Payment good, but time to ponder new crops: farmers
RICE FARMERS are satisfied with part of the government economic stimulus package - to pay them Bt1,000 per rai - but this is only a short term solution, the president of a Thai farmers' network said.
Veera Rungrueng, farmer’s network president, said the government would need to come up with a more sustainable long-term solution,
He said the average price of rice per tonne had significantly deteriorated to Bt8,000 - so the government policy to “compensate investment” of farmers was welcome because it was solving the problem at hand. But the government needs to deliberate a more sustainable policy that could support farmers in the long-term.
At times when there’s water scarcity- a condition that doesn’t facilitate a double-crop rice field - the government should support farmers to grow alternative crops such as soybean, Veera suggested.
“The government should encourage farmers to grow soybean by supporting the production factors, and help lower production costs because farmers are not used to growing soybean. They also lack incentives because the income is not high enough.”
Growing soybean was another method of soil improvement which was beneficial to farmers; furthermore it could also ease the oversupply of rice in government warehouses, he said.
Suriya Chuwong, 57, a farmer from Phetchburi province,said the government policy to help farmers’ production costs by paying Bt1,000 per rai was good, however he said, “The money the government gave us isn’t enough for the production costs, which are around Bt4,000-Bt6,000 per rai. I’m afraid that farmers might not spend that money on production, but on other things.”
He suggested the government help them by finding new markets to sell their rice or support and encourage farmers to grow alternative products such as soybean.
Sumrarn Aumun, 44, a farmer from the same province, said he agreed with the policy to pay farmers but suggested the government should help farmers to support themselves.
He suggested the government should enourage farmers to grow high quality rice that could yield higher income, twice a year, instead of growing lower quality rice three or four times a year - because this also deteriorated the condition of the soil and would have multiple negative effects on the environment.
