Ministry sets up teams to help farmers cope with chemical ban
State organisations and teams have been tasked with coming up with guidelines to help farmers affected by the ban on three toxic pesticides, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Chalermchai Srion said on Wednesday. The ministry’s permanent secretary will be getting in touch with the cultivators of sugarcane, cassava, oil palm, rubber, corn, and fruit orchards who were likely to be most affected by the ban.
A group of farmers had requested the ministry to reveal the full documents considered by the Hazardous Substance Committee at their October 22 meeting when the decision to ban the use of the three hazardous pesticides was made, as the minister had stated that it already had information on alternative pesticides, budgets for substitution, and dealing with the remaining quantity of the banned substances.
The joint resolution came from four working groups authorised by the prime minister, comprising delegates from the public sector, groups of farmers, consumers and substance importers.
Sukan Sangwanna, secretary-general of the Safe Farming Confederation, said that farmers who planted the six cited crops wanted the ministry to be completely transparent on the management of hazardous substances and compensation for those affected by the ban when it comes into effect on December 1. He said they also needed more channels to express their problems besides the website.
Farmers wanted the information to be revealed within seven days according to Article 59 of the Constitution, indicating that the government has to publicise its news or information not involved with national security or official secrets since most of the farmers disagreed with the ban, which would lead to higher costs and lower output. They also demanded that the ban be postponed until the ministry comes up with an acceptable measure to support the farmers, said Sukan.