BANGKOK, 20 June 2013 Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has confirmed the government will carry on the rice pledging scheme and has instructed relevant government units to explain to the farmers why the government decided to decrease the pledging price of rice.
PM Yingluck on Thursday indicated that the government’s decision to cut the pledging price was based on three factors—costs of production, fiscal discipline and global market price. Nonetheless, she insisted that the pledging price was flexible and could change in accordance with the market mechanism.
Regarding assistance for the participating farmers affected by the price decrease, the premier said she had asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to help support them in planting alternative crops in parallel with rice.
Ms Yingluck assured that the rice pledging program was capable of generating income for the farmers.
The Thai Farmers Association earlier announced that it would not accept the National Rice Policy Committee’s resolution to reduce the pledging price to 12,000 baht a ton.
