The rice policy subcommittee has rejected farmers’ proposal for the government to guarantee paddy prices, or to revive the rice pledging scheme, in the wake of falling second-crop paddy prices.
Wittayakorn Maneenet, director-general of the Internal Trade Department and a member of the rice policy subcommittee, said that the farmers’ proposal contravenes a cabinet decision, of November 21st, 2023, which rejects subsidies, compensation or price guarantees to help farmers.
He added, however, that the rice policy subcommittee has already issued three measures to help farmers. These include the extension of credits of up to 1,500 baht/tonne to farmers, to encourage them to store their crops in their barns, or those of their cooperatives, for up to five months. They are also opening rice markets, to allow traders to buy rice crops directly from farmers and are compensating for the interest incurred by rice traders for stockpiling their harvested crops.
A total of about 1.8 billion baht will be used to implement these three measures, which will absorb about 3.5 million tonnes of newly-harvested second-crop paddy in stockpiles, rather than being dumped onto the market, which would drive paddy prices further down.
Wittayakorn maintains that the three measures were carefully thought out for the benefit of farmers, adding that the Internal Trade Department will cooperate with the Rice Traders Association and modern trade outlets to sell packed rice to consumers at bargain prices.
