OPINION

Time for a change

Re: "R&D essential for Thai rice," (Oped, March 8).

Your editorial reveals the answer concealed in your summary of the problem.

The Rice Department's budget for rice research is around 200 million baht annually. Yet the combination of subsidies, pledging costs, and guarantees for farmers approaches 1 trillion baht. Further limiting success, the false concept of climate change responsibility and so-called "low emission rice" have crept into farming research funding. Farming rice sequesters carbon. The more rice produced per hectare, the more carbon per hectare is sequestered. Isn't that sufficient?

It is no longer advisable for rice strain development and advancing farming methods to be the responsibility of the government at a practical level. Enough is already known about intercropping (crabs, Azzolla, and rice for example) and other efficient rice-farming methods which, if implemented, would make a huge difference in productivity.

Strain development should be outsourced to companies who are eminently capable of integrating genetic selection, analysis, and optimisation at the biochemical level. Seed selection and rice production tailored for Thailand's specific climate and soil characteristics could advance Thai rice toward a top-tier world class position in a year or two by resorting to this strategy. It should be noted that although the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) says that Vietnamese rice does not contain GMOs, Vietnam has no restrictions on GMO products and there is no certification, testing, or genetic sequencing information available on their rice.

The government needs to reallocate their enormous budget and eschew their time-honoured tradition of keeping farmers uneducated and poor in order to maintain the old political order and perpetuate farmers' dependency upon the patronage system. Politics is not going to work that way for much longer. You just can't lock everybody up for trying to make things better and expect to get away with it forever.

Re: "Still on top", (PostBag, Mar 8).

The great news from my point of view, is that recent actions out of the White House will force America's European and other allies to reassess their reliance on the US, and their almost obsequious bending of the knee to Uncle Sam.

I quoted the example of my own Australia following the US into the disasters of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, with blind faith that the US would come to our aid in times of threat to our own country. I think Donald Trump has now made it quite clear that is wishful thinking.

I'm Margret, a tourist from France visiting Thailand for five weeks.

It's such a pain losing your phone when you are travelling! It happened to me in Nong Khai after visiting temples and shops in Tha Sadet market. Asking near the places, many people tried to help. I never thought the phone was stolen, just lost…

Finally they advised me to call the police. And it was incredible, several inspectors got involved, helped by a friendly and talented volunteer translator, driving me to the hotel to get the papers, proceeding with internet research to locate the phone (but unfortunately it wasn't connected). All of them spent several hours on the task.

Finally, they drove me back to the first temple. I had been there before to ask but the monks didn't understand me. But one of them had found my phone and gave it back to me when asked by the police!

I am really thankful for the most kind, professional and efficient help I got from this police office.

CONTACT: BANGKOK POST BUILDING 136 Na Ranong Road Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110 Fax: +02 6164000 email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th

All letter writers must provide full name address.

All published correspondence is subject to editing at our discretion.