Pathum Thani: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted the state subsidy to encourage farmers to store rice in barns is more than short-term handouts, arguing his government is not going to support the price of "every grain of rice".
The premier, yesterday spoke out against criticism that the state's pledge to help rice farmers suffering plummeting rice prices is akin to handing them money.
State officials only "pledge the rice in the barns; not every rice grain", Gen Prayut said, referring to the state subsidy to prop up prices. He added that "pledging is done only at times when farmers are in trouble".
The government has spent over 20 billion baht under its new rice subsidy scheme to help hom mali farmers in northern and northeastern provinces since early this month when farmers revealed their plight caused by low rice prices.
Later, on Nov 8, the cabinet decided to approve another subsidy programme worth 18 billion baht for farmers growing white rice and Pathum Thani fragrant paddy and store it in barns for a certain period of time. Most of them are in the Central Plains.
Farmers who grow these two rice varieties will be paid for their storage costs. Each grower will receive 1,500 baht for these expenses.
The huge amount of money allocated for farmers does not mean the government has a lot of money to spare, said Gen Prayut. Rather, insufficient revenues from taxes means the budget is being stretched.
"Rice farmers must adjust their farming in the meantime.
"They should not wait and rely on the state's help," Gen Prayut said.
"If they keep thinking in the old way, no government can get them through their problems."
The prime minister made his comments during a visit to tambon Bueng Sam-O in Nong Sua district in Pathum Thani, one of the major rice-farming provinces in the Central Plains.
His government's ongoing help to farmers has caused some to bring up the rice-pledging scheme launched by Gen Prayut's predecessor Yingluck Shinawatra government, whose policies were criticised as populist.
Ms Yingluck's rice policy, which ran from 2012 to 2014, was accused of incurring huge losses and being plagued by corruption. One controversial point was that her government's pledge was set at 40-50% higher than the market price.
The Yingluck administration thought that stockpiling huge quantities of rice would help increase global prices. But it was not long before difficulties arose and the scheme failed.
Gen Prayut said yesterday his government is not simply looking at subsidising farmers, but also to measures that will solve their woes in the long term.
Among such measures are those urging farmers to gather in cooperatives to better manage farming costs and rice selling; setting standards on the rents farmers pay to landlords; regulating non-bank lending; and improving the water supply for farming, the prime minister said.
Gen Prayut assures his government will carefully manage the water supply. The government will follow the advice of His Majesty the late King who said "limited resources tell us we have to use them in a balanced way to both conserve the ecology and develop the country", according to Gen Prayut.
His government plans to ensure farmers have sufficient amounts of water, which means new reservoirs and a better irrigation system are necessary.
However, Gen Prayut said, farmers need to think whether it is worth growing rice in areas prone to flooding.
Their problems need to be jointly solved by themselves and the government, he added.
