Farmers group demands action on debt relief
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AFTER BEING reportedly threatened by moneylenders or on the verge of losing their homes or farms, a 2,000-strong group from Phetchaburi and nearby provinces has called for the government to help them escape from their crushing debt load.
Their demands include putting their on-system debts in a rehabilitation fund and providing low-interest and long-term loans to tackle their off-system debts.
The group calling itself Feunfoo Kasettakorn Ruamjai Pattana claims that many of its members were over-stretched by debts owed to banking and financing institutions such as credit unions and cooperatives as well as to moneylenders.
Many had fallen behind their instalments and were taken to court by the creditors to seize their collateral or were subjected to loan sharks’ threats, so they borrowed from other loan sharks to repay old obligations and sank even deeper into debt, said Prachuap Charat, president of the farmers group.
Banks and non-banks are now beginning to consider aiding members of the group formed under a law to protect farmers battling debts and land issues.
Most members had no land of their own, so they rented from landowners who sometimes raised the rent too high.
They also faced hardships from the low price of farm produce and the debts from off-system lenders, Prachuap said.
“The debt issue is severe because of lenders’ usurious interest rates. Many fall behind payments and are threatened or see their land forfeited,” he said.
Jeeranant Sornyim, 49, who borrowed Bt200,000 from a cooperative in 1997 and mortgaged 3 rai (4,800 square metres) of land to fund her shrimp farm, said floods that year swept away the shrimp. Then she and her husband made a living by going scavenging with their old pickup truck.
The couple paid the co-op Bt1,000 per month until they were hit by a drunk driver. The accident wrecked their truck and they sold it for scrap.
The couple and their child were seriously hurt in the accident. While the other side paid their medical bills, the couple lost the truck they had used to make a living. In 2006 when the loan matured, the court allowed the co-op to confiscate their land.
“I was told the Bt200,000 debt plus Bt300,000 interest amounted to Bt500,000. I want the government to help me get my land back. The help I got from a rehabilitation fund didn’t cover all my debt. I’m still short by Bt100,000,” Jeeranant said.
Parawee Chiangkhaek, 53, who owed Bt350,000 in off-system debt and pledged her 3 ngan 90 square wah (1,560 square metres) of land to fund her farm, said she paid interest of Bt10,000 a month, but fell behind and was in arrears on four months of instalments, so the lender seized her land.
The lender then made her fork out Bt9,000 a month for four years with the promise to change the name on the title deed back to hers. She made 17 instalments and fell behind again, so the lender threatened to sell her land. Advised to borrow from a revolving fund, she asked the lender to wait, but the help came late and she was told the land was sold.
“My remaining debt is Bt280,000, but the lender sold the land for Bt560,000. I can’t afford to buy the land back. I have no place to live. I want the government to find me a soft loan,” she said.
San Moosiri, 62, said she borrowed money for eight friends who fled, so she was left with almost Bt1 million in off-system debt.
“So far I have sold my 4-rai paddy field for Bt300,000 to repay the debt, but I still have a lot left,” she said.
She urged the government to provide a low-interest loan and negotiate with the lender to waive her interest.
