Maize growers in Chiang Mai cry for help

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CHIANG MAI, Sept 17 – About 200 corn farmers rallied at Chiang Mai provincial hall in this northern province today, demanding the government pledge the grain at Bt8-10 per kilogramme.

Farmers from Mae Chaem district, led Mae Chaem corn network leader Uthai Boonthiam, called on the government to set up local depots to buy corn from farmers at Bt8 for maize with 30 per cent moisture content and Bt10 for maize with 14.5 per cent moisture content.

They said the pledging prices, if agreed by the government, should cover farmers with and without land title deeds. Some farmers have been growing corn on land without legal ownership documents.

Their demands were submitted to the provincial governor who was told to give them a reply by next Tuesday.

Corn planters become the third group of farmers, after producers of paddy and rubber, who sought the government’s intervention given the falling prices of agricultural produce.