Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) chairman Nipon Poapongsakorn yesterday reiterated his supports for the government's rice price guarantee programme.

At the seminar hosted by the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, he said the price guarantee is more effective than pledging, as it allows farmers to layout their cultivation plan in advance. The pledging and price guarantee programmes should be executed at the same time, so that farmers could compare benefits of the two programmes.

"Through the pledging programme, the government shoulders the burden in managing stocks and the pledging cost. Corruption emerges with politicians' involvement. However, we must admit that farmers are not yet familiar with the price guarantee. As this could lower the effectiveness of the new programme, the government should speed up on educating the farmers," he said.

Somphorn Iswilanont, an economist at Kasetsart University, noted that the price guarantee will block market price distortion and reduce the government's financial burden. Moreover, it also blocks politicians' intervention.  However, he said the programme would be effective if the farmers registration system is effective. If some farmers are missed out from the project, the government would not have the right figures to calculate output.

Source: The Nation