Prayut should help hard-hit rubber farmers
Prayut should definitely help rubber farmers, who are hard hit by falling world prices, but we should learn from Yingluck's infamous rice plan, rather than repeat its errors.
We cannot control world markets, either in rice or rubber. But we can, and should, ameliorate their volatility. Aid to farmers should be self-liquidating, not self-perpetuating, so that the funds can be put to other uses.
Also, help should be focused on the poorest of the poor. Growing rubber is a sunset industry, because artificial rubber is an almost perfect substitute and is cheaper by far.
We should be seeking to help rubber tappers get out of the industry, such as by re-training them – or their children – for other work, paying them a gradually decreasing subsidy that is always below world prices or helping them shift to better-paying crops.
I would not create artificial demand, such as using rubber in making roads, because that would be creating a cost burden for road users. And, 80 per cent of our aid should go to the 20 per cent or so of the farmers who are the poorest.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
