AYUTTHAYA, July 1 – The Thai Farmer Association is satisfied with the government’s decision to maintain rice pledge price at Bt15,000 per tone until Sept 15, according to the association president Wichian Puanglamchiak.
Mr Wichian said the decision would be positive for the rice farmers and the association representatives would seek to meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to thank her and give her moral support.
For the next harvest season in 2014, the association president urged the government to let the farmers to have a say in any decision on pledge price cut in order to find balanced and justified price for farmers.
Mr Wichian said that if the government wanted to slash the pledging price, it should find measures to help farmers cutting the rice production costs.
The National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC) on Monday resolved to maintain rice pledging price at Bt15,000 per tonne until the end of the present harvest season on September 15, with the maximum payment of Bt500,000 per household.
The decision would be given to the weekly cabinet meeting tomorrow for final approval.
The NRPC’s latest resolution was reversed from its previous decision to lower the pledging price of paddy from Bt15,000 per tonne to Bt12,000 per tonne.
Ms Yingluck said the move was aimed to maintain balance and to set the rice price at a level that reflected global market prices. (MCOT online news)
