How to learn from the failed rice scheme
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The rice scheme is rebounding on its schemers (pun intended) because its goals were warped from the start. Now, as its massive losses unfold, is the time to review the programme, starting with its objectives. Everything should then be revised following St
The programme’s goal should be to raise the wellbeing of those who are: a) Thai; b), poor; and c) farmers – focusing d) on the long run. This does not mean cutting them off from the free market system, which is the mainstay of our economic system. Thus, the scheme should moderate market fluctuations, to make agricultural planning less risky, rather than eliminate price movements.
Surely rich farmers and companies need no subsidy from the rest of us. Payments must be capped and totals received posted on the Web, giving the name of each recipient, his/her Thai citizen ID number, photo and amount received – with a reward of 10 times the amount recovered for those who expose fraud in the rice scheme, with the reward to be collected from the guilty parties.
A quality education has time and again been proven to be an excellent long-term investment, for the benefits are lifelong. Thus, half of each person’s subsidy will be in the form of education vouchers, useable by the recipient or his/her immediate family at any public or private educational institution that posts its students’ average O-Net or other nationwide exams on the Web, so students and their parents can evaluate what they are buying.
Revise the rice scheme to help the poor farmer in the long term.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
