FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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How Prayut can be the farmer’s friend

How Prayut can be the farmer’s friend

Changes at the Agriculture and Commerce ministries promise to improve the lot of rural people

The new Prayut Cabinet faces a daunting task in trying to improve the lot of farmers and other low-income citizens ahead of the general election touted to take place in about a year’s time. While the macro-economic picture has improved, with GDP growing 3.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 – the biggest increase in 18 months – the benefits have not been evenly distributed, mainly accruing to the export and related sectors.
The upcountry populace – and all those folks on the farm – remain in grim financial shape, due chiefly to the relatively meagre prices that agricultural produce is fetching. Those people end up with low purchasing power, among other negative consequences with which they have to cope.
In preparation for the upcoming polls, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha decided to reshuffle his Cabinet in a big way, bringing in more civilian 
ministers to shore up performance in Agriculture and key economic 
ministries. For three years, General Chatchai Sarikaya, a close confidante of Prayut, held the crucial Agriculture portfolio, often earning criticism for what was seen as a lacklustre 
showing. 
In the new line-up, the Agriculture Ministry will be in the hands of a 
former top bureaucrat of the Interior Ministry and a pair of deputy ministers who are experts in dealing with 
farmers and other segments of the rural population.
The Commerce Ministry sees another big shake-up, with two new ministers added to improve coordination with their counterparts at Agriculture. It is crucial that the Prayut regime win more hearts and minds among the rural electorate if he 
wishes to remain in politics and stand for election in a bid to hang on to the premier’s post, as is widely expected.
Prayut’s existing economic management team, led by Somkid Jatusripitak, has succeeded somewhat in stabilising and increasing economic growth – no easy feat given Western condemnation of the 2014 military coup. But that team still hasn’t adequately addressed the biggest 
challenge of all – financial inequality, an issue in which low-income voters such as farmers maintain a keen interest.
The government recently introduced welfare cards for the underprivileged, covering about 11 million people who earn less than Bt100,000 per year (or less than Bt8,400 per month). However, the benefits stemming from this welfare system for low-income people appear to be weaker upcountry than in Bangkok, as noted particularly in its subsidies for urban transportation.
The seemingly inevitable conclusion is that it would be more effective to help the rural poor through agricultural-price intervention and similar schemes. These could be better designed to provide sustainable income-generation capabilities for those getting the state help.
We have seen the previous Yingluck Shinawatra government severely penalised for implementing a rice price-pledging scheme that was widely popular but resulted in a massive loss of state funds and a dismaying spree of corruption. The Prayut government will have to come up with a plan as grand as that – while avoiding its pitfalls – if it wants more support from rural people, many of whose livelihoods are closely related to the prices of rice, rubber, tapioca, maize and the like.
We expect to see more innovative ideas from the new Agriculture and Commerce ministers, bringing solid results without repeating the mistakes of previous governments. Thailand needs programmes that better equip the recipient groups to help 
themselves in the long run.

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