LAMPANG, May 23 — About 500 pineapple farmers in the northern province of Lampang ended their protest Wednesday, reopening the Lampang-Phayao road in the provincial seat to traffic after their demand was met.
The protesters dispersed after Lampang governor Thawatchai Therdphaothai met with officials and representatives of the pineapple growers to seek the measures in resolving the problems of falling prices, oversupply and delivery to factories in the southern region.
The producers welcomed the governor’s announcement pledging that two local government units would allocate a portion of their budgets to buy the glut of ripe fruit first at the price of Bt3 per kilogramme.
Meanwhile, the authorities will seek a resolution of the rest of the fruit and will negotiate with the Lampang Transportation Authority Office to provide trucks to transport the produce to factories in the South.
A group of pineapple farmers in Ban Sadet and Ban Lang sub-districts late Wednesday morning set up tents and blocked Lampang-Phayao road.
They demanded the related provincial agencies to set up buying points to purchase the fruit at the price of Bt4 a kilo as they face a transport problem of the produce to plants in Prachuap Khiri Khan and elsewhere in the South and feared their fruit would rot before delivery.
