers are suffering from the cancellation of purchase contracts by Universal Absorbent and Chemicals, which blames the government for scrapping the Napier project," said Jamnien Nonthawong, a community leader in Si Sa Ket province.
The decision meant UAC, which had planned to produce biogas from the Napier grass, could not purchase the grass from growers as intended, he said.
UAC had made purchase contracts with farmers in Si Sa Ket for Napier grass from a total of 500 rai of farmland to supply nearby power plants. The price for the grass was agreed at Bt3,000 per tonne.
Jamnien said grass was nearly ready to harvest on about 100 rai of farmland. Farmers had dedicated five months to growing this grass.
The project had been under the previous government's policy to encourage farmers to shift their focus from growing rice to this bio-energy crop.
‘No help from govt’
He said a group of Napier growers had met with representatives of the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) and were told that the government had cancelled the projects.
"But the government has not given any help to the farmers on this matter. The farmers will have to suffer losses," Jamnien said.
UAC chief executive officer Kitti Chevakate said that because the fiscal expenditures committee had cancelled the Napier power plant projects, the company had to cancel the purchase contracts with the growers.
"The company regrets this. But it wants the farmers to wait and see whether the Energy Ministry will continue supporting the projects," he said.
A ministry source said it still had a policy to promote the generation of power from Napier grass under the nation's renewable and alternative energy development plan. The government has set a target for production of 3,000 megawatts of alternative energy by 2021.
