Pattaya-area farmers OK with chaos in Thai rice market
Vittaya Yoondorn
While academics, economists and politicians all agree that
Thailand’s government rice-purchasing system is broken, it should come as no
surprise that Pattaya-area farmers getting paid as much as 50 percent more
than market price think things are just fine.
For small-scale rice farmers like Nee Mankhao on Soi Mabyailieb, the real
problem is the “middleman,” the rice mills who she and other poor farmers
around the country complain are swindling “the little guy.” The government
promises farmers 15,000 baht per ton, but few sellers actually get that, as
millers pocket the difference and kick back some of that to government
officials and politicians.
Nee said she’s seen millers changing prices, using altered scales to cheat
on how much they pay out, among other scams. Many times, she said, she
simply takes extra time to find other buyers, often at lower rates.
Corruption is so rife and recognized, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
promised Oct. 13 to add more representatives and install security cameras at
all rice-buying points to deter corruption.
With the government paying more to farmers than private-sector sellers, the
free market for rice has all but collapsed in Thailand. And because the
government has tried to recoup its costs by raising prices to overseas
buyers, exports of rice have plummeted. The government said this month it
has so much extra rice, it plans to covert an airplane hanger to store it
all.
Soi Buakaow rice merchant Jaras Saengda said, for now, Pattaya appears
unaffected by the rice-pledging system problems. While prices have increased
for consumers, so many stores offer promotional pricing, there hasn’t been
much impact. So, for now, he’s happy to maintain the system, even if rice
continues to rise 4-5 baht per kilogram.
And, at least for the foreseeable future, the system isn’t going to change.
The Constitutional Court on Oct. 10 refused to take up a lawsuit brought by
academics and students from Thammasat University and the National Institute
of Development Administration, led by Adis Israngkura na Ayutthaya, dean of
Nida’s School of Development Economics.
The academics complained the government’s move to pay 50 percent more than
world market prices gives farmers who “pledge” rice to the government no
incentive to ever reclaim it. Effectively making the government a monopoly
on rice brokering, the free market has been destroyed and the export market
has collapsed, the said.
The court said it would not take the case because the group that filed suit
is not directly involved in the rice trade.
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