SONGKHLA, Aug 21 – Rubber planters in Thailand’s southern provinces on Monday set a 15-day deadline for the government to resolve the declining price of rubber.
The planters earlier rallied at the Provincial Administration Office in the southern province of Songkhla for several hours and later dispersed after negotiating with Songkhla Governor Krisda Bunraj.
They demanded the government resolve the problem of decreasing price of rubber and call off the Bt15 billion scheme to support the price of rubber at Bt120 baht per kilo.
The governor immediately sent an urgent letter to the secretary general of the prime minister’s office seeking government assistance.
The rubber planters threatened to travel to Bangkok to air their grievances if the government failed to take action.
Preecha Sukkasem, coordinator of the Southern Rubber Planters Network, said the government-initiated scheme, costing Bt15 billion, has failed to shore up the price of rubber to the projected 120 baht per kilo.
Worse than that, the scheme has benefited only 10 per cent of rubber planters, he claimed, calling on the government to scrap the scheme and find a new measure to solve the problem.
