Three cheers for Virabongsa's courage

He wrote, “Since agricultural pledging schemes were first introduced in 1986, Thailand has wasted a huge amount of money and farmers have not been end-beneficiaries as expected. Much of the gains fall into the pockets of rice millers, ministers and politicians’ cronies, which explains why nobody wants it to end.” 

In his interview with The Nation, published on October 3, he said: “The country will be doomed if the government proceeds with the rice-pledging scheme.” 

When faced with his standing by his earlier stance, PM Yingluck could say nothing but, “The scheme benefits the farmer”, which is true. But if that’s the sole criterion for a project, then why doesn’t she just give cash to each farmer? 

What should our embattled prime minister do? She should, as our Constitution requires, protect the farmers’ interests while not competing with the private sector. That can be done by, for example, following the Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” 

Our rice yields are ranked a lowly 22nd among the 23 major rice-producing countries whose data is reported by the US Department of Agriculture. Improving those yields by as little as, say, 10 per cent per year would be an immense and lifelong improvement, benefiting even the many small farmers who produce enough to only feed their families. Instead of turning the government into the sole major buyer in the country, set the mortgage price at slightly lower than market rates – rather than higher – to shield farmers from extreme volatility while allowing the market mechanism to work. 

We all make mistakes, Ma’am. It’s to your and your brother’s immense credit that you actually seek to implement your campaign pledges. It’ll be even more to your credit if you admit that you are less than perfect.

In the meantime, three chaiyos for the little boy in the Hans Christian Andersen story who dared say that the emperor has no clothes – in this case, Dr Virabongsa, economic adviser to PM Yingluck.

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok