Panel planned to collect rubber farmers' opinions

He made the comment after he met with representatives of rubber growers from 16 southern provinces yesterday. Amnuay said the committee would provide information and suggest short and long-term measures to deal with para-rubber issues. 

Saying the government had already set up a package of 16 measures to help rubber growers, such as the Bt1,000-per-rai subsidy and low-interest loans from Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Amnuay said he would also speak to authorities in other rubber-producing countries to work out measures to stabilise the prices. 

Earlier yesterday, 50 representatives of rubber growers had gathered at Government House to call on the authorities to reform the rubber industry. In their letter, the so-called “Rubber Farmers’ Saviour Alliance”, urged for a committee to be set up with rubber growers’ representation to solve para-rubber issues. They also pushed for the immediate withdrawal of the rubber bill from the National Legislative Assembly (NLA). 

The group’s coordinator Sunthorn Rakwong claimed the bill, if passed into law, would not benefit the small growers, but only politicians and rich plantation owners, adding that bureaucrats and academics drafted the bill, without any input from rubber growers. The group said they would coordinate with rubber growers nationwide and launch public forum to write a new version of the bill later. 

“If the NLA does not scrap the draft bill, then rubber farmers nationwide will rise up and protest,” he added.