Amid scepticism, Thai Niyom scheme kicks off

Pathompong Jongsaksawat, 26, a community development specialist working with the organic farming network Punsuk [happiness sharing], told The Nation that he was not fully confident given the lack of consistency in the government policies.
“Last year, we managed to found this network thanks to the budget allocated from the Pracharat scheme. But then, it got discontinued and we just had to find other sources of funding,” he said. “And now they have launched this new policy, Thai Niyom. So, I don’t know where this would lead to. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Pathompong, who also participated in the event yesterday, said that Prayut appeared to take the matter seriously as he listened to the agriculturists’ problems and ordered officials to receive complaints. But Pathompong was unsure whether or not to support Prayut in the next election.
“I have to see how much his policies achieve. I’m also open to see policies presented by other parties. And I’ll decide when the time comes,” he said.
The remarks followed Prayut’s visit to the province to kick off the scheme, which is aimed at diagnosing people’s problems at the local level and solving them.
The government picked Nakhon Pathom province to launch the project as it is one of the country’s prime organic farming and land rights promotion areas.
Prayut, along with his concerned ministers, including Agriculture Minister Grisada Boonrach, paid a visit to Laembua agricultural learning centre in Nakhon Chaisri district and a few other locations to see the first agricultural land reform plots in the country.
Prayut told people there that the government’s Thai Niyom committees would visit 70,000 villages nationwide and ask people about their problems so that it can tackle them at their roots.
Thai Niyom, he said, is the concept that every Thai favours doing a good deed for the sake of public interest and others. He himself adheres to this principle, Prayut said, saying that he is not a politician, but a retired soldier who understands the people’s plight.
His government visited Nakhon Pathom to see how it could help connect elements in the farming sector for better productivity and prices.
Farm produce, he said, tends to be taken as “political produce”, while his government is trying to ensure that is not the case.
His government, he said, had come to learn about the people’s problems and solve them although it would take time.
As the problems have been fixed and the election comes, he urged them to vote for the best choice.
“We come today not to make you love us, but to solve the problems. We will take care of every one of you farmers, but you have to sympathise with us too, as Thailand has 74,000 villages and all have problems of their own,” said Prayut. He urged them to help the government and then vote for a government for all Thais, not just their own.