BANGKOK, 6 October 2014 Prime Minister and Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) General Prayut Cha-o-cha says his government will use a holistic approach to solve farmers’ problems by tackling urgent problems in parallel with implementing sustainable solutions.
Speaking after his meeting with the Rice Policy and Management Committee, Gen. Prayut affirmed the approach is by no means a populist policy. He went on to say that although rice exports had increased in volume, export prices remained relatively low. Thus the government needs to create measures to boost prices and upgrade the quality of rice.
The government approach focuses on four groups of farmers: those who own less than 15 rai of agricultural land, those who own more than 40 rai, those who use technology and machinery in their cultivating process, and those who lease their land to others. As a sustainable solution, the government will provide scholarships to farmers’ children to support their higher education in a hope to make them a new generation of Thai farmers.
He also said that the government is still working on helping farmers in few provinces who are still waiting for payments under the rice pledging scheme and confirmed that all farmers who really sold their rice to the scheme will definitely get their money.
The Prime Minister also assigned Dhamrongdham Center (of the Ministry of Interior) and the Farmer Assistance Center (of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives) to do the zoning of agricultural land which will match agricultural production with the actual market demand.
The zoning committee will be chaired by General Anupong Paochinda, the Minister of Interior, while the committee to help low-income farmers who owned no land will be led by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.
Gen. Prayut also stated that from now on, the country’s agricultural information will be based on real situation, such as the actual number of land inside and outside the royal irrigation zones, not just estimated data as in the past. This is to ensure that government measures will be drawn up to address actual problems.
