RANONG, Dec 10 – Oil palm growers from Thailand’s southern provinces plan to submit their demands for government intervention in Bangkok Wednesday to help farmers facing falling palm nut prices.
Suwit Rakmai, chairman of Ranong’s oil palm planters on Sunday said some growers had already gone to Bangkok to submit their request to the government on Wednesday.
He said oil palm growers demanded that the government shore up or provide price guarantees for palm nut, which he said has declined to Bt1.5-2 per kilo, depending on the quality.
The falling price has affected a large number of oil palm growers as about 4,842 households in the province grow oil palm on about 31,000 acres.
Luecha Oonyuang, chairman of the Surat Thani palm growers association said the network of palm growers in seven southern provinces plans to gather at a co-op in Surat Thani on Wednesday, calling on the government to help compensate for falling prices directly through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-Operatives.
They want the government to have clear assistance measures by December 18, the chairman said.
