Rice panel approves funds to buy secon
Without any request from farmers, the National Rice Policy Committee has approved a budget of Bt1.036 billion to purchase jasmine rice out of harvest season in a bid to prevent the price from falling and to keep different kinds of rice grains from mixing.
Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom said the measure aims not only to prevent the price from dropping, but also to keep farmers from combining fragrant rice grains with other white rice grains.
The Bt1.036 billion would be used to purchase about 60,000 tonnes of paddy fragrant rice through the end of June. Each farmer would be able to receive up to Bt500,000 for participating in the pledging project.
The purchase price would be Bt17,000 per tonne of paddy jasmine rice, while jasmine rice from the main crop at harvest season was pledged at Bt20,000.
Targeted areas for purchases are in Surin, Ubon Ratchathani, Si Sa Ket, and Buri Ram, which are provinces located in the Northeast and cover more than 10,000 rai of jasmine rice-growing area.
Boonsong said that the quality of out-of-harvest season fragrant rice is as high as that of fragrant rice from the main crop. The government needs to prevent the price from falling, otherwise farmers or traders might mix rice grains and dilute the quality.
Of the total budget of Bt1.036 billion, Bt1.02 billion would be for purchasing rice, and Bt16.05 million would be for operations including stocking and management.
The government plans to keep these stockpiles no longer than nine months. A sub-committee of the National Rice Policy Committee will consider releasing the rice stockpiles in the near future.
